59

59
~ TRISTAN ~

“Y-yes. Indy pushed me!” Her eyes widened.

Kye held her hands, his face turning red. “What do you mean? How did that happen? She was in our home?’

“Yes, Kye.”

“How?” I wondered, a frown forming on my face.

“I… I had seen her at the mall a week before she pushed me: she was on the phone and looked so mad, then I got curious and followed her.”

“Why would you do that?” I scolded.

“I’m sorry. I--I was curious…. She was acting very suspicious. I just wanted to know what was wrong with someone that used to be a friend!” she cried. “I found myself following her to a building where she met a man and he yelled at her for killing someone! She admitted it and just claimed the person was bothering her.”

“Indy killed someone?” my voice was low, almost a whisper. I knew Indy was crazy, but had she gotten that bad?

“Yes. I was equally shocked. When I decided to run, she saw me and tried to chase me. I ran away and she lost me. I assumed she didn’t see my face and wouldn’t know it was me, but I was so wrong.” She sniffled looking into Kye’s eyes. “When we were watching a movie, I went up to the bathroom, and she had come in through our second-floor balcony. She claimed she just wanted to ‘talk’, but I bet she could saw the panic in my eyes. My phone wasn’t with me, so my only thought was to run away. She pushed me from the top of the stairs and ran away!” Her face was becoming pale in horror. “Indy has totally lost it.”

“Lost it? She hasn’t just lost it. That stupid being needs to locked up in a psychiatrist ward!” Kye spat, his jaw and fist clenched. His face was a hot shade of red; I had never seen him look his angry. “I’ll make sure she gets arrested.” He jerked to his feet.

“That wouldn’t change the fact that our child died. It’s all my fault. I can’t believe I was foolish enough to try to follow her. I let my curiosity kill my baby.” She sobbed, her hands shaking in front of her face. “I killed my baby, our child.”

“No, Charlotte. Don’t say that.” Hazel sat beside her, holding her shoulders. “Please.  It’s not your fault. Indy is clearly getting mire dangerous.” She lifted her gaze to me. “she has to be arrested for this. Shouldn’t we file a report or something?”

“we will. I’ll make sure she’s locked up before nighttime.” Kye assured himself and everyone else, holding Charlotte’s hands.

Charlotte still wailed and he had to embrace her. “It’s okay, baby. It’s not your fault.

“You should stay with Charlotte and the baby. I’ll speak to my team to find and arrest Indy.” I said.

“I’ll come with you.” Hazel jumped to her feet.

“It’s okay. I can handle it.”

“I’m coming with.” She insisted.



It was past ten pm when Indy was finally pulled into the station, a few police officers surrounding her.

Once her gaze rested on me, she smirked till she was at an audible distance. “you must have a lot of free time to be dealing with other’s business. Why don’t you worry about your problems?” she shot a glare at me then trailed it to Hazel before glancing back at me. “I promise I’ll be out of here in ko time then will be back on our business, Tristan. I’ve got a lot of control now, so jail is nothing.” She laughed as they continued leading her away. “Power is fun.” With that, she let out a boisterous laugh till she was out of sight and locked up.

Hazel’s hand on my arm shifted my attention to her. Her eyebrows were curled upwards as she glanced at the direction Indy had gone. “Indy is crazy, and I mean it. She’s not in her right state of mind.”

“I’ve been saying that.”

Then I locked my gaze with hers. Her hazel eyes shimmered with worry, but mostly fear. Remembering our conversation at home, I knew there was still more she had to share. We had to get to the bottom of it.

“There’s a park nearby. We can grab a quick dinner at the store then chill there for a while.” I said.

She paused, clearing running through multiple thoughts, before giving a small nod.



The wind danced around us, creating slight melody and chills that calmed the air. Hazel sucked on a strand of her ramen, a sound I considered oddly satisfying. Honestly, everything about this woman satisfied me.

“I can see the stars in the noodle broth.” She smiled, an expression that shone brighter than the moon above our heads.

Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, “Hazel, you’re really beautiful,” I had to remind her.

She shot a brow-raised stared at me, her face flushing red as she bit back her smile. “That’s random, but thank you.”

I chuckled and just watched till she was done with the bowl which I helped her dump in the trash can. Returning to her, I sat beside her again, wrapping an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on the top of her head. She laid her head on my shoulder, trying to hide the crimson shade on her face.

Chuckling, we gazed at the empty park, listening to the rustlings of the plants. An image of our future children running around here flashed in my head and that made a smile creep up my face. However, my smile disappeared as the thoughts of our current issues crossed my mind. We couldn’t introduce our children into this world with the pending issues.

“Hazel,” I called and she lifted a smiling face to me, “is there anything else you’d like to let me know about your past?” With that, the joy on her face washed off.

“Well, Tristan…” She sighed, then muttered, “I might as well just tell you everything. You would think my crimes should’ve been over after I left Giovanni.” she hesitated again, fiddling with her fingers. “That didn’t happen because life was harder for me. No one wanted to hire a high school drop out that was rumored to be a thief and a nasty criminal.

“This made Tiff— Lucy and I try other means. Hazel eyes literally peered into my soul. “we joined a slut organization.” I knew she was waiting for a reaction, so I maintained a blank expression, encouraging her to continue. “We thought it was a regular organization where we did some pole dance, met men, they did their business, we got our cash, but no.” I noticed her chest started to rise and fall faster than normal, so I held her arm, squeezing it slightly. “They were also involved in drugs, blackmailing, and heavy crimes I can’t even bring myself to mention.”

Her eyes became tear-filled. “We were told to blackmail the men we slept with, spike their drinks, search their stuff, steal money, and claim any evidence we could before running away. However, little did I know that there was more to it.

“Tiffany lied to me. Sometimes, the things we used to spike their drinks did not only make them pass out…” she took a long, patience-testing pause, “…it took their lives.” Okay, this just took another turn.

She seemed to notice a change in my expression and that made her break into tears. “I'm sorry, Tristan. I really am. I wish I could go back in time and fix everything, but it’s too late. That’s who I am. Not only was I a victim, I was also a criminal.”

“It's…” I trailed off. I wanted to lie that it was okay, but honestly, it wasn’t. No normal human found out that the person they loved the most had murdered people and would be okay about it.

Her facial muscles tensed as she still peered into my eyes. “Honestly, I’ve been scared of you knowing about my past, and it hurts, but if you decide to leave me at this moment, I’ll totally understand.”

“Hazel,”

“No.” She shifted from my hold. “I’m not trying to manipulate you in anyway to be with me. It’s just common sense. I don’t feel comfortable anymore for having lied to you for so long. You deserve much better. My past is right at my door, knocking to ruin me again. Aunt Mandy, Lucy, and Giovanni all have different form of evidence to prove my crimes and they can destroy me in the blink of an eye. I can’t bring you down with me. You deserve so much better.” Okay, I didn’t like where this was heading. My chest was stinging.

“Stop it, Hazel.”

“No. Be reasonable. I’m not good for you. I’m sorry I deceived you and made you love me, but this… Tristan, you’re a famous billionaire. This would ruin your image. I’ve been thinking about it, and…” her eyes welled up and she sniffled,  “…let’s get a divorce.”