The Heiress's Revenge - A Bloody Affair - Chapter 38

[38 – The Horror]
Caroline awoke the next morning with a pounding headache and a queasy stomach. Last night, after grooming herself, Caroline had spent the night drinking and dancing to loud music. She was locked in her room and tried to tire herself so that she could fall asleep but she wasn’t able to.

She then chose to take a few sleeping pills along with alcohol to make sure she is able to enjoy a dreamless slumber which she was able to. But the next morning brought her a severe headache, making her feel disorientated and groggy.

A pungent smell hit her nostrils as she found herself lying amidst her own vomit, a reminder of her reckless indulgence of last night. Caroline struggled to sit up, she was wearing high heels and her head was spinning so whenever she tried to sit up, she would fall back.

After many tries she managed to sit up and then stand and drag herself to the washroom to clean herself. She decided to shower, hoping that it might wash away the physical and emotional mess that she was in. She removed her clothes and walked over to the washbasin to clean the makeup first but she froze when she looked at the mirror.

The mirror, usually a reflection of her face, now bore the accusatory words that she had been hearing from the past few days. Written in bold, harsh strokes using what looked like blood, were the words;

“You think you could take my place? You are just a fake.”

Caroline’s eyes widened the size of saucers, her heart skipping a few beats as fear and confusion gripped her. She started breathing hard, her hands tightened into fists, as he turned a three shades paler when she re-read what was written on her washroom’s mirror.

A scream erupted from deep within her and Caroline fell down on the floor. As she fell, she accidentally hit a sharp edge that caused the wound on her head to start bleeding. He whole body was trembling, the message on her mirror glaring at her, accusing her for what she did and who she is.

Caroline hastily stood up, fumbling a few times and falling again and again, but she stood up and ran outside the washroom screaming. She wanted to run out of her room but she had been locked in her by her uncle so she started banging at the door while screaming to let her out, asking for help.

William, Asher, and Victoria were calmly having breakfast when they heard loud bangs and screams coming from Caroline’s room. While Asher and Victoria stood up from their seats and were about to go to Caroline’s room to check, William remained seated.

“Don’t panic. This must be an act for us to let her out of the room. Stay seated and she would stop in a few minutes or so.” ordered William.

But even after half an hour passed, Caroline continued to scream and bang at the door to her room. Angered, William finally stood up and walked over to open the door for Caroline to tell her to stop creating such ruckus.

But when he opened the door, they all were hit by the pungent smell of vomit and alcohol. Covering up their noses, they entered the room and found Caroline standing there naked. Asher quickly covered her up with the comforter but Caroline only screamed in panic.

“What the hell did you do?” screamed William not caring that Caroline was scared.

Her voice trembled as she tried to convey what she had seen, “You, you have to come see this! There was something written on the bathroom mirror.” she implored, her eyes wide with fear.

William glanced up, his brow furrowing in irritation. “Caroline, not this again. You need to get a grip on yourself!” he chided believing that she was being delusional again.

“No, no! You have to see this! There is blood on my mirror. Look there, there, there -” Caroline was having a panic attack while she tried to convey it to others about what she saw but they all were looking at her as if she was crazy.

“I am not crazy!” Caroline screamed and led them to the washroom to show them the message written on her mirror, “Look it’s here. Look they are calling me fake. I am not fake, I am not fake.” she continued to mumble while pointing at the mirror.

“What message? There is nothing on the mirror, you stupid woman!” William shouted and forcefully turned Caroline around to make her see that there was nothing on the mirror and that is was clean.

“But there was. Someone left a message for me, someone who know. Believe me, please!” Caroline begged and started crying as she tugged at William’s arm hoping he would believe her but William did not.

Instead, he pulled his arm from her grasp rather forcefully and slapped her hard across the cheek. The sound of the slap echoing in the washroom. “There is nothing there on this mirror, you dumb bitch!”

“Stop acting delusional and gather yourself. If it weren’t for that old man’s will, I would have -” he shook his head and did not complete his sentence.

This was William, a man who did not care about his daughter. All that mattered to him was his share of the massive fortune that was written on Caroline Mae Sullivan’s name, and whose access lies with his own daughter. But he could not get even a penny out of that fortune until Caroline’s marriage.

He cursed his father for creating such a will with such ridiculous stipulations, “Clean yourself up, and get ready. We have managed to find a way to suppress that damn scandal. Now, I don’t want someone to claim that you have gone crazy.”

And with that William left the room followed by his wife Victoria. Asher stayed there for a minute. He bent down and pulled Caroline up making her sit on the bed, “Caroline, there’s nothing on the mirror. You must have imagined it.” he said gently, his voice tinged with concern.

“But, but I saw it! It was right there!” Caroline protested, her voice rising in frustration and panic as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

Asher stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on Caroline’s shoulder. “Maybe it was just a hallucination, Caroline. You’ve been through a lot.” he offered softly but Caroline was inconsolable.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she shook her head in disbelief. “No, I know what I saw. I am not delusional.” she whispered hoarsely hoping that at least Asher, her brother would understand her and believe her but the expressions on his face told her otherwise.

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Meanwhile, across the city at Seraphina’s place, Elijah woke up early. Since he had come back, this was the first night that he slept peacefully despite the illogical dream that he had last night. He quietly walked outside the room looking around for Seraphina but did not find her around.

So he went to the kitchen, having decided to prepare coffee and breakfast for both of them. Elijah found everything that he needed in the kitchen as he waited for Seraphina to wake.

About an hour or so later, Seraphina woke up and stepped out of her room to make herself a cup of coffee but her mind and body went on high alert when a delicious aroma filled hers senses. Seraphina stiffened at the thought of someone at her place but then she recalled that it must be Elijah.

She entered the kitchen, with a mask of happiness and sweet surprise coloring her facial features, “Elijah, I didn’t know that you could cook.” she smiled softly and inhaled deeply taking in the delicious aroma.

Elijah responded with a smile of his own and replied, “My grandparents taught me how to cook. They were of the opinion that it is a must for a person, be it a man or woman, to know how to cook their meals by themselves and not depend on anybody else.”

Seraphina nodded her head and poured a cup of coffee for herself, “Also, I though you might appreciate some coffee and breakfast in bed.” he said while gesturing to the fluffy omelet that he just flipped over the plate and handed it to Seraphina who took the plate but hesitated to eat the omelet.

After what she had experienced in her life, Seraphina could not trust people. There were only a few whom she trusted explicitly and there were some who had a little bit of her trust but Elijah, he was a big no!

She did not trust him at all. Not only was he a stranger but he was also her enemy. So there was no way she was going to eat anything that he made. It was her instinct that did not let her eat despite a part of her brain telling her that Elijah would not poison her or anything at this point.

But who knows. He is Marcus Grayson’s son after all. He had already been involved in suicide and murder cases, what if he was planning to do the same to her. This is why Seraphina deliberately pushed her mug of coffee off the table causing it to shatter to pieces while the piping hot coffee splattered everywhere.

“Oh my God!” Seraphina let out a sharp cry and moved away and made sure drop the plate of omelet on the floor as well. There was no way she was going to eat this bloody breakfast.