Filed to story: Love Entangled with Her Unconscious Husband Novel >>
Avery pulled out her phone and called Cole.
“Hello? Avery?” Cole answered.
“Cassandra’s dead. Did you know?”
“What?! What do you mean she’s dead?! I’m at the hospital for a checkup…. She was fine when I talked to her on the phone last night,”
“Did you fight?” “No!” Cole exclaimed.
A few seconds later, almost as if he had remembered something, he added, “I remember now. Cassandra was here when Uncle Elliot came home for dinner last time. It wasn’t a pleasant night. Uncle Elliot told her that she won’t have much longer to live, and she’s been terrified about that conversation ever since-”
“That’s impossible! I was with Elliot all night. He didn’t do anything!”
Cole sighed, then said, “Why do you lose all reason every time Uncle Elliot’s involved? I’m just saying what I know. You’re the only one I’d tell this to. If the police asked me, there’s no way I’ d mention this…”
“Listen up, Cole Foster! You better not have anything to do with Cassandra’s death. The police will get to the bottom of this!”
“It wasn’t me. I don’t have a motive! I wouldn’t resort to murder even if we got into a fight,” Cole responded coldly, then added,
“Avery… Ever since you fell in love with Uncle Elliot, I’ve become nothing to you.”
“Please keep that bullsh*t to yourself! What was I to you when you were messing around with Cassandra behind my back?!”
Avery snapped, then furiously hung up the phone.
“Who were you talking to?” asked the officer.
“Cole Foster. He’s Cassandra Tate’s boyfriend,” Avery said.
She gave the officer Cole’s number, then said, “Cassandra’s been hanging out with him a lot recently. I’m sure he knows why she killed herself.”
Avery walked out of the police station that afternoon and took a cab to her mother’s place.
After reporting the news of Cassandra’s death to Laura, Avery muttered, “I couldn’t recognize her, Mom… It was just all blood… I couldn’t see her features….”
Laura wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and said, “Don’t be scared, Avery. It was her life! It had nothing to do with us! All we need to do is live our own lives!”
“Cole said that Elliot did it…” Avery said. “I don’t believe it! Elliot would never commit murder!”
“Did you ask him?” Laura asked. “Even if it was him, I’m sure he had his reasons.”
“Come on, Mom. There’s never a reason to kill someone. If Cassandra broke the law, then the law should be the one to deal with her.”
“Did the law do anything about her uncle’s crimes?” Laura said, then held Avery’s hands in hers and added, “I didn’t say that murder isn’t wrong. I’m just saying that Cole might not be telling the truth.”
Avery quickly composed herself and said, “I just dropped by to tell you this… I’m leaving now … I need to see Elliot.”
“I’ll take you there,” Laura said. “You’re not in your right mind right now. I’m worried.”
Avery had ordered Elliot to be on bed rest for at least a week, and so, he was obediently resting at home.
Avery arrived at the Foster mansion at two in the afternoon.
The sight of her aloof expression and pale complexion made his heart tighten in his chest.
“I need to talk to you, Elliot,” Avery said as she took a seat next to him.
Elliot’s large hand clasped Avery’s small one. His hand was like a lion’s large paw. It wrapped around hers in a gesture of reassurance.
Avery was not used to the affectionate act and withdrew her hand on reflex.
After a few seconds of pondering, she tried to ease into the subject but ended up getting straight to the point.
“Cassandra’s dead. Did you have anything to do with it?”
This was always the straightforward, no-nonsense way that she got along with Elliot.
Elliot’s eyes darkened, and his voice was chilling as he asked, “Why aren’t you asking about who was trying to kill me last night?
Is Cassandra Tate’s life more important than mine?”
Cassandra’s death had taken up so much of Avery’s mind that day that she almost forgot about the events of the night before.
“Who was it?!” she asked with fiery eyes. “Did you find out who was behind it?”
“Would you still feel sad about her death if I told you it was Cassandra?” Elliot asked as he fixed his eyes on Avery.
He watched as her expression went from one of shock to suspicion, then turned into anxiety.
“So… You really had something to do with Cassandra’s death,” Avery said through the lump in her throat. “Was there no other way to go about it? Why did you have to go to such extremes?”
“Don’t look at me like that, Avery,” Elliot said as the earlier tenderness disappeared from his face. “I’ll send whoever crosses me straight to hell. I’ve always been like that.”
The tension between Elliot and Avery grew drastically.
They were seated next to each other, but it looked like they were on the verge of war.
Afraid that they would break into a fight, Mrs. Cooper quickly brought over a fresh fruit platter.
“Have you had lunch, Madam? I left some food out for you.”
Avery shot to her feet and stormed toward the dining room.
Elliot watched her walk away. He could not figure out her thoughts.
If she was furious, she probably would not stay for lunch.
However, the rage in her eyes made it impossible to deny that she was mad.
Avery had skipped breakfast and lunch, so her stomach was beginning to ache from hunger.
She took over half an hour to finish her food since wolfing it down would only cause indigestion and add to her current discomfort.
When she walked out of the dining room, Elliot was no longer in the living room.
“We tend to act impulsively when we’re angry, Madam. Maybe you should get some rest for now,” Mrs. Cooper said.
Avery’s head was throbbing in pain, so she nodded and made her way up to her room on the first floor.
Mrs. Cooper walked next to her and said awkwardly, “I thought that you would be sleeping in the master bedroom from now on, so I already unmade your bed.”
Avery raised her brows and said, “I’m not sleeping in his room.”
“Madam, please. Master Elliot’s injuries are going to take some time to heal, and he refuses to let anyone help or take care of him,” Mrs. Cooper said as she tried to reason with her. “You’re the only one that he allows to get close to him. If you don’t watch over him, he might fall one day and–”
“He looked fine to me with the walking stick. I doubt he’ll fall,” Avery said cold-heartedly.
“You’re just saying that out of anger.”
“I’m not. I’m being serious.”
“When you asked me for the first aid kit last night to redress his wounds, your eyes were all red—”
“That’s enough. I’m going up,” Avery said, then walked up to the second floor.
Elliot was taking a nap in the master bedroom. The curtains were half-drawn, allowing only some of the warm sunlight to shine in.