The Heiress's Revenge - A Bloody Affair - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: [24 – A Blast from the Past – II]
The room was thick with tension, the air almost crackling with the weight of unspoken words. Caroline was seated on the bed, crying while being consoled by her aunt, Victoria and Ethan’s mother, Katherine who were sitting on either of her side. While Chloe stood in the corner with Elijah standing beside her.

And her brother Asher stood next to his father, William, who looked ready to kill Ethan.

William was fuming, burning with the desire to hit Ethan. He wanted to beat the shit out of that son of a bitch but controlled himself for he could not risk his business friendship with Marcus.

For the world, the three of them, Marcus, William, and Daniel were best friends. In public’s eyes they are as close and tightly knit like a family. But that wasn’t true.

Of course, they are friends but their friendship is based on the give and take system. They are together because of their business, because of the investments and profits, and because each of them know the others secrets. They know of the crimes the other has committed, of the illegal activities each of them is involved in.

So William had to tread carefully because one mistake could lead to his complete destruction. Marcus might be as furious as he was at Ethan but Ethan was Marcus’s son, his own flesh and blood so it was given that Marcus would forgive Ethan.

But that could not be said for William. He knows how protective Marcus is about his children, so harming one or any of them would be akin to inviting Marcus’s wrath upon himself which William did not want to.

That’s why, he chose to remain quiet and let Marcus deal with Ethan.

“Dad, I -” Ethan tried to explain himself but Marcus did not let him complete and slapped him hard across his cheek. The sound of that slap echoed through the room like a gunshot.

The force of it caused Ethan to stumble and fall down on the floor. His hand raised to his cheek, the touch making him wince as a stinging pain radiated through his cheek and down to his jaw.

Ethan could feel the hot, sharp sensation at the corner of his mouth, and when he pulled his hand away, there was a small smear of blood on his fingertips. The corner of his lip had split open, a tiny but painful reminder of the force of his father’s anger.

“How dare you?!” Marcus mumbled angrily, his voice turning louder as he repeated, “HOW DARE YOU?!”

“Dad -” Marcus did not let Ethan complete and kicked him behind his knees when Ethan tried to stand up. The kick caused him to fall down again.

“How could you do this, Ethan?” bending down to be at Ethan’s face level, Marcus grabbed at Ethan’s collar and shook his hard, “I warned you, didn’t I? I told you to not do something stupid but -”

“Dad?” Marcus stilled and turned to look at his eldest son who was staring at him with questioning eyes, “You knew about this?” questioned Elijah because his father sounded like that he knew that Ethan was cheating on Caroline.

In his anger, Marcus had forgotten that Elijah was in the room as well. Elijah, who knew nothing about their lifestyle, who was oblivious to the fact that his family members were not what he believed them to be.

“I didn’t.” Marcus lied through gritted teeth, “If I had know I would have -” Marcus pushed Ethan away and stood up.

He walked over to the mini bar, his hands shaking because of anger as he reached for the bottle of whiskey. Without a second thought, he grabbed the bottle and yanked the cap off with a swift, angry motion.

He didn’t bother with a glass. The need for the burn of the liquid was too immediate, too urgent because only that would be able to quell the raging fire inside him. Raising the bottle to his lips, he took a long, hard swig, the amber liquid burning a fiery path down his throat.

His eyes squeezed shut as the alcohol hit his stomach, “Leave, Ethan!”

The others tries to talk to him but Marcus was in no mood to listen to anybody. He didn’t want Ethan or anybody else to be there because right now Marcus was not in his right mind and might end up doing something that he would regret later. So it was better for him to alone at the moment.

“Leave, I said.” he roared and took another gulp, more desperate than the last, as if trying to drown the anger and frustration that threatened to consume him. “Leave or else I might loose my control and end up doing something that we all will regret later.”

“Go! And leave me alone!” everybody did as they were told to.

Ethan was the first one to leave. He knew very well what could happen if father’s anger exploded. He stood up and walked out of the room as fast as he could.

The ladies were the next to leave, followed by William and Asher. Only Elijah remained by his father’s side. He placed a hand on Marcus’s shoulder, “Dad, I’ll handle this. Don’t worry.”

Marcus turned his head to look at Elijah, his eyes red and burning as he nodded in acknowledgement before taking another hard swig of the whiskey. After that, Elijah left as well leaving Marcus alone.

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Meanwhile, Seraphina was filing her nails while listening to everything that was being said in that private room occupied by the Grayson and Sullivan family. She frowned in surprise and confusion when she heard Elijah ask Marcus if he knew about Ethan’s affairs as if he himself knew nothing about it.

Seraphina wondered for a minute if Elijah really didn’t know about Ethan’s sexcapades but didn’t think much about it. It meant nothing to her if Elijah knew or not.

She heard Marcus tell everybody to leave him alone and was disappointed that the confrontation was cut short for whatever reason. Putting the device on recording mode so that she wouldn’t miss anything happening in that room, Seraphina shifted her attention to the second half of her plan.

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It took Caroline about 45 minutes to convince her family that she wanted to be left alone. They were not ready to leave her in the fear that she might harm herself but Caroline was not going to do that. She only wanted to be left alone because she wanted peace, she wanted to calm herself down.

Also, she did not want to be photographed by the reporters in such a sorry state. The news about Ethan’s infidelity must have already spread and the reporters must be waiting outside hounding and hunting for a scoop.

She required peace to carefully think about a plan to make Ethan go through the same humiliation that she went through today. She wanted to hurt him just as bad and for that she needed an elaborate plan which would help her not only hurt Ethan but it would be executed in a way that no one would point fingers at her accusing her for her revenge scheme.

Caroline removed every piece of clothing on her body and stepped inside the bathtub to take a bath first. Katherine had paid for this luxurious suite for her for a full week to let Caroline relax and recover.

After her bath, she took a quick shower to wash away the remnants of the bath bomb that she had used. Wiping her body dry with a towel, Caroline had just put on a bathrobe when she heard a knock at the door.

She walked closer and looked through the peephole before opening the door. “Who is it?” she asked.

“Ma’am, I am the manager of this hotel. A friend of yours left a gift for you saying that it was your birthday -” Caroline did not let the man complete his sentence and asked, “Who’s this friend? Did they tell you their name?”

“Yes, ma’am.” the manager responded, “She said that her name was Isabella Smith.”

Isabella was indeed a friend of Caroline’s who could not come to attend her birthday and engagement party because she was away at some private island resort on her honeymoon.

“Just leave it outside, I will pick it up.” the manager did not question her request and did what he was told to.

He left the giftbox outside and walked away. Caroline emerged about 15 minutes later and quickly picked up the giftbox and slammed the door close again. Locking the door, she went to the bedroom to open the box.

She had a small smile curved upon her lips while opening the giftbox. Inside the box was a scrapbook and a jewelry box. Caroline went for the jewelry box, her smile turning into a frown as she spotted a very familiar necklace laying inside the box.

It was a pendant necklace made of a rare sapphire set in a platinum chain that was embellished with small sized diamonds. It was the same necklace that she had taken away from it’s owner years ago. She remembered that she had lost it someone else in a game at a casino in Las Vegas.

‘How did Isabella managed to get it back?’ she wondered.

Caroline placed it aside and opened the other gift, the scrapbook next. The first three pages included pictures of her, of her with Isabella, and with her family but when Caroline turned to page number four, she froze.

Her breathing became shallow, her heartbeat erratic as she stared at a very familiar face that now haunted her. A face that she never though she would get to see again, a face that was now a hazy memory that she had almost forgotten.

A face that one belonged to her. To Camille Rose Sullivan.

Caroline could feel panic rising within her, clawing at her insides wanting to break free. The vast room seemed to close in around her as if the walls were moving closer and closer making the room feel small.

Tears welled up in Caroline’s eyes as she went through the rest of the scrapbook only to discover more of her childhood pictures before all the facial reconstruction surgeries that she had to go through.

Caroline screamed when she hastily turned to the last page and found two photographs stuck on it. One was of her after her surgeries, a photograph in which she looked like her cousin Caroline whose identity she had taken upon.

And next to that photograph was a photograph of the real Caroline, of the real Caroline Mae Sullivan from her 9th birthday and even with the difference in age, she could still spot the difference between the two photographs.

Despite the advancement of technology, no one could make her look exactly like the real Caroline. The difference screamed to her that she was fake.

Shaking her head violently, Caroline covered her ears with her hands to muffle the voices that were yelling, telling her that she was fake. Curling up in a ball, she pushed the scrapbook and the necklace down the bed by her feet as the guilt that she had thought she could bury beneath the layers of deception, surged forth to consume her.

Her façade cracked further as she struggled to breathe, her panic attack intensifying with each passing second. Her whole body felt heavy and it was becoming difficult for her to breathe as the realization that she could never become the real Caroline despite believing that she was, dawned upon her.