CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE: SOME MONSTERS IN HUMAN FORM.

MEREDITH:

Alan loosened his grip, giving me room to swallow. “I thought so, too. I thought Christian was a twenty-year-old that I could easily manipulate, but he was smarter and braver for his age. If he had simply handed over that program to me, accepting my compensation, no one would have killed him.” He edged closer, closing the distance between us. “My feelings for you went cold even before our breakup.” I knew that. “I stopped loving you five years ago.”

“Why did you stick around until the seventh year? Why didn't you set me free? Why did you reappear to claim that you loved me? That you have been thinking of me?”

“They are all lies, Meredith. Jesus! You are so gullible.” He released me, storming around the room, raking his hair in an aggressive pull. “You want the whole story. Here it is. After all, you won't live to tell another.”

“What do you mean? Are you going to kill me too?”

“Yes, if necessary. I can't have you ruin what I struggled to build, just like your brother. I will get rid of anyone coming between me and my success.”

Fear, for the first time, took over. Knowing that I might not live to see tomorrow. His face might be the last thing I see. Suddenly, I wanted Miles. I wanted to ask him why he hurt me. Why did he push me away? Why? Why? Why? Anyway, I had to get to the root of what I had started. Find out the truth. Have closure before my own death. I promised Christian that, and I was going to give it to him. I promised to find answers to his disappearance even if it took my last breath to do so, and I was keeping that promise.

“When I wanted to break off with you five years ago,” he started, “Christian, during one of our hangouts, mentioned this insane idea about creating magnifying iris lenses that could be slid in and enhanced to record activities or control a whole country. His idea was to build an energy-supplying transformer powered by water and controlled by these lenses. This means that once you have it in your possession, you can control weapons, network, and spy on people without them knowing. It sounded crazy at first and impossible, so I brushed him off. Within a week, he had started building that project, proving me wrong.”

I knew about the time he mentioned a bunch of new crazy ideas that he said would take care of us for life if they worked.

He continued. “When he presented the codes, I was fascinated. You know what that means; it is a part of it that made me rich and still made me richer and would make me the richest if everything is finalized. I pushed back the idea of breaking up with you because I feared that he would want nothing to do with me. He loved you more, and if I hurt you at that time, I wouldn't be close to him. Time after time, he kept updating me on his progress. Bit by bit, I took his pitching and materials to big companies, posing as the initiator. They bought it, awarding contracts to me, hence the source of my wealth. Christian was still unsuspecting as I kept everything low-key. I encouraged him and pushed him to continue. He simply thought I was being nice and supportive.”

“You are a horrible person. A thief. Stealing someone's knowledge and killing them for it. A monster! That is what you are. Your life should have been Christian's. This is all his hard work. All his sleepless nights of believing and inventing. Alan, how could you do this to me? To the boy that loved you so much? Why?”

“I know, Meredith, and I wouldn't change my decision because going back to poverty, being the laughingstock of people, isn't an option.” He sighed, moving and sitting on the bed. “Fast forward to when I met Louis. I knew she was the one who would always have my back and dick. We were goal-oriented and hungry for fame, wealth, and power. When Christian finished the lenses, he brought them to his favorite person, which was me, for test running. Louis was around, and she saw the beauty of what his knowledge could bring us. I tried to buy it from him after castigating it as a worthless and valueless invention. He refused, pointing out how precious it was to him. Louis suggested she disguise herself as an investor to get him to trust her, taking all the rights. Again, Christian refused.”

My smart boy.

“We grew frustrated and had no choice but to lure him, intending to steal it. Everything was in place, perfect!” He stood doing that aggressive pull with his hair again. “While I was in the restaurant, our hired men were waiting for him, which we made him believe was his ticket to success. If, for some reason, things went north, being with you was evidence enough that I wasn't involved. Unfortunately, he saw Louis's face, overheard her conversation with me on the phone, and tried to run. Louis panicked and had the contractors we hired bring him back before he reached help. She did what every other person would do, since we were sure he had recorded the whole encounter. Kidnap him. I didn't mean for him to be killed.”

I was beginning to have enough of the confession. To see how my brother suffered while fighting over his own invention broke me, bit by bit, until only irritation to take revenge was left. “If you didn't mean to kill him, what happened? Surely, he didn't kill himself.”

“During an altercation, Louis struck him with a vase, which broke his skull. While going through Christina's things, we found the case for the lenses, but the lenses were gone. Maybe he had them in his eyes. She had to gouge out his eyes, but they weren't there. Louis left the contractors his body to take care of. We thought they would dispose of him without creating more mess. We weren't aware that they were into organ trafficking. They saw an opportunity and seized it, harvesting and selling his organs to their partners. There. End of story.”

The only words that left my mouth before I scrambled to the door, which I had been eyeing this whole time, were, “I will make sure that you and your wench pay.”

To my misfortune, the door was locked. “I knew you would do that. You thought that I would be stupid enough to leave the door open.” He grabbed my throat once more, cutting off my windpipe.

Through gritted pain, “w-w-why kill me?” I managed to let out.

Smiling, he ran the pad of his thumb on my lower lips. “Because you are my ticket to freedom.” He released me a bit. “I am going to hold a press conference, clarifying everything. As the good girl that you are, you will be my alibi. You will agree that you were with me that night. If that fails, then, I have no choice but to implement plan B.”

With all my strength, I tore his hand away from my neck. “What is plan B?”

Shrugging, “kill you and put this entire stuff on you. Open your eyes, Meredith. I can't lose. It would be so much easier for people to buy the story about you killing your sick brother so that you could have your freedom. No one will look for you since you have no other living relatives. The guilt of your action will lead you to commit suicide. At least, that is what the news will carry.”

“You are a monster!” With rage, I ran to the table where I had my meal, hurling whatever my hands could reach at him.

He effortlessly fought through everything to get to me. Alan grabbed my hair, forcefully pulling me toward him. “I am sorry, Meredith. In life, you have to sacrifice a few lives to get what you want.” Out of the corner of my eyes, I got sight of his hand producing a syringe with a yellowish substance.

“What is that?” I panicked, beginning to fight him all over. Clawing, thrashing, and kicking.

“Shh. It won't hurt. I have to change our locations, so nobody finds you.” As I still fought, he stabbed the needle into my neck, releasing the fluid.

In less than five seconds, I was knocked out again.