THE PLAN

They couldn't believe what they had just heard. Did Gwen seriously just confess that she had killed someone while driving?

"Where did it happen?!" Lady Elizabeth asked hurriedly.

"Not too far from here. About seven minutes from the gate", Gwen replied, pointing in the direction that the street where the body would be in was.

"And did you check to see if the person was actually dead or not? Sometimes you can hit something and it'll still be alive."

Gwen's eyes widened as she gasped.

"Oh my god. I made a mistake and didn't check, Grandmother. What if he is still alive and is in so much pain and agony because of what I did? I can't believe I messed up so badly" Gwen cried even more, realizing the massive error she had made.

Lady Elizabeth quickly consoled her.

"It's not your fault, my darling. Something like this has never happened to you before, so it's expected that you will make a mistake. Everything will be fine, so clean your tears" Lady Elizabeth helped wipe Gwen's tears from her eyes.

"Okay, Grandmother, I'll be strong" the traumatized girl sniffled.

"Good. Now, for the most important question. Was anyone in the car with you when it happened?"

Gwen shook her head.

"No. Thankfully, I had already dropped my friends off at their houses and was on my way back when I got into the accident. Grandmother, what do I do? What if someone saw me and the police are on their way to arrest me right now? I don't want to go to jail", Gwen panicked.

Lady Elizabeth caressed her fearful granddaughter's face and smiled warmly.

"Don't worry, my beautiful girl. Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while I'm alive. I'll protect you until the ends of the earth", Lady Elizabeth promised.

Lady Elizabeth looked at her other grandchildren and their parents, and she took charge, like always.

"Malcom and Genevieve, come here and take care of my granddaughter" she instructed, and her son and daughter-in-law did as told.

Once she saw that Gwen was being comforted by her parents, Lady Elizabeth looked at the others and instructed "As for the rest of you, follow me outside, and let's see the car that caused all of this"

"Okay, grandmother," everyone said in unison and stood up.

Jeremiah, who didn't want to be a part of what was going on, decided to do his own thing. He, on multiple occasions, had been told that he wasn't a part of the family, so for the first time in a very long time, he was going to listen.

"Come on Mom, let's go back to our room and leave the others to handle this" Jeremiah said as he tried helping his mother stand up.

Once he had managed to do that and was about to take her to their room, Lady Elizabeth stopped him.

"Hey, monkey, where do you think you're going?"

Jeremiah froze, then he looked at the woman with a confused stare.

"I'm going to my room. I don't want to bother anyone anymore, so I'm excusing myself from your presence, and I'm taking my mother with me—"

"And who gave you permission or the right to think you could leave without my say-so?" Lady Elizabeth questioned, and Jeremiah didn't know what to say back.

"You and your useless mother are coming with me and don't think you can refuse. Now, walk behind the rest of us and make sure to not be too close. I don't want your stench rubbing off on me and my family", Lady Elizabeth instructed, then took the lead.

Jeremiah looked at his mother and wondered what he should do.

First, he was told not to be a part of the family's matters, and now he was being told the opposite.

It was very confusing.

"Don't say anything and just do as Lady Elizabeth says. You don't want to incur more of her wrath now, do you?" Michelle advised, and then looked at the injury behind her son's head.

"When this is all over, I'll help you clean that up and patch it with a bandaid, then I'll cook your favorite meal as an apology for slapping you."

"Alright, mother," Jeremiah said, then listened to his mother.

The two followed, giving a good enough distance between themselves and everyone else until finally they were all standing outside the mansion where the murder weapon, the car, was parked.

The car had a huge dent in the front bumper, cracks on the windscreen, and patches of blood on both areas which showed how seriously Gwen had slammed into the victim.

"Mother, what do we do? That is such a massive dent that it'll be hard to get rid of it", Malcom asked Lady Elizabeth, who was thinking of the next step to take.

She groaned.

"First of all, we'll have to—" she said, but wasn't able to finish when, suddenly, police sirens started blaring from the estate's gate.

The estate was quite massive, so once the gate was opened, it'd take the police less than three minutes to get there.

Gwen's eyes widened, and her heart sank into her stomach.

"Oh, no. They're here. I'm going to go to jail for murder and rot until there's nothing left of me. Mom, please don't let them take me" Gwen begged, and with her entire body ridden in horror, she held her mother tightly.

Lady Elizabeth looked at the traumatized girl, who she had a lot of plans for, and she couldn't let her life go to waste because of this little inconvenience.

"Nothing like that is going to happen," Lady Elizabeth declared, and everyone looked at her, thinking that she had a plan.

"What do we do, mother-in-law?! The police are so close" Genevieve asked.

Lady Elizabeth saw that everyone was panicking and that wasn't good. The situation had completely changed now that the police were involved.

"Everyone, calm down! You're going to make the police suspicious of us when they get here if you all keep acting the way you are. Now, take a deep breath and breathe", Lady Elizabeth instructed, and they all did as told.

Their nerves were under control.

Standing with his mother, Jeremiah wondered what was going to happen.

Though they all insulted and belittled him at any opportunity that presented itself, Jeremiah didn't really hate the members of the Prescott family.

He didn't want to see his niece get thrown into jail for something as unfortunate as an accident, but there was nothing he could do in the matter except watch.

"Now that everyone has calmed down we'll do what we're supposed to and that starts with taking care of the evidence," Lady Elizabeth said, then walked up to Gwen.

She opened her hand and asked, "Where are the car keys?"

Gwen, whose hands were trembling, struggled to take the keys out of her pocket, so her mother helped her do it.

"Here it is, mother-in-law". Genevieve stretched the keys to Lady Elizabeth.

She took the keys and then faced the other members of the family.

"The truth about what happened should never leave the lips of those standing here. Don't even dare say it as a joke or else I'll make the parrot regret it for the rest of their life. Am I understood?!"

"Yes, Grandmother!" they all replied, and she looked at William.

"You're a part of the family now, William, and as my future grandson-in-law, it is your duty, just like my son and grandsons, to protect the lineage. I hope I can trust you?"

William's eyes widened.

This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. The perfect chance to ingratiate himself with the matriarch of the family.

It also meant that he now knew a massive secret of Gwen's, who was someone he had always wanted for himself.

In fact, his original plan was to get with Gwen instead of Mirabel, but because his family's name wasn't as big or influential as Lady Elizabeth wanted, she decided to push the relationship with her first granddaughter, Mirabel, instead.

She had way bigger plans for Gwen.

"My mouth is sealed, grandmother. I'll never say any of this to anyone, not even my family members", Willian promised.

"Good" Lady Elizabeth said, then they all started hearing the sirens getting louder, which meant that the gate had been opened for the police to enter the estate.

The panic started to come out again, but Lady Elizabeth quelled it.

"We're going to get rid of the evidence and once we do that, all we have to do is convince the police that they've made a mistake coming here. If we can manage that, then everything will go back to normal". Lady Elizabeth gave the plan.

"Alright, grandmother. We only have less than two minutes to get rid of the car, so who is going to—?" Victor asked, but was interrupted when Lady Elizabeth cut him off.

She turned to a particular direction of the gathering and said "Jeremiah is going to do it."