CHAPTER 62

    Disturbing silence took over the room. Dylan could feel six pairs of eyes burrowing into her. Clearly no one had an idea of what could have happened between her and Taylor and it wasn't surprising because she hadn't mentioned it to anyone. She looked at the floor then stepped forward towards where they were. They were all waiting and she could almost feel their their breath on hers. She looked at Carl and right in that moment, she didn't know how he would react to the truth. It had been the time after he had broken up with Taylor or Taylor had broken up with him,that part was yet to be cleared but that didn't make it any less of a betrayal. They were friends,had been all along that time and she had given in to sleeping with his ex. That was definitely not the way to go and if only she had used her senses and not her body, maybe they wouldn't be here,at this moment. There was no need to go around the bush and even if she did,the truth was likely to be exposed in the next few hours. She figured it would be better if it came from her own mouth even if it was years late.

                  "I slept with Taylor after you broke up," she said directing her words to Carl. He didn't give any visible reaction but that was what she wanted to see desperately. He just looked at her, expressionless and completely unreadable. Her heart fastened it's pace and she held her breath.

                  "You mean,slept with her like had sex? Made love?" It was Kenny who spoke first.

                  "It was just sex, nothing more. We were both devastated and had a lot to deal with. At least I thought we both were but then I think I just didn't think. I know it's not an excuse and I should have told you the moment it happened but I just couldn't. I was afraid of losing our friendship. It was the only good thing I had going. I am really sorry Carl." 

                  "That's still not enough for anyone to go cuckoo, totally crazy and definitely not a reason to want to kill someone."

                 "Yes it is,"Carl finally said. They all turned to her surprised. Dylan especially. She had expected him to curse her,hit her or even worse never talk again. He had loved Taylor and that's why she knew that probably Taylor had lied to her. "I didn't break up with her,I never would have. She broke up with me and even though she didn't say much,I could tell that there was someone else. Maybe not physically but there was someone else she liked. I just didn't know what kind of person but it now makes sense. Everything is now so clear. It explains why she so wanted us to spend so much time with you,why she wanted to be around you everytime even though I complained we didn't have to time for ourselves. She was in love with you. That is the only explanation. And when that happened-"

He didn't finish the words. At least that was something. At least he showed a little emotion. That was better than acting like everything was okay while nothing was.

                 "You mean when she slept with Dylan?"

                 "Yeah. And when Dylan didn't feel the same way about her, she was hurt. She was heartbroken and if all those years she befriended my sister and Dylan then dated me she was after getting Dylan,then that's enough for a psycho like her to want blood. That and the fact that my sister is back and they have been seen together in multiple occasions."

                  "That is so fucked up!" Emily said. "Even I liked Carly but I wouldn't go that extreme end."

                   "That's why there is a difference between the devil who shows himself and the one who hides behind the face of an angel. Taylor is the latter and she is gonna get what's coming to her." 

        For the first time in all her life, Dylan saw a different version of Carl. He was no longer the shivering coward hiding behind her back. He wasn't afraid of anything that would happen to her. Instead,he was determined to get hold of the person who broke his heart,slept with his best friend, probably killed her mother and then captured his sister. Maybe someone should have warned him that it wouldn't be easy as he thought. All this time,he hadn't mentioned that part that she had betrayed him. She looked at me wondering why.

                  "You are not mad at me?"

   He looked at her silently for a long time then,"Let's bring my sister home first."

   She sighed heavily and nodded,"Okay."  There was no need to push it further. They all needed to be focused and work together in this. The consequences of her actions would come after. She turned to the others. "Kenny,I thought since you are the only one who isn't involved in this, maybe you could stay home and look after the kids. We can't leave them all alone."

                  "Lewis, I'm the only other experienced person with guns in this room and they might come in handy. Do you think it's a good idea to leave me behind. You can't handle two or more psychos alone. Also, I'm not a very good babysitter."

                 "They are not even babies,you are going to be fine,"she tried and almost laughed at his freaked out voice. "All you have to do is cook for them, maybe try to entertain them and make sure they don't call their grandparents,that could be a disaster."

                 "Why can't lady bitch remain. She's pretty good with them and that way she will be safer here than there,"he looked at Emily who didn't give any reaction to the name he had addressed her by. "Sorry."

                     "No it's okay."

   Dylan turned to him,"Please,do this for me. I can handle the rest." She winked at him. "Can I talk to you alone outside?" He was about to complain but she gave him a knowing look. He understood and retained the words in his mouth. 

                 "Okay," he nodded and led the way.

                         ★★★

       Carly stood up after she sent the message. She hoped that Dylan would see it and would trust her. She had offered a brief explanation how she had accessed the laptop and mentioned the young girl. There wasn't much she could help her with but at least she didn't feel so useless. If she had known the location of the house,it would have made a difference. Now what was left in her head were questions. Why would Taylor  want to do this to them. She couldn't remember a time they had done anything wrong to her. They had been friends. She had been the greatest supporter of their relationship besides her brother and Dylan's mother. So,unless she had just been pretending to love them,there was nothing else she could think of. And if she had been jealous of them,why had she dated her brother? To get closer to them? Emily had been bad,the worst when it came to being jealous of them but this one,this was just pure evil. Then it hit her. If Kelley had been telling the truth about Dylan's mother,then that could only mean one thing. Taylor was the murderer. That's who the guy Dylan had talked about, Peterson,had seen. That's why she was so afraid that Peterson would expose her and to prevent that, she had killed him. What was the relationship between the three of them. Ravenna had said that Kelley was her aunt so that meant they were either family or were involved. No,if they were involved, Taylor wouldn't be doing what she was doing right now. That left one option, sisters or relatives. The latter was her best guess since the women didn't look anything alike. But why would Taylor kill Wendy Lewis? What differences did she have with her or with Dylan? Was it because of the same reason Kelley had? After all the were relatives. According to Kelley's story though,there seemed to be two different sides,if only she knew what the other side was about. She looked at the time, only two minutes had passed after she had sent the message. What if Dylan didn't believe it was her? Maybe she should have called instead. It would be risky but she also wanted to talk to her and maybe her brother and Teddy. She should have thought about that early before deciding to send a message because now she was too late. The door banged open and a fuming Kelley walked inside. What had her fuming like that however wasn't what she had been doing with the laptop but something that had happened outside as Carly came to realize. Kelley stopped in her tracks the moment she saw her. Carly stood up and froze,a shiver of cold running down her spine. She swallowed waiting for the worst. She clenched her fists more to feel if she was alive than for support. Kelley moved forward and looked at her questioningly.

                 "What the fuck were you doing?" It wasn't loud or threatening but she flinched all the same. She remained quiet. Clearly, she didn't think she had done anything much or harmful to whatever their plan was.

                    "I was bored. Just wanted to see if there were some music albums or maybe a movie I could watch,"she replied gathering all the courage she could get.

                   "The TV is right there, no password unlike the laptop." She eyed the laptop. ‘Fuck!'’ she cursed inwardly. All this time she was focusing on not getting caught by moving away but in the process had forgotten the piece of paper that Ravenna had written the password. She calculated the possibility of getting to it and destroying it before Kelley saw it. It was equally within their range. Kelley turned following her gaze. She closed her eyes. ‘Shit!’ Yeah Carly, that's definitely the best word to use in that moment and everything was about to get even more shittier.  "What is that?" She made an attempt to grab it first but Kelley was too fast,taller than her putting her to a disadvantage. She studied it. It took her only a second to realize what it was. "What have you been up to?" she asked again,this time raising her voice. Carly trembled. 

   Kelley turned around and without mentioning a name, she called out loudly,"She knows who you are. There is no need to hide anymore."

                "What are you talking about?" Carly tried but her voice shook in fear. There was no way she could convince her otherwise. She was doomed and probably Ravenna was too. In that moment,the familiar figure of Taylor Lockwood appeared at the same door Kelley had used. She had already gotten over the surprise after she saw everything on the laptop so she didn't react. Except that her heart was now racing as if to reach a marked milestone in seconds. She blinked and swallowed again. Instead of saying anything to her, Taylor walked up to Kelley and took the piece of paper from her. 

                    "Ravenna!" she called out loudly that Carly's whole being shook. She knew right then that she had landed the girl in trouble.

                  "What are you going to do to her?" she tried.

                 "She is my daughter, anything I want to do with her. As I please."

   Carly could feel the amount of evilness laced in the words and she didn't need to be explained to to know that whatever was about to happen wouldn't be good at all. 

                 "What kind of a mother are you?"

                  "One who never wanted to be a mother but was forced to. Now shut up or I'm going to shut you up. It might do me some good actually."

  Carly decided that the best way to go about this was to try another approach. 

                 "Why are you doing this? We used to be friends. What did we do to you?"

                "This is not about you Carly. You are just a pawn." She replied then signaled Kelley. The blow came unexpected. She would never have thought that a slap was capable of such harm but when it landed on her skin,it burned like hot call had been pressed against her. She felt dizzy and the last thing she knew, she was tumbling to the ground. She didn't know how long it took for her to hit the ground but it felt like forever. The fall however returned a little of her conciousness and she heard the last of her words before she completely blacked out.

                "Give them the go ahead,I can't wait until tomorrow. Tonight at eight."