Chapter 29: Why Julian Fletcher Hates Me

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Why Julian Fletcher Hates Me

Julian Fletcher didn’t go home. Instead, he went to Hollow-tree Alley and the Street Alley.

I didn’t know what he was planning to do. I just followed him, step by step, without any real destination.

’Perhaps I just desperately wanted to see the look on his face when he learned the truth.’

’Was it regret? Relief? Or would he immediately jump to Erin Whittaker’s defense?’

"Julian Fletcher, did you ever have even a shred of feeling for me? What were you thinking when you bullied me? Did you just feel disgust while taking from me without any limits?" I stood behind Julian Fletcher, asking him again and again.

I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I stubbornly persisted, desperate for a resolution, for an answer.

"Fletcher... we really haven’t found any sign of Cecilia Caldwell. The police said it’s a fact we had her come over on the 13th and 14th, and we all told them the truth about that. But the police say the surveillance footage shows Cecilia also came on the 15th, and she went to the Street Alley again. I saw the footage myself. Cecilia definitely came, and she was alone."

One of Julian Fletcher’s good buddies had arrived with the results of his investigation.

I watched them with a cold smile. ’Are they really this clueless, or is this just an act?’ I could clearly remember hearing their laughter and roughhousing through my earpiece on the day it happened to me.

They had even said over the listening device that a woman like Cecilia Caldwell wasn’t even good enough for a pervert.

"The 15th... what was she doing here all by herself?" Julian Fletcher’s face was pale as he looked around. "Did the surveillance cameras catch her leaving?"

"The police have identified a janitor. During the time Cecilia Caldwell disappeared, only a janitor was seen leaving, dragging a large trash can. No sign of Cecilia..." His friend’s voice trailed off, losing its confidence.

Then, he asked in a low voice, "Julian... could Cecilia... could something have really happened to her?"

Julian Fletcher’s face turned ashen. He was probably starting to panic. "Don’t talk nonsense. She’s not dead."

Julian Fletcher took a step back, leaning against the wall.

I just stood there, watching him, feeling a pang of sorrow.

"Julian, I’m not trying to be mean, but a woman like Cecilia Caldwell is unscrupulous. She’d do anything to get what she wants. She pushed Erin down the stairs, and she even poisoned Erin with rat poison for her own selfish reasons. It’s actually a good thing if someone like that is dead. Things are more peaceful."

None of Julian Fletcher’s buddies liked me. I always knew that. They all liked Erin Whittaker.

I was actually very clear on this. Erin Whittaker might have had the ability to make them all believe her, but the real reason these people disrespected me, made fun of me, bullied me, and even humiliated me was because Julian Fletcher deliberately allowed it.

Because Julian Fletcher hated me, they felt justified in hating me too.

Julian Fletcher frowned, his gaze turning dark and menacing as he stared at the other man. It was a little frightening.

I remembered that man. His name was Jake Abbott. He had tried to sexually assault me in the back garden of the Fletcher Family’s estate. But he didn’t succeed. I smashed him over the head, and he fled in a panic.

Afterward, Jake Abbott threatened me, telling me not to say a word about what happened that day. He said that even if I did, no one would believe me.

To make sure no one would believe me, he started spreading rumors among Julian Fletcher’s circle of friends, slandering me and destroying my reputation. His goal was to make sure that if I ever told the truth, it would be dismissed.

Only by ruining my reputation could his assault on me become just one more unbelievable story in a sea of scandals. That way, even if I spoke up, no one would believe me.

And that’s exactly what happened.

...

Jake Abbott was a distant relative of Julian Fletcher. When I first joined the Fletcher Family at eighteen, he was there too.

Back then, his mother spoke unhappily to Julian Fletcher’s mother, "Sister-in-law, if you’re really that desperate for a child, our Jake is a good kid. If you want a daughter, I have one of those too. Why take in an outsider’s child instead of looking after your own family?"

At that moment, I cowered behind Julian Fletcher. My parents had just passed away, and I had no one I could trust. I was terrified.

"Don’t be scared. Ignore them. They’re all crazy." Julian Fletcher took my wrist and led me to a room on the second floor.

"From now on, this is your home."

I looked at Julian Fletcher quietly. In that instant, my reliance on him and my feelings for him reached their peak.

But all of that shattered and ended the moment he found the love letter I had written.

All these years, I’ve never understood why Julian Fletcher reacted so strongly, with so much disgust.

It was just an innocent teenage crush. Why did he hate me for it for so many years?