Walking beside me, Eric made his way through the backyard, his footsteps deliberate amid the
neglected garden.
As he casually plucked a weed from the earth, a wry smile crossed his lips. “My sister, she was a true
beauty. Marrying into the Langley family was like winning the lottery for Samuel. Everyone said he was
the lucky one.”
Back then, for Eric and his sister, being epted into the Langleys was like reaching the stars.
I stared at Eric in disbelief. Samuel had been married, and I had never imagined that his wife was Eric’s
sister.
“If I hadn’t been working as Brendan’s right hand, Samuel probably wouldn’t have had the chance to
get close to my sister,” Eric said with a sneer. “Guess he thought by winning me over, he could curry
favor with Brendan. Too bad, Samuel turned out to be a real piece of
work.”
His gaze fell upon my belly, and I felt a chill down my spine. “When my sister was six months pregnant,
the hormonal changes… they took a toll on her. She lost her figure, looked run–down. Samuel, he
couldn’t stand that she wasn’t the fresh young thing he married. He spent his days and nights out on
the town, dazzled by some starlet. Even with his father’s disapproval, he wanted a divorce. But she
was six months along. What was she supposed to do?”
Pregnancy usually meant a woman could refuse a divorce, and Samuel was trapped by that.
“What do you think that starlet suggested to Samuel?” Eric asked, a cold smile ying on his lips.
I involuntarily took a deep breath, bracing myself for the worst.
“She told him about this type of horsewhip, the kind they use in the stables. It doesn’t leave much of a
mark, but it hurts like hell. Advised him to beat my sister until she agreed to the divorce. She said
domestic disputes were just that, disputes. If she was stubborn and wound up dead, well, she’d have
gotten what she deserved.”
“So, one night, Samuel came home drunk and he… he beat my sister. It was a double tragedy.” Eric’s
voice was eerily calm, as if he hade to terms with it all.
But I knew better. He hadn’t let go. He harbored a deep–seated hatred for the Langleys, for Samuel, for
Brendan.
The more he spoke, the more I was convinced that Eric had yed a role in the downfall of the Langley
family. This man… he was not to be underestimated.
“Samuel lied, said it was a fall down the stairs. Brendan paid off whoever he needed to bury the truth. If
it hadn’t been for a Langley housemaid risking it all to give me the footage she’d caught, I would’ve
thought my sister was just unlucky in life.”
He opened the car door for me. “I apologize, Ma’am. I shouldn’t have burdened you with this.”
11:35
“What happened after?” I pressed, sensing there was more to the story.
Eric hesitated, then smiled faintly. “Afterward, I took the young master Caleb out of the psychiatric
facility. We were kindred spirits; his eyes reminded me of my sister’s. I dedicated myself to making it up
to him, all the apologies I owed her.”
He alluded to meeting Colin, but I sensed an undertone to his words I couldn’t grasp.
N?velDrama.Org ? content.
“Later, Samuel got hiseuppance. He yed too rough, damaged himself beyond repair, became
incapable of fatherhood. He also injured his spine, and now he’s bound to a wheelchair.”
I murmured, the words spilling out. “Now, he’s living a fate worse than death, in a persistent vegetative
state. Serves him right.”
“For the truly wicked, death isn’t punishment. It’s the living death, hanging by a thread… that’s the real
punishment,” Eric said, his voiceced with meaning.
For some reason, a sharp pain struck my chest.
Death wasn’t punishment; it was the living death.
Before my own demise, I was made into a specimen in a ss disy, my life sustained by countless
nutrients.
Was my killer punishing me?
My head began to throb fiercely, and I leaned on the car door for support until Colin came over and
wrapped his arms around me, offering some relief.
What had I forgotten?