Chapter 155: Cecilia Caldwell, Kill Erin Whittaker

Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Cecilia Caldwell, Kill Erin Whittaker

Later that evening, Erin Whittaker returned.

’You really can’t get rid of her.’

I heard Mrs. Fletcher’s arthritis had flared up, so she returned to Solara to recuperate. Worried about Julian Fletcher, she had granted Erin Whittaker special permission to stay at the Fletcher residence. She even instructed her to take good care of Julian, saying that if he agreed, she would consent to Erin marrying into the Fletcher family.

With what was once her biggest obstacle now resolved, Erin Whittaker must have been overjoyed. She was on the verge of success, so of course she wasn’t going to leave over a single slap from Julian Fletcher.

Standing on the second floor, I shot Erin Whittaker a cold smirk. ’It wouldn’t be any fun if one slap was enough to make her run away.’

’In all my years with the Fletcher family, she’s slandered and framed me countless times. How could it possibly be fair if I don’t make her experience the very worst of it?’

"Julian... I’m sorry. I was too emotional just now. Cece provoked me on purpose, and I got a little impulsive," Erin Whittaker apologized to Julian Fletcher, knowing just how to be coquettish. "Mrs. Fletcher told me to take good care of you. You were just discharged, and your injuries haven’t fully healed. I have to come back to look after you."

Julian Fletcher seemed to be in a hurry to leave. He glanced at the time, his brow furrowing. "Mrs. Wright is here to take care of things. Cece gets unstable when she sees you, so you should just go home."

"Julian..." Erin Whittaker’s voice was choked and anxious. "You know full well they haven’t caught all the killers. If I go back, I’ll be killed."

Julian Fletcher fell silent. ’He must still have some lingering affection for her.’

’How ridiculous.’

My gaze was cold as I watched Erin Whittaker and Julian Fletcher.

"I’m going out. Don’t go antagonizing Cece." Julian Fletcher didn’t insist that Erin Whittaker leave, and instead departed quickly.

Erin Whittaker shot a glance in my direction, her eyes brimming with warning and hatred.

I simply smiled at her and descended the stairs, one step at a time.

"Did the family get a new maid?" I asked, deliberately provoking Erin Whittaker.

Erin Whittaker looked as if she wanted to eat me alive. She slammed the warm milk on the table. "Drink up."

"I wouldn’t dare drink anything you’ve given me. If something happened to me, it would just make Julian Fletcher feel heartbroken," I said, propping my chin on my hand as I looked at Erin Whittaker.

I’d angered Erin Whittaker so much she was struggling to breathe. But she was a top-tier manipulator; she wasn’t going to be defeated just because I’d successfully framed her once.

She reined in her anger and sat down beside me, perfectly calm. "Silvia Lynch, since it’s so boring, why don’t we have a chat?"

"Chat about what?" I smiled at her.

"Let’s just talk about Cecilia Caldwell and Asher," Erin Whittaker said with a smile. "Do you know why Cecilia Caldwell died? I actually guessed the killer would definitely murder her. Because everyone who ever crossed Asher or was unkind to him... ended up dead."

My brow furrowed, and my fingers stiffened for an instant.

"Of all of them, Cecilia Caldwell was the one who most deserved to die," Erin Whittaker said, leaning back in her chair. "Asher loved her so much, but she forgot him and fell in love with someone else."

"You know about that big fire at the orphanage, right?" Erin Whittaker toyed with a lighter in her hands. "Someone couldn’t stand the gloom that ’genius’ cast over everyone, so they decided to lock the two of them up and light a small fire to scare them. Who would’ve thought that the old dorm building’s wiring was in disrepair, and the fire would suddenly get out of control."

I fought back the urge to rush over and kill her, forcing myself to listen as she continued speaking.

"Asher didn’t die that day. I heard that after the firefighters put out the flames and the police rushed in, they found a corpse pressed tightly into a corner, shielding Asher," Erin Whittaker said, shaking her head with a look of feigned regret. "Their bond was really something else. Charlie’s entire body was charred, yet he was still protecting Asher to the bitter end. They say the wall was covered in marks he’d left in his agony, but he never moved from that one position, just kept tightly shielding Asher in the corner."

"In the end, Asher survived, though with extensive burns on his legs, arms, and back. But Charlie... he was burned to a crisp," Erin Whittaker sighed.

My body slowly went rigid. I fought to suppress my rage, but I couldn’t stop trembling.

"After that, that Asher of hers went mad. He suffered in the hospital for a long time. I heard burns are excruciatingly painful, and there’s always the risk of infection. I don’t know how he managed to survive. So resilient..." Erin Whittaker pursed her lips in disdain. "How could anyone survive that and *not* go mad?"

"And while he was in agony, do you know what Cecilia Caldwell was doing? After her car accident, she was in a coma for a period of time. By the time she woke up, she had completely forgotten Asher. To be honest, I don’t really know what Cecilia experienced during that time. I only know that when she woke up, she became very withdrawn for a long while."

Even as Erin Whittaker spoke about Cecilia Caldwell, her face was still full of jealousy.

"She grew withdrawn and wouldn’t communicate with anyone. She seemed weak and cowardly, like she had become a completely different person. She looked like an easy target for bullying."

"Until she finally recovered, returned to school, and integrated back into a normal life of studying and preparing for her college entrance exams."

Erin Whittaker laughed sarcastically. "Around that time, I heard Asher escaped from the hospital. He risked infection, limping as he followed Cecilia Caldwell around. But she had forgotten him. Seeing him would make her scream in terror and flee in a panic."

She was saying this on purpose for me to hear. "I once saw Cecilia screaming and running away from the Fletcher family’s front gate because she was scared of Asher. Two people who were once so in love had become complete strangers to each other."

"I intentionally watched Cecilia Caldwell suffer from amnesia. I intentionally watched her fall in love with someone else. I intentionally watched Julian Fletcher mistrust and torment her. That was the punishment she deserved. She deserved to die."

I shot to my feet, my breathing suddenly ragged.

Staring at Erin Whittaker with darkened eyes, I reached out, grabbed her by the collar, and spoke, word by word. "Not so fast. If she deserved to die... you deserve it even more."

Snatching the lighter from her hand, I questioned her, my face devoid of expression. "That fire back then... The one who started it... It was you, wasn’t it?"

A flicker of fear crossed Erin Whittaker’s face. "That had nothing to do with me..."

"But... Ash, before he died, told Zeke Shaw that at the scene of the arson, he saw a girl in a white dress and a small hair clip. Amidst the jeers of the crowd, she was the one who threw the lighter..." My voice was trembling, and the hand clutching Erin Whittaker’s collar was shaking too. "How could all of you be so deserving of death...?"

’Those were human lives.’ "That was two people!"

I roared at Erin Whittaker, my eyes burning and bloodshot.

"It wasn’t me!" Erin Whittaker screamed in terror. "They forced me... I didn’t want to! They were jealous of me, they made me do it! If I hadn’t thrown it, they would have locked me in there too..."

It seemed Erin Whittaker was also terrified of that past nightmare.

’Yes. The victim is also the abuser. And the abuser... is the murderer.’

’Every single one of them deserves to die...’

"Wouldn’t you like to taste what it’s like to be burned by a raging fire?" I laughed, grabbing Erin Whittaker’s hair. "Wouldn’t you like to know what it feels like to be consumed by flames and burned alive?"

Erin Whittaker was truly afraid now, staring at me in terror. "What do you think you’re doing? Silvia Lynch... I’m warning you, don’t go crazy! There are cameras everywhere, the housekeeper is here... AHH!"

I grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the kitchen. I opened a bottle of strong spirits from the cabinet and poured it over her head.

I held the lighter, my trembling fingers flicking it again and again.

"Why? Why is it that when you do evil, you can be forgiven, but when we take an eye for an eye, we’re called psychopaths? We’re the ones with ’emotional disorders’ who get locked up and experimented on like animals?" I asked, coldly bringing the lit lighter closer to Erin Whittaker.

’Just burn her to death. Let her taste what it’s like to be burned alive.’

’Cecilia, kill her.’

(The memory of Asher escaping to see Cece, only for her to have forgotten him, is so tragic. Sob. Let me think about how to write it for you from God’s perspective.)