CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

Aria's POV

Linda's loud and annoying voice echoed in the house.

I tapped Ethan, who slept beside me.

“She's here. Wake up.” I said in a low voice.

I don't feel any excitement to know she even arrived early in the morning. I wished she had taken her time before thinking about coming around.

“She's quite early,” Ethan said, struggling to get out of bed.

“I know, right?” I responded and got down from the bed, heading towards the bathroom.

Ethan finally stood up and walked out of the room because we could hear her continuously shout Ethan's name.

“My brother! Oh, you look skinny! Isn't your little girlfriend taking good care of you?” Linda yelled. Her voice filled the whole house, yet again. I'm sure she did that intentionally

“Stop!” Ethan said calmly.

I overheard them while trying to brush my teeth.

I didn't think much of it because I don't expect much from her either. But Ethan has said she wasn't going to cause me any trouble, now I wonder if he ever even had that kind of conversation with her.

If anything, I knew I wouldn't let her bully me this time around, but I was hoping I'd be able to deal with her because most times I can't deal with her. Her energy is too wild for me, and she's a lot of trouble, too.

I brushed my teeth and took my bath afterwards.

The cook was going to come anyway, so I didn't think there was a need for me to be out early enough so we could get something to eat. I didn't even want to eat at the same table as Linda.

I was still dressing when I heard my phone beeping.

I walked over to it and picked up the call.

It was Rose, my friend.

“Hi, babe, good morning.”

“Have you seen the news today?” She said to me, her voice shaking like she was frightened.

I was hoping that nothing happened to anyone. I didn't want to lose someone again because the last time Rose called me for bad news, sounding that way, was the accident that killed my family.

“What news? I haven't seen anything. I'm just waking up.” I said anxiously. I didn't know why, but my heart began to pound as I wondered what it could be that made Rose that concerned.

“I don't even know how to say this,” Rose added, making it feel worse to figure out.

“Just let it out. Linda is around and I don't want to go out of this room to any other room to turn on the TV.”

“Your company. You've been framed for fraud. It's everywhere on the news. There's a leak that it was part of a fraudulent activity that you were aware of. It says your brother used it to sustain the company, and you also tried participating in it but failed, hence your company almost ran down.”

I didn't understand what Rose was speaking to me about. I didn't even know what to take from what she had said because it felt so hard to understand.

“Wait, what? They all know that it was my brother who did all that, and I made sure to stop it. How did this information even get to the public?” I smack my forehead, regretting why this new thing was dug up at a time like this. “We just got a large breakthrough. This can't be happening at a time like this. It's the wrong time. Are you sure of this?”

Rose paused for a while before she added. “I know, and it's really a sensitive thing. I feel it's intentional the way this information got out. Have you had any clashes with anyone recently? The way this is being leaked seems like a personal target to bring you down totally. I don't know why but I don't see this as if it will be easy at all.”

I couldn't believe why this was happening. Kael wouldn't take this well because he sure wasn't aware about all that information. I'm sure the news about this must have hit him in a very wrong way as well.

“Have you seen what's on the news?” Ethan pushed open the door, and Linda walked in with him.

I stood still, holding my phone in my hand.

“I don't know,” I said, my world turning against me as I got lost in thoughts of how much trouble I was going to face because I didn't even know how I wouldn't be misunderstood, since I knew about it before.

“Did you really participate in human trafficking and drugs? I can't believe you'd look this innocent and do something as dirty as that.” Linda said plainly. Leaving no thoughts left in her mind.

“You know it's not her. Cut it out.” Ethan said, walking closer to me.

I had confided in Ethan during the times when I was dealing with clearing the debts my brother owed, before the accident, with the money I made from the company, which also almost wrecked the company.

The story is more complex than what normal people will understand. I didn't want to have to explain myself to many people because I was sure I would be blamed.

“Isn't it her brother that started meddling in the wrong business out of desperation? They have no solid foundation in the company, and we all know that. They just pretend to be the foundational builders, but everyone knows where the money that raised the company came from anyway.” Linda said and turned to me directly before she added, “You people were surely going to pay for your crimes. Did you ever think this wasn't going to happen someday?”

Ethan walked over to the bed and sat on it.

I remained still where I stood and took in deeper breaths.

I didn't know what to do, but I knew I wasn't to blame, and if anything, I had only done all that was in my capacity to ensure that we paid back all the dues we owed to the families involved and the mafia gang my brother got engaged in, and I've worked on the company organically, building it up.