Part 25

[Present]

Lara woke up with an immense headache, her blood felt like lead in her veins, weighing her down. She tried to look up but her head hurt too much.

"Are you up?"

The voice did not belong to one she knew.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

Why can't I speak? she thought.

"Can't talk? It's fine," the man to whom the voice belonged sat down crouched near her feet. "Looks like I drugged you too much."

She finally looked at him. He had shiny blonde hair and grey eyes. His face resembled Luciens.

"...Who...are...you?" she finally spoke, the effort straining her vocal cords and hurting her head even more.

His face was familiar. She had definitely seen him before. But where?

"We met in your university," he smiled, showing off a set of perfect white teeth. "You bumped into me."

Lara could not recall the encounter for a solid minute. It had been so insignificant and so much has happened since then that she had completely forgot about it. But to think this man remembered it...

Great, she thought. Another psychopath.

"You really look like her, huh," he leaned in close to Laras face and she stared back, unflinching.

"You even have her attitude," he chuckled.

Lara wanted to roll her eyes but the effort would be too much for her right now. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Who... are you?" she repeated her question.

"My name is Alden, I'm your boyfriend's uncle." He stood towering over her, lifting her face by the jaws to match his steely gaze. "Do you like that little piece of shit?"

"Its not a matter of whether I like him or not," she replied evenly, her jaws aching from his grabbing.

"Yeah I suppose so since you were running away," he let her face go but she didn't drop her gaze. "Do you know why you are here?"

"No."

"You're here because I'm going to use you as a substitute for my sister."

For the first time in Lara's life since meeting Lucien, she felt horribly afraid of someone who wasn't him. Their whole family is crazy, she realized. She could not help but wonder what was in that woman everyone saw in her.

"I'm not her."

"I'm well aware of that fact," he smiled. "But he did the same, didn't he? Going to such lengths to keep you safe and secure, making and breaking you at the same time... Do you think you're even mentally stable right now?"

"How much do you know?" Lara asked sharply and then quickly turned her voice back to the monotone it was, not wanting to give her inner feelings away. "Honestly though, it does not matter. Go ahead, feel free to do whatever you want. I will fucking ruin you."

He went quiet. Lara looked around at the room as he stood staring down at her. The room was so dull and devoid of color that she began to feel depressed.

"I dug into your extra curricular activities during your schooldays and you won't believe what I found," he said, suddenly changing the topic. "15 deaths in the span of seven months, all covered up. Oh and not to mention, I made a video of your beloved shooting that student from your class. Sadly I couldn't film the mass shooting which I'm sure was Luciens doing as well."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"The police know everything. I told them and even handed the evidence over. Now," he made a wide gesture with his hands. "Take all the blame or let him die. Which one do you choose?"

"What's your stake in all this?"

He laughed, amused. The glint in his eyes was the same in Luciens whenever he was amused. Guess it runs in the family huh, she thought.

"I just want to hurt him. If you take all the blame, you die which will hurt him. If you choose to save yourself, I will give him the most brutal death imaginable."

"But didn't you just say that you wanted me?"

"I'm being generous," he shrugged. Lara silently contemplated the options. What was the catch?

"How many nights has it been now that I've been awake thinking about what could have been if only I had finished Lucien off?" he said, breaking into her thoughts. "A part of me is glad that Cardia died but it angers me that Lucien who got to kill her." He clenched his teeth. "That's why I will kill you. Or him. Either one works."

"What makes you sure you can do it?"

"Oh!" He clapped, as if remembering something he's forgotten. "I forgot to show you this."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, showing her a video on YouTube. It was a news channel, posted an hour ago. Pictures of her was posted along with the headlines saying she was armed and dangerous and was to be caught. Anyone looking like her was to be reported and they were temporarily closing all flights in and out of the city.

Her throat went dry.

"It was never a choice, was it?" Lucien must have known. He must have known she won't be able to run. That's why he let her go. The man in front of her could be handing her over to the police right now. And for all the crimes she had committed so far, if they had the evidence for it all... nothing mattered anymore. Her sole chance at freedom was gone. This life was not one meant to be lived freely.

She cursed herself for ever having been curious about him in the first place because that's where it all began. If she never dug out info about him, she wouldn't be here today.

"Oh my, do you feel bad?" he laughed mockingly, his voice echoing throughout the room.

Then suddenly Lara realized something. The news only showed her, nothing was shown about Lucien.

As if reading her mind, he offered an explanation. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why isn't he also being hunted for? I excluded his name on purpose so that you have a choice. You can choose to pin all the blame on him, after all I also have evidence about my cousins deaths orchestrated by him."

"But they're already all online-" she stopped mid sentence as realization dawned on her.

Lucien's family would never be so stupid to leave out details like that online. But then again, it took a lot of power and money to be able to stop articles like that from spreading...

Then suddenly something clicked in her brain.

"Tell me something, is there anything online about those deaths of his ... siblings? Or was it all covered up by your family?"

"All covered up, of course," Alden said it matter-of-factly. "You can't find a trace of it online unless you're as influential as me of course."

Lara closed her eyes. She didn't bring it all upon her. He had planned this from the very beginning. Now it all made so much sense.

"Is he good with computers?"

"Yeah, I taught him everything I knew," Alden frowned, wondering why she was asking such random questions all of a sudden. "That's why he took physical education up instead of computer in school. I thought you knew all of that, why are you asking me?"

She felt as if she had known this all along, as if she had not just realized this but always knew it deep down in her heart. She had just refused to see it.

Alden was fucked in the head, she knew it for sure. And she also knew that no matter what she did he won't let either her or Lucien go. She had no more options. If she had to go down anyway, she would rather save him.

And in that moment, she had no choice but to confront the truth of her feelings. She loved him. She undeniably and unconditionally loved him. There was no more lying to herself about this. She loved a mentally unhinged man which made her equally crazy. And maybe because she didn't want to think that she could be insane too was why she always refused to think about her feelings. Now that she was finally at the end, even now she wanted to put him before her. She wondered whether this was because he had emotionally manipulated her into believing that he was more important than her or was it her own feelings that made her think this way. She didn't know the difference anymore.

Lara finally made a decision.

"I will confess, start the recording. I will confess to all our crimes."