The Heiress's Revenge - A Bloody Affair - Chapter 43

[43 – Web of Deceit – II]
Seraphina was at her mansion, the decoy one whose address Elijah knew about. She was sitting there in the living room waiting for Elijah to come. She was sure that he would come and if her estimate and intuition was right that he would be arriving within the next ten minutes.

That’s why she started preparing to welcome him. She picked out the soiled bandages that she had thrown in the dustbin earlier and placed it at the bottom of the couch on which she was sitting. Taking out the first aid kit, she opened it and placed it beside her on the couch.

She pressed on the wound on her foot until it started bleeding again. She did not flinch even once while injuring herself, in fact, she kept on smiling as if it did not pain her while aggravating her injury.

Her intuition was proven correct when she heard the screech of car tires and spotted Elijah’s car through the floor to ceiling windows. Her whole demeanor shifted when she heard the doorbell rang.

Willing herself to cry, Seraphina made sure to leave her bloodied foot prints as she walked towards the door to open it for Elijah, and kept on wincing as she moved. All this to evoke the feelings of sympathy and protection in Elijah’s heart by pretending to be in distress.

“Ah, hi!” Seraphina greeted Elijah, wincing slightly, almost naturally causing the smile of Elijah’s face to vanish, his eyes widening with concern as he noticed the distress on Seraphina’s face.

“What happened?” asked Elijah, his brows drawn together in a frown. Seraphina moved aside to let him in and it is then that he noticed the bloodied foot prints on the floor, “What the -”

“Oh my God, Sera!” Elijah’s eyes widened in concern as he noticed the blood oozing through Seraphina’s wound.

“What happened?” he asked and bent down slightly to scoop her up in arms and rushed outside towards his car.

“What the?! Elijah, what are you doing?” Seraphina questioned while struggling slightly in Elijah’s arm.

Instead of answering her, Elijah asked her to, “Open the door, Sera.” but she did nothing except for staring at Elijah.

“Tch!” making a face, Elijah took a few steps back only to place her on the bonnet of the car, “Now, sit here for a moment.” he told her and when she tried to protest and get down, he pushed back on the bonnet again.

“Sshh, keep quiet.” he scolded like a teacher or parents would scold little kids. When Seraphina opened her mouth to speak, Elijah placed his finger on her lips and repeated, “Sshh, now.”

He then unlocked the car and opened the passenger door before going back to pick Seraphina up in his arms and then made her sit on the seat sideways. Afterwards, he knelt down on his knees and grabbed Seraphina’s injured foot.

His eyes grew misty as he assessed Seraphina’s bleeding wound. His concern filled eyes missed the smirk that curved upon Seraphina’s lips, “How did this happen? What were you trying to do?” he asked without looking up.

“I, tshh,” Seraphina pretentiously hissed lightly when she felt Elijah’s fingertip graze her wounded flesh lightly, “I accidently hit my foot while I was getting a glass of water for myself and it started bleeding like this so I was trying to bandage my foot.” she said, her voice trembling.

“Why didn’t you call me or someone else for help?” asked Elijah but did not wait for Seraphina’s reply and added, “Forget it! We are going to the doctor now!” he gently closed the door to the passenger seat, then went to lock the door to Seraphina’s house.

Meanwhile, Seraphina felt delighted seeing Elijah’s concern for her and they way he was treating her, so delicately, so lovingly. Her sharp eyes were focused on his every move. If he was this panicked because of this small wound, what would his reaction be if she ever got hurt deeply.

The wheels in Seraphina’s brain were already moving in the right direction. His reaction solidifying the fact that the plans that she had in mind for the Grayson family were definitely going to succeed. Same was the case with schemes for her dearest Uncle and his family. As for Daniel, well, the new year’s party is definitely going to a blast for him.

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On the other side of the city, the moment Caroline arrived back home at the Sullivan mansion, she literally ran inside her room and locked the door close. She had done her best at the press conference and did not let anybody notice the panic and fear that had settled inside her causing her to tremble.

Her mind was replaying the chaotic events of the past few days. Though the grandeur of the Sullivan mansion, with its huge gates, towering boundary walls and even her room, offered her no comfort, still, she locked herself in her room.

Her heart pounded as she methodically closed and locked all the windows in her room, making sure that there was no way someone could enter her room. Her body shook with the fear that she had been keeping inside since this morning.

She drew the heavy curtains over the windows, covering her room in a blanket of darkness and shutting out the world outside. The room felt suffocating but somewhere in Caroline’s mind it still felt safer than anywhere else in the world.

Once she was done, Caroline toed off her heels and slid down on the floor. She drew her knees closer to her chest and rested her head over them. The day that should have been the best day of her life filled with happiness, joy, and laughter, instead became one of the bad days in her life, not worst though. She had seen worst, lived through those days and survived.

The whole day had been quite overwhelming for her. The press conference, their probing questions, and the intense scrutiny she had been subjected to made her feel exposed and vulnerable. She had a hard time maintaining her calm and poised composure.

She closed her eyes and tried to forget about everything that made her doubt her own identity. She was Caroline Mae Sullivan, nobody and nothing could take that away from her. She would not let them do so.

Taking deep breaths, Caroline tried to steady her nerves. She tried not to think about any negative thought and simply focus on creating a better life for herself. Standing up, Caroline gathered all the courage that she had in her body and stepped inside the washroom.

Vigilant and alert, she looked around the washroom to see if there was any message or anything else like it had been this morning. Once she was sure that everything was fine, she removed her clothes and stepped under the shower. She chose the normal temperature water and closed her eyes letting the water drizzle down on her body, causing her muscles to relax.

Once she was done soaking her body, Caroline opened her eyes to grab the shower gel. Her eyes widened and she screamed when she noticed that the water coming from the shower was tinted red, as if it had been mixed with blood.

Caroline continued to scream and ran out of the washroom only to slip and fall down on the floor. She wasn’t hurt but she felt extremely scared. Hurriedly she turned off the shower and quickly began wiping herself with a towel.

She rubbed the towel over her skin so hard that it left rashes on her smooth skin. Even though it was hurting her, Caroline did not stop until she was sure that she had wiped all the bloodied water off her body.

Even when she was done wiping herself, Caroline quickly wore her nightdress before jumping on the bed and burying herself under the comforter. This time she did not yell for help because she did not want to be perceived as crazy again because what if this was another of her delusions?

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Meanwhile, Elijah and Seraphina arrived at the hospital to get Seraphina’s wound treated. After parking his car, Elijah stepped out first and the went over to open the car door for Seraphina and once again gathered her up in his arms in a bridal carry.

Her took her to the examination room and stayed with her while the doctor cleaned Seraphina’s wound and carefully bandaged it after applying the medicinal solution. The doctor wrote a couple of painkillers in the prescription, along with the instructions of how to not aggravate the wound and get it infected.

Afterwards, the doctor also told the nurse to give Seraphina an injection to speed up the recovery. As the nurse filled the injection with the medicine, Seraphina pretended to be afraid and clutched Elijah’s hand tightly.

Seraphina sat on the edge of the hospital bed, her fixed on the injection in the nurse’s hand. Her grip on Elijah’s hand tightened almost painfully but Elijah said nothing and continued to murmur comforting words, trying to calm her down.

“Elijah!” she whispered, her voice shaking. “I can’t do this, please! I hate injections, they are so scary and painful!”

Elijah’s eyes were full on concern as he squeezed her hand gently and said, “Seraphina, it’s okay. I’m right here with you, hhmm. Keep your focus on me, okay? Just look at me.”

She nodded, biting her lower lip as she stared into his eyes while Elijah continue to assure her that it would be fine and that it would be over soon so she doesn’t have to be afraid. The nurse swabbed her arm with antiseptic, making Seraphina shiver and tense up.

“Ready?” the nurse asked gently.

Seraphina only nodded in response and tightly shut her eyes close, digging her nails into the skin of Elijah’s hand deliberately. In those few seconds, she pressed her nails into his skin as hard as she could while pretending to be afraid.

“It’s okay, Sera. You are doing great!” instead of pulling his hand away from her hold, Elijah continued to say encouraging words to her.

“And, it’s done.” the nurse’s voice made her open her eyes and finally let go of Elijah’s hand, “Even 5 years old don’t fear needles but look at you.” the nurse smiled and shook her head before walking away.

Elijah smiled at her and patted Seraphina’s head like a parent would do that to a child while praising the child, “You did so good! You were so brave!” he smiled while gently caressing her head and Seraphina just stared at him unblinkingly in response.