"No, no," I repeated, in denial, my mind refusing to believe her ridiculous lies. My legs buckled and I fell to my knees, crashing down onto my bones painfully.

"I call her regularly," I stated forcefully, tears beginning to run down my cheeks even from the thought that Lisa's words could be true.

"That's me on the phone, I electronically alter my voice to sound like her. That is why she hasn't been coming home from college." Lisa wiped both her palms over her eyes to wipe away her tears. I dug my head into my knees, it couldn't be possible could it?

I knew that Lisa was excelling with IT technology and I knew she would be capable of doing that. And when I speak to Ellie on the phone, she barely talked for longer than five minutes, always desperate to end the call. Now I knew why, so I wouldn't ask any questions that she didn't know the answer to.

"I pretended to be her and told her college that she dropped out. I had been forging the letters to your house of her grades," Lisa explained solemnly, her eyes were shallow, sunken into her face. She looked more like a thirty-year-old than an eighteen-year-old, aged with the horrors and the stresses from her life.

"Why would you do that?" I cried, raising my head to glare at Lisa. Guilt flickered across her features before settling on sorrow and misery.

"I thought it would be easier for your family if you just believed that she left you and lived another life. Your family had already lost your dad, I couldn't face the fact that I took away another member of your family," she agonised, running her hands through her dark front fringe. I sobbed my grief, unable to speak.

"It was an accident. I loved her, I loved Ellie so much." Lisa's featured were filled with agony at what she had done. The pain on her face made my cheeks flush with anger, she was the one who hurt her, she can't be hurting. I growled out my torment, throwing the chains bounding me onto the floor repeatedly. My vision was blurry from my rage and a was fire streaming through my veins, clenching my muscles.

"Let me out of these fucking ropes Lisa or I swear," Blake demanded viciously, but his forehead with plucked in worry and his eyes were tormented as he looked at me.

"I'm sorry I can't do that Blake," Lisa sounded honestly apologetic and anger ignited through my blood making my hands shake. Lisa's gaze flickered back to me, filling with anguish again.

"I spend thousands, I gave her a real burial and a real grave at the cemetery, her plaque is under her real identity, Lily Berlin," she gushed as if this made up for what she did. Rage overcame me, firing my muscles with anger induced adrenaline and I felt like I could kill Lisa in that moment. I raged and threw my body weight against the chains bounding me. They clanged as I flung them around, bashing them into the floor.

Unexpectedly the chains crashed and broke loose at the end that connected my chains to the wall. Clearly the chains were placed here by Lisa or her kids and they didn't know what they were doing. Therefore, it wasn't bolted in very expertly and was unable to take the battering I just gave them. I was still hand cuffed with chains hanging from my arms but the chains no longer held me to the wall, I was free.

My tortured, furious eyes set on Lisa knowing I was now free to act on my enmity filled urges. Lisa's bloodshot eyes widened as she flinched away from of resounding rumble that flew through the air from the chains breaking, shielding the girl with her body. Lisa instantly pushed the girl away from her and into the arms of another older girl waiting in the group of kids at the back of the room.

I jumped at Lisa, with my chained hands outstretched in front of me. Suddenly Billy jumped in front of Lisa protectively, his round glasses falling off his nose as he hurled his body in front of Lisa. I understood now why Lisa never told him to leave her alone, he never had a crush on her, they both grew up in the same orphanage. It was easy to push his lanky body out of the way. I kicked his knees out from under him as he fell to the ground.

I reached Lisa easily and I hit her face with my handcuffs, whacking her head to the side with tremendous force.

She cried out and I saw blood drip from her lip. But that wasn't enough, I was seeing red and my mind was overtaken with rage, with how unfair my life was. My father died from cancer, my best friend killed my sister, I dealt with PTSD for the last year from witnessing her murder my sister and my best friend made me think my boyfriend was dead. And most of it was Lisa's fault.

Billy recovered from his position and tried to yank me off Lisa but I elbowed him in the nose and he collapsed to the floor with a bloody nose. I wound my bound hands around Lisa's throat and bashed her body into the wall, cutting off her air supply. Her dark eyes were filled with horror as she looked at me with wide eyes.

She gasped, wheezing trying to gain oxygen into her lungs. I was so infused with anger, so furious and filled with so much pain I wasn't even me anymore. I couldn't even process the consequences of what I was doing. In the back of my mind I could hear the younger kids begging me to let Lisa go but I wasn't processing their words, I was so angry.

"Rose, stop." I heard Blake's voice somewhere in the back of my hazy rage infused mind, the only noise that broke through the rage. I squeezed harder on Lisa's throat and she coughed a wheezing breath.

"Please stop," Blake pleaded. "You will get sent to jail if you hurt her anymore. You will kill her." His tone was rich with such a prominent croaking agony and emptiness it made my eyes flicker from Lisa to Blake.

"And I can't live without you. I don't think I have the strength," Blake agonised and his features were desperate, calling me to listen to him but also held a void desolation. I stopped, being reminded of Blake's pain would make me do anything. I would do absolutely anything to avoid ever going through the agony of losing him again. I loved him more than I hated Lisa.

I released her and she collapsed to the floor with a crash. She began coughing and spluttering gasping in oxygen and clutched at her throat. I had the urge to kick her in the stomach again. I staggered a few steps backwards, staring down at my hands in horror at what I had done. As much as I hated Lisa, I was not a violent person. The only thing that brought me out of my self-loathing retrieve was Blake's reassuring voice.

"Rose, everything will be okay, we will get through this together my love." I glanced up at him to see his bright blue eyes shining with love even after what I had done. He was straining towards me on his chair, desperate to reach for me. His desperation for me to react without violence made me think more clearly.

"Okay, we will do this the proper way. We are going to tell the police the truth, today," I declared. This madness needed to end now. Whatever Lisa had got herself messed up in, it is just going to keep spiralling until she causes more pain and death. Billy had recovered from his whack to the head and was assisting Lisa up from the floor.

But suddenly Lisa jumped up out of his grip and up off the floor with a new energy in her step, even though she was cupping her neck in her wrists and winced as she rose.

"No, you can't, not yet," Lisa objected urgently, her eyes wild with fear at the thought. The children that were staying back from the commotion before finally begin to creep forwards, their horror laden eyes on Lisa. They were looking to her for reassurance and direction. How had she brainwashed these kids so thoroughly? She was ruining their lives, not saving them. She was turning them into criminals, just like her.

I was so focused on Lisa and my hate for her that I didn't notice when one of the teenage boys that had attacked me earlier crept up behind me. He had attached my broken chains to another hook on the ground so I was once again chained down.

I swore violently when I heard the click of the hook latch in and realised that I was once again bound. I glared up at Lisa with snake like eyes to see that she was looking at me with regret in own.

"Don't worry Rose, I will get what I deserve," she explains with blood shot eyes and blood dripping down from her mouth. She was still talking normally; I didn't do enough damage. Lisa turned around and asked all the kids to leave the room expect for Billy and the other two teenage boys that attacked me.

They did so reluctantly but they left silently, listening to Lisa without an argument. Lisa turned to me after they left, the worry lines around her eyes now disappeared. She must have been worried for their safety with me around or worried about them watching me hurt her.

"But before I go, I want you to know everything first." Lisa spoke more quietly this time, her voice echoing in the empty basement.

"Are you just going to leave us down here for weeks? Months? People are going to start looking for me, you can't fake my death too," I growled furious, my eyebrows lowering as I kicked my boot into the wall. My mother would get the police involved and they will find us. She ignored my outburst, continuing on with her explanation like I cared.

"After Ellie's death, I knew I had to go to jail, I knew I had to tell the police eventually. But I needed to make sure my family were taken care of, that is why I have been so dedicated to learning more about IT, leaning how to hack. I needed to make sure everyone had enough money to board at the school together before I handed myself in," she admitted, her features were permeated with regret but her eyes were set in determination.

She was deluded into thinking she needed to provide for these kids and it was putting their lives and her own in jeopardy. Her black hair was still hanging over her eyes in a front fringe but it was dishevelled. I had never seen her with a hair out of place, I didn't even recognise the girl in front of me, she was certainly not my best friend. How she had kept all these secrets from me I would never know.

"Jason agreed that we needed to keep this a secret, so he managed to borrow a motorbike from one of his bikie friends. The blame would go back to them if we were found out. With the bike we transported Ellie's body to the cemetery, we buried her there." My stomach constricted, winding me from how casually Lisa spoke about my sister. I glanced up to the ceiling, counting the glow in the dark stars that were placed onto the ceiling to calm myself down. Lisa didn't care about my pain, she kept talking through it.

"Jason left me after that, he couldn't live with himself. He couldn't look at me anymore knowing I killed someone. Whatever happened to him after he left, he became depressed and eventually committed suicide. He couldn't live with himself knowing that he helped me steal money and kill someone," Lisa revealed in an empty, desolate tone. Her voice breaking and hiccupping from losing someone else she loved. Someone else that her deluded scheming lead to them being killed.

"We used to talk over our code studio accounts, my second account was Number25." I heard Blake gasp in the corner from his chair. All the missing pieces of Blake's puzzle have come together, he knew that the bikies motorbike from Freddie's was used in the murder, Blake was right all along. The meaning behind Jason's suicide note was about a murder, the whole reason Blake is still alive right now is because he felt obliged to help Jason's last wish, which was to apologise for his past mistakes.

"I knew that Blake was investigating what Jason said in his suicide letter, about the murder." Lisa glanced over towards Blake and started moving in his direction. I growled at her like a wild animal, for her to stay away from him. She stopped in her tracks, her spine straightening but she listened to me, stopping half way between me and Blake.

"Blake found the motorbike that Jason used to move Ellie's body through threatened Cameron. Cameron lives at the orphanage too. He was doing his part to make money for us how he could, he dealt drugs," she divulged and a rush of rage flushed through me at the mention of Cameron. And Lisa thought she was doing what was best for her family, when she was endorsing them to sell drugs.

I was beyond furious at this person in front of me, she didn't mean anything to me anymore. My jaw was clenched and my hands were white inside my restraints from fisting my hands so tightly, all I wanted to do was punch her idiot brain into her skull.

"But it wasn't enough money, time was running out with Blake investigating us. I knew it was only a matter of time before we were found out. We needed more money, fast. That was why I had Cameron attack you that night at Sarah's party Rose, I needed to get into your code studio account because you were so much better at hacking than me. I knew you would have code on there that could help me break into banks," she revealed.

An ice-cold violent shudder ran through me and my mouth fell open in disbelief. I didn't want to believe that she was so far gone, that she was capable of hurting me like that. I wanted to believe that maybe some of my best friend was still in there, but I was wrong.

"You had him attack me? You are a psychopath," I barked, throwing my hands up into the air. I shared a look with Blake to see he was just as furious about this reveal.

"Blake knew that Cameron was planning on attacking someone that night at Sarah's party because when Cameron was drugged up, he told Blake about it when he was selling Blake drugs. Cameron told me he told Blake when he sobered up. But we still went ahead." Lisa stood awkwardly in the open space between Blake and I, her hands were tucked around her belted long black coat that ran to her mid-thigh. It was fancy, expensive and I knew that she didn't just spend the money she stole on her children. Her selfishness and duped justification were evident, she also spent that money on her own clothes. She had me attacked just so she could spend money on her own clothes, I needed to take a deep breath to sate the overpowering need to scream.

"When you came to me asking for information on my code studio account, I knew Blake was getting close. I forged the information that I pretended to find on the code studio account Number25. I pretended that it was a dog who's murder Jason and I were talking about. I thought maybe this would be able to get Blake to back down," Lisa commented with a frown between her eyebrows. I knew that once Blake had this forged information, he thought the mystery was over. Just when I placed my full trust in her and went to her for help, she deceived me, planting false evidence.

"But the opposite happened, Blake attempted suicide as horrible as that was it meant that he was off my back. I became complacent and not as careful and I paid for it. Because twelve weeks later Blake was here at the orphanage, he snuck in and overhead us planning how we were going to use the fundraiser to obtain everyone's bank account details as they entered and we would slowly take money out of their accounts in the future." I blinked as I realised that this was why the girl at the entrance wouldn't accept my cash, they now had every single person's bank account details that had attended the fundraiser.

"I couldn't let Blake tell the police; we were so close. So, we kidnapped him and kept him here. I knew it was horrible to do but we just needed some more time, so we planned Blake's suicide again. We didn't need the police investigating his disappearance and leading them to us," Lisa disclosed shamefully, her head bowed. She had the audacity to look remorseful for her part in Blake's fake suicide, for what she put me and Blake's family through.

"It would be so believable as he had already done it before. I forced him to write the suicide letter. And then I cut him and took his blood and jumper where I planted it at the bottom of the bridge where he attempted his last time. If they didn't find his body, they would just presume he was dead." As she spoke her expression remained impassive, business-like, as if everything she did was just a normal solution to her problem. A vein pulsed in my neck as fury rose in my veins, I clenched my jaw together to stop the scream that was threatening to surface. I couldn't believe the way she had exploited Blake, like he wasn't even a human at all.

"I was going to let him go just after I have enough money for everyone to live off without me," she resolved. She has just dug herself into a hole that keeps getting deeper and deeper. And now she can no longer dig herself out of it. She has murdered, kidnapped, stolen all for the sake of what? So, these kids can grow up to become criminals? Her justification for her actions is barbaric. I couldn't keep my anger at bay any longer, I kicked at her but she jumped out of the way and I kicked the wall instead.

"This devotion of yours to keeping these kids together has led to nothing but death," I fumed. Too many lives have ended because of this, my sister, Jason and very nearly Blake.

"Was it worth it Lisa? Was it worth killing my sister?" I exploded, rage turning my face red. I screamed as I pulled against my chains restraining me like a mad woman. When my yells calmed down, I finally looked up at a silent Lisa. She was standing there with her back hunched over, her head lowered in shame, her hands were wrapped around her stomach as if she was about to crumble over. But the most haunted part about her was her facial features that were contorted with guilt. I felt a tinge of sympathy for her, not for this psycho girl I have discovered her to be but my best friend and at what she had done to herself. She did this, her evil actions have led to this and now her life was ruined as well as everyone around her.

"No, I regret it every second of my existence. I can't wait to go to prison and get what I deserve. But I love all the kids too much, I would do anything for them. I need them to be okay when I leave," she justified sombrely, although she was showing penitence, she was still set on keeping these kids together at any cost, even the cost of a life. Her eyes solidified with surety and determination, but I knew that look. It meant she would do anything to protect her kids and a wave of dread washed through me. She stalked over towards Blake and every step she took closer to him my chest began seizing up in panic and my breathing became shallower. I knew what she was capable of now, she is capable of murder if it means getting what she wanted.

"Stay away from him," I growled, demandingly, infusing all my threat into my tone. But she didn't break her advance. When she reached Blake, she spun around his chair so he was completely facing me. He planted his feet into the ground and using all his force he yanked his body into her, bashing the chair into her side. Lisa swore and staggered a step away from him holding her hip in pain. But she soon recovered and Blake was still bound.

She pulled out a gun from her pocket and my heart dropped as my eyebrows plucked in fear. Blake's blue furious eyes flickered from the gun towards me, softening from rage to panic and then finally relaxed when he saw that I was okay and the gun wasn't pointed at me. But mine tensed with fear as Lisa yanked Blake's black hair back forcefully and placed the gun underneath Blake's chin, pointing it right into his head.