HOLDING CELL

"Hey, officers! Can you hear me?! I'm innocent! Don't believe a word of what they're saying about me! I'm innocent! Ask my mother, and she'll tell you the truth about what happened. Ask the lady named Michelle, and she'll tell you that the one who was in the accident was—", Alexander said, but paused when William and Mirabel caught his attention.

They were mouthing something to him, so he tried reading their lips. It took some time to get it but when he did, his eyes widened.

He looked at his mother again, but this time, the way Austin and Victor held her took a completely different meaning.

They were using Michelle as a hostage and letting Jeremiah know that if he revealed the truth to the officers, they would implicate her as his accomplice and get both of them arrested.

This was the reason why Lady Elizabeth had chosen him to be the one to get rid of the evidence in the first place.

If he was successful, then it was good for her. However, if he wasn't, then she could just pin the blame on him and the latter was exactly what was happening right now.

Jeremiah looked at his helpless mother while also being helpless himself and everything he was going to say vanished.

"What's that murderer yelling about now?!" Officer Campbell asked.

All the officers that came to the estate glared at Jeremiah, wondering what he was rambling about, but because he had suddenly gone quiet, they cussed at him and returned to what they were doing.

"Thank you for the help, Lady Elizabeth. We'll take that scumbag to jail, then he'll face the full extent of the law."

"Thank you, Officer Prince," Lady Elizabeth said with an appreciative smile.

"As for the car, thankfully the bastard wasn't able to sink it so we'll be back here tomorrow to pull it out and take it to the station as evidence."

"I'll be sure to have my people at the gate to give you access to the estate the moment they see you officers. The Beethoven city police department will always have my full support and cooperation", Lady Elizabeth said.

"Thank you", Officers Prince and Campbell bowed their heads in respect, then went back into the car and started to leave.

Jeremiah had played into Lady Elizabeth's hands and was now completely check-mated.

He could only watch the family who had framed him and also his powerless mother fade into the horizon as he was being taken away.

Jeremiah thought about how his life was now ruined, and he didn't know when he started to cry.

"You should have thought of the consequences before you did what you did. Now, stop crying, you murderer! Your voice is making my ears hurt", Officer Campbell complained, then smacked his tongue.

Jeremiah was taken to a holding cell and, because it was the beginning of the weekend, Friday, he would be transferred to prison the next day.

Because of the crime he was being framed for committing, there was no option of bail. Not that he had anyone that would bail him out anyway.

Only his mother cared about him, but the Prescott family weren't going to let her go and see him until he had been transferred.

That was Lady Elizabeth's punishment on the powerless mistress for trying to stop Jeremiah when she told him to get rid of the car and take it to the lake.

While sitting in the holding cell, Jeremiah could only think about how messed up his life had become.

Why did everyone in the Prescott family hate him so much to frame him for something so despicable? He wondered, but never saw any justification for their actions.

Suddenly, Jeremiah heard crying that pulled him from his deep thoughts.

He looked up and saw a woman with red puffy eyes, rushing to his cell and, when she got there, she spat on his face.

"You murderer! Why did you have to take my husband from me in such a terrible way?!"

"Mam?" Jeremiah questioned, wondering what the crying woman was talking about.

"Couldn't you have driven carefully? Now, because of you, I've become a widow at such a young age. What's going to happen to me and the kids he left behind? You've ruined our lives and I hope you die a very miserable death. I hope you rot in prison and never get the chance to set your foot outside again", she prayed, then spat at Jeremiah again.

This time, however, Jeremiah dodged the salivary projectile.

"Mam, I'm sorry about what happened to your husband, but I swear to you that I wasn't the one who killed him", Jeremiah pleaded, but his attempt only deepened the woman's disdain.

"How dare you sit there and try to lie to my face, you murderer? If you weren't the one who took my husband from me, then who did, huh?!" She yelled.

"It was—"

Jeremiah wanted to say something, but he remembered that his mother was being held hostage, and opening his mouth to reveal the truth would automatically give her the same fate as him.

He didn't know what to do and, as a result, he ended up crying and apologizing to the woman.

He went to his knees and dropped his head on the floor.

"I'm really sorry madam. I don't know if there's anything I can say that would make you feel better but—"

"I don't want your disgusting apology, so keep it! What I want is for someone to find you in whatever prison you'll be sent to and stab you to death, because that's what you deserve. Murderer" she said, then spat at the back of Jeremiah's head but missed.

Just then, a police officer came and carried the woman away.

Alexander felt extremely shameful about everything. He had cried so much that he didn't think he could anymore.