Chapter 159 Eliot is dead

Chapter 159 Eliot is dead


Chapter 161

Ryan's POV

Eliot was dead.

And my mother had forbidden me from attending his burial.

I still couldn't understand how she expected me to sit in this house while my best friend's body was being lowered into the ground. How was I supposed to live with myself knowing that I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to him because my mother decided that it was too dangerous for me to be there?

I picked up my phone from the bed and opened the internet again, even though I already knew what I was going to see. There were so many false narratives about Eliot everywhere. News outlets had turned his death into a story that made him look like a monster, and people were eating it up without even bothering to question anything.

They were saying that Eliot had run over a little child and left her brainless and crippled for the rest of her life. Some were saying that he deserved to burn in hell for what he had done, while others were demanding that people should never forgive him.

My fingers tightened around the phone as I read through the comments.

They didn't know him.

They didn't know what had happened.

They didn't know the truth.

Yet everyone had already judged him.

And the worst part was that Eliot wasn't alive to defend himself.

He was dead.

My mother had made sure of that.

Not his death itself, but the story that would follow him even after death.

I dropped the phone on the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. I had tried telling myself that it was better this way, that at least my name had been cleared from the whole mess, but I couldn't keep lying to myself.

My mother had paid the news outlet.

She had given them something else to talk about, something that would take the attention away from me and put it entirely on Eliot. Now, every attention was off me, exactly the way she wanted.

Nobody was asking questions about Ryan anymore.

Nobody was talking about me.

They were talking about Eliot.

The dead boy who couldn't speak for himself.

I should have been relieved, but I wasn't.

I felt sick.

How was I supposed to face his mother?

That was the question that kept disturbing me.

How was I supposed to look into her eyes when she asked me why I wasn't at her son's burial? What was I supposed to tell her? That I had wanted to come but my mother had forbidden me? That I had allowed myself to stay behind while the person I loved like a brother was buried?

I couldn't do it.

I couldn't withstand this torture anymore.

This was the second time my mother had done this to me. The second time she had taken someone I loved and twisted the truth to protect herself or me.

I had tolerated it the first time because I was younger and I believed that everything my mother did was because she wanted to protect me.

But I wasn't a child anymore.

I knew better now.

I knew that sometimes protecting me was just an excuse she used whenever she wanted to control the situation.

I got off the bed and walked out of my room.

I found her downstairs, sitting comfortably while speaking to someone on the phone. She looked completely calm, as if nothing had happened. As if someone's life hadn't just been destroyed by the story she had created.

She noticed me and ended the call.

"Ryan, what is it?"

"Why can't I attend Eliot's burial?"

Her expression immediately hardened.

"We've already talked about this."

"No, you talked. I listened."

She sighed and leaned back.

"Ryan, this is for your own good."

"How?"

"People are watching you right now. The last thing you need is to be seen at that burial."

I stared at her."So I should just stay here and pretend he never existed?"

"Don't make this emotional."

I laughed bitterly."How am I supposed to not make it emotional? He's dead."

"Exactly. He's dead. Nothing you do now will change that."

Those words hit me harder than I expected.

I stared at her for a few seconds before shaking my head.

"You really don't care."

"That's not what I said."

"But that's what it feels like."

She stood up and walked toward me. "Ryan, I did what I had to do. The media was becoming a problem, and I needed to make sure the attention was taken away from you."

"You paid them."

She stopped.

I knew from the look on her face that she understood exactly what I was talking about.

"You paid them to create those stories about him."

"I gave them information."

"False information."

She didn't answer.

My chest tightened."He's dead, Mom. He can't defend himself."

"I was protecting you."

"No, you were protecting yourself."

Her eyes narrowed."Watch your words."

"I'm tired of watching my words."

I couldn't stop anymore. Everything I had kept inside for so long was coming out, and I didn't care if she was angry.

"You did this before, and now you're doing it again. You keep destroying people and then telling me you're protecting me. How long am I supposed to keep accepting that?"

She looked away.

I swallowed hard, trying to control the anger burning inside me.

"I can't do this anymore."

"Do what?"

"Be your son."

She looked at me in shock."What?"

"I am disowning you as my mother."

The words felt strange coming out of my mouth, but once I said them, I knew I meant every single one.

She stared at me as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Ryan, you're angry."

"I'm hurt."

"You're not thinking clearly."

"I've never thought more clearly in my life."

She moved closer to me. "You are my son."

"And you're supposed to be my mother."

She went silent.

I shook my head as tears threatened to gather in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

"I loved you. I trusted you. I believed everything you told me because I thought you were trying to protect me. But I can't keep watching you destroy people and expect me to be grateful for it."

She didn't say anything.

I turned around and walked upstairs before I said something I would regret.

Once I got into my room, I locked the door and sat on the edge of my bed. My heart was beating so fast that I could hear it in my ears.

I knew what I had to do.

I was leaving.

I was stopping school and traveling somewhere far away to start a new life. I didn't know where yet, but I would figure it out. I didn't want my mother's money, her connections, or anything else that came from her.

I just wanted freedom.

But I wasn't only going to run away.

I was going to fight back.

My mother was working toward becoming the mayor, and I knew how important that position was to her. She had spent years building her reputation and getting people to trust her.

If she wanted to build her future on lies, then I would expose those lies.

I would fight against my mother.

I would fight against the society that kept protecting people like her.

And if stopping her from becoming mayor was what it took for the truth to finally come out, then I was prepared to do it.

For Eliot.

I picked up my phone and looked at his picture.

"I won't let them make you the villain," I whispered.

My eyes filled with tears."I promise."

Then I opened my laptop and started searching for a place far away from home.

For the first time in my life, I was making a decision without my mother.

And this time, I wasn't going to let her stop me.