Chapter 33: Why Won’t You Believe Me

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Why Won’t You Believe Me

The ambulance came and took Erin Whittaker away.

I watched Julian Fletcher anxiously scoop up Erin Whittaker, but not before shooting me a vicious glare.

Everyone there testified on Erin Whittaker’s behalf, saying I was the one who pushed her. Even the Fletcher family’s servants sided with them.

For a moment, I was lost. I even started to wonder if I really was... the one who pushed her down the stairs.

I was once again caught in the trap of having to prove my own innocence.

I didn’t know what to say. Explaining felt wrong, but so did staying silent.

I curled up at the foot of the stairs and waited for a long, long time.

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, Julian Fletcher returned.

I stood up, my eyes red and swollen, and choked out, "Julian... It wasn’t me."

SLAP! A hand struck my face, and a fierce ringing filled my ear.

My nose started bleeding, and I could barely hear out of that ear. My eardrum must have been ruptured.

He had put a lot of force into that slap.

"Do you have any idea that Erin Whittaker’s sister is insisting on calling the police?! This is assault!" Julian Fletcher hauled me up from the floor and dragged me into the study. "Cecilia Caldwell, have I been too lenient with you? Now you even dare to break the law!"

"What’s next? Are you going to kill someone next?!"

I clutched my cheek, staring at Julian Fletcher. ’How I wished he would believe me.’

I shook my head, pleading through my tears. "Julian Fletcher... it wasn’t me, it really wasn’t."

But he didn’t believe me at all.

"Jake Abbott! Jake Abbott saw it! It wasn’t me, I didn’t push her, I really didn’t!" I explained frantically, practically on my knees begging him to believe me.

But he didn’t.

"It was Jake Abbott who said he saw you push Erin Whittaker down the stairs with his own eyes! And you still want to deny it?!"

Julian Fletcher’s words sent a chill through me, as if I’d been plunged into an icy abyss.

’Of course. How could I have been so stupid? To think Jake Abbott would stand on the side of justice and speak up for me.’

’From the very beginning, they were the ones who spread rumors and ruined my life.’

"When Erin wakes up, if she refuses to forgive you, you’re going to prison!"

Julian Fletcher said he was going to send me to prison.

I was terrified. And I couldn’t accept it.

After my parents died, I studied desperately, working so hard. I earned everything I have today through sheer effort.

I couldn’t accept being destroyed just like that.

"I’m not going to prison! I didn’t push her!"

I stared at Julian Fletcher in horror, my breath catching in my throat.

I scrambled to my feet in fear. I don’t know where the courage came from, but I shoved him aside and fled the Fletcher family home with all my might.

Fleeing the place I once thought was heaven, but later discovered was Hell.

I ran, hiding in a dark alley for a long, long time.

I was terrified. In that moment, I felt a loneliness so profound it was absolute.

I don’t remember when I fell asleep, nor do I remember who draped a tattered but clean blanket over me.

I don’t know who left a cheap but clean cup of milk tea and a lollipop beside me.

This wasn’t the first time someone had given me a lollipop when I was alone in the dark.

Back when my parents were still alive, I used to throw tantrums and run away from home. Every time, I’d wake up to find a lollipop beside me.

"Who are you...?" I murmured, looking around.

’Who is this person who always watches over me from the shadows?’

"If you’re not human... can you take me away? I’m a coward... I don’t even have the guts to kill myself." ’How could I dare to die?’

’If I could have just died, I would have followed my parents the year they passed away.’

On the day of the car crash, I watched with my own eyes as my parents’ blood mingled with shards of broken glass.

They said: "Cece, you have to live. Live for us... for your father and me... Live on, and show us... the world of the future..."

How could I dare to die? I’m carrying too much on my shoulders.

...

Julian Fletcher had people searching for me for days, but there was no news.

Today is his and Erin Whittaker’s wedding, but the venue isn’t very lively.

I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but it seems like neither Erin Whittaker nor Julian Fletcher look very happy.

"Julian Fletcher, she’s not coming back." Madeline Quinn had arrived. She sneered at the wedding photo of Julian Fletcher and Erin Whittaker and gave it a kick. "Disgusting."