✨

fist connected with my jaw making me stumble back into the couch.

Fuck. For an almost sixty year old man, he punches quite hard.

"I gave you my daughter on the condition that you wouldn't hurt her but you did just that!" He was about to punch me again but dad grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

It's been five hours since she left. Five hours of fucking hell. Was what I did wrong? Yes. Did I have the energy to go back and apologise and ask her to explain? No.

"Stop this, Westly. Calm the fuck down."

Uncle yanked himself away from dad's grip. "You need to stop fucking defending him whenever he makes a mistake."

"I am not defending him. You can shout, scold whatever but you are not hitting my son." Dad warned him.

For a moment there was silence as dad and uncle glared at each other, challenging each other, in the end, uncle took a deep breath and slid his gaze to me.

I was watching them with a neutral face and I didn't even react when uncle grabbed my collar. "Why would you do that to her? You decided to believe a fucking photo over her? Over your wife? Rafe told me you love her, is this your love, Calix?"

Dad didn't look pleased by what I did either.

His grip tightened around my collar when I didn't answer and he shoved me and stood straight. "Why won't you say anything, huh? Speak up! I have never ever seen her like this, sobbing that too for an asshole like you!"

My heart slowly cracked. She was sobbing. I made her fucking cry. I lowered my gaze. Fuck. Why did all this have to happen? Why did that fucking Carsten has to die? Why was I not thinking clearly when I received that photo?

"Do you even fucking love her?" Uncle asked.

And I snapped my eyes upto him, my jaw ticking. "Don't doubt my love for her."

"Then why did you let her go?! Why did you not believe her?!"

"I don't know!" I shouted back, I was on the verge of breaking down. "I fucking don't know, uncle. My brain is fucked up right now, I can't think straight. I was framed for murder and then I thought my wife was cheating on me and after all this do you expect me to be completely calm about everything? I just took it out on her...and I am sorry for that..."

"Then go and fucking say sorry to her."

"I will..." I spoke softly. "Just not today. I am tired of everything, please."

"Okay, alright." Dad interrupted and said to uncle, "You got your answers now leave him alone. He went through a lot since this afternoon. He regrets what he did and I am sure he will fix it." Dad looked at me. "Won't you, Calix?"

I nodded. "I will."

"See...now calm down, bro."

"Did she metion anything about the pregnancy to you?" I asked uncle or maybe I shouldn't have.

His eyes widened and so did dad's before uncle bellowed, "You got her pregnant?!"

Shit. I should have kept my mouth shut.

I gulped. "We found out about it today..."

"And you let her leave?! I swear to God, Calix if something happens to her, you are so fucking dead!"

He was right. She was pregnant. What if something happens to her? Hell. Even if something happens to her without the pregnancy, I would kill myself.

Stupid. So fucking stupid. What if I actually killed Carsten? What if I accidentally hit him somewhere fatal? What if I am a murderer?

My breathing became shallowed and dad must have noticed that so he was quick in calming down uncle and assuring him before sending him away and he sat down beside me on the couch.

And I soon found myself in dad's arms, my head resting on his shoulder as he stroked my hair and I broke down completely. As if I was waiting for a hug, maybe that's what I needed.

"Everything's gonna be alright..." He rubbed my back. "You didn't kill Carsten. Someone's trying to frame you, that's it. And we will find out about it."

For the next five minutes I cried and he kept consoling me. Gradually my sobs subsided and I just stayed like that in silence.

"She won't forgive me..." I whispered gloomily. I don't care if that picture was real or not, if she cheated or not. I just need her by my side no matter what. She keeps me sane.

"She will. If she loves you, she will."

Silence engulfed us once again but soon it was broken by dad who said in a light-hearted tone, "I am going to be grandfather? I am not even sixty!"

I smiled up at him. "You will be a great grandad."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that, you make me sound so old."

"You are old, dad. You will be sixty in two years, that's old."

"Whatever..."

I felt a little better having a conversation with dad and after he left, the feeling of helplessness and devastation returned especially when I entered our bedroom. Her scent lingered on the pillows.

I will deal with everything tomorrow. Just not today. Tomorrow.

So cuddling with it, I cried myself to sleep.

.

.

.

I was supposed to surrender myself for obvious reasons. I had twenty four hours for that and if I didn't, they will come arrest me themselves.

I wasn't going to run away, no, I wasn't a fucking coward, I will fix this.

As promised, Lucian made sure that video was wiped away but it was of no use, everyone had already seen that.

I could hardly sleep last night so this was my second cup of coffee early in the morning when Adrian entered the house.

"Any information?" I asked him, hoping he did find something.

He nodded. "After a lot of threats and bribes later, the doctor finally spoke. According to him and what he saw in the video, Carsten couldn't have been in coma just because of those few punches. But when he received Carsten in his hospital, he was in a very critical condition, as if someone beat him up even more, someone in between."

Okay...this is interesting...

I offered Adrian a cup of coffee which he accepted and continued speaking, "And yes, he was in coma for months but day before yesterday, he woke up."

My eyes widened. "He woke up? Then how the fuck he died?!"

"It took a lot of efforts to make the doctor talk and it turns out, someone murdered him in the hospital itself, in a way that made it look like he died in sleep."

"That means I am innocent, right?"

"Yes, Calix. I told you, you are innocent. The doctor is going to speak on your behalf and if he doesn't well...I can always use my fists."

I felt so relieved on hearing that, a hope flickered inside me and I finally smiled. "Thank you, Adrian."

He shrugged. "And...I guess I have an idea who it might be..."

"You know?"

"It's a guess..."

"Who? Who else hated Carsten?"

"It's not about Carsten...he was just a means to distract you from the actual culprit."

"Adrian...are you going to tell me their name or not?"

"No. I am going to take you to them."

.

.

.

"Are you seriously not going to tell me their name? What is all this? Why are you acting like you are taking me on a surprise date or something?" I was beyond exasperated and tensed and Adrian's silence as he drove me to wherever he was, was killing me.

Adrian gave me a pointed look. "I am married."

"So am I! What I mean is just fucking tell who is it?"

I was too busy arguing with him to notice that he had parked the car already. "We are here."

I glanced out of the window and I frowned seeing Lucian's huge ass building staring right at me. "Why are we here? Is Lucian going to help us? Does he know anything?"

Adrian sighed and gave me a long look as if trying to communicate something.

When it finally clicked, my face blanked. "You are kidding."

"No, I am not."

I chuckled nervously. "Tell me it's not true."

"I did my research, Calix. It was difficult but what I found was heartbreaking. You have to confront him."

No. This can't be possible. "He is my best friend! You can't accuse him of something that horrible!"

"Ambition doesn't care if you are their best friend or not. You have to confront him." And he proceeded to pull out something from the dashboard, a cuff link and handed it to me. "It's a hidden camera... record everything, it will come in use."

My fists clenched and a lump formed in my throat. "It can't be true. He's my best friend...I can't do this..."

Adrian placed his palm on my shoulder and squeezed it. "You will have to, Calix."

We have been friends since we were 7 and eight respectively. Our friendship is more than twenty years old...he can't do something like that. Why would he do that?

I took some time to compose myself and Adrian fixed that camera in my shirt and followed me inside the building.

I went upstairs straight to his office and outside it, Adrian paused. "I'll be right here."

I nodded and inhaled deeply before pushing open the door and stepping inside. He was on his desk, working.

He didn't even look up and said, "I am trying to fix this...give me some more time."

"I am not here for that." I walked closer to him, the desk separating us.

He glanced up. "So...?"

Everything was a lie. Everything. "Where are your parents, Lucian?"

His face hardened. "Any conversation about my parents is a no zone. You know that, Calix."

"Yes, I know. I was just wondering if anything you ever told me was even true or not."

"What do you mean?" His eyes narrowed.

"We have been friends for twenty years...and in those twenty years I never ever saw your parents. Never even heard about them. Do they even exist?"

I had no idea what I was talking about. I was not seeing clearly. All I could think about was his betrayal.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" His voice was low and cold.

"Who killed Carsten?"

"I am trying to find out about it."

"Funny how a murderer is trying to find out about himself." I chuckled humorlessly.

Finally there was a crack in his emotions, a glimmer of realisation. That I knew. That was all I needed to confirm.

"Why would you do that, Lucian? Why? Why kill him?"

He pushed back his chair and stood up and walking across his desk, stood infront of me. He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Go back home, Calix. You have no idea what you are talking about."

I pushed away his arm harshly. "I fucking know what I am talking about!" And I punched him hard on his nose making him stumble back and clutch his nose.

"WHY?!" I yelled.

His eyes were tearing up because of the punch and he glared at me. "You always stole the spotlight from me. You were always better than me."

"That's what your problem was?! Jealousy? That's it?! You did all that because you were jealous?"

"I wanted to see your company go back to dust, to being nothing. I wanted to see you fail for once." He finally confessed.

And I kicked him hard in his stomach making him fall down and bending down I punched him causing his lips to burst open. "You are a fucking monster, Lucian! Did I ever matter to you?! After everything I did for you?! After everything my parents did for you?!"

He didn't even try to block the punches I was throwing at him, he let me hit him and that fueled my anger even more so I kept hitting him until he spit out some blood from his mouth, breathing heavily as he leaned himself against the wall.

His mouth was covered with blood and he looked up at me with droopy eyes.

"You were my b-best friend!" I shouted, tears welling up in my eyes, I wanted to fucking cry loudly. "I loved you! I cared for you! You wanted money, you wanted my company you could have fucking asked. You just had to ask! I would have given it all to you but to betray me like this!"

I fell down to my knees as I broke down, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Why would you do that to me?"

Through my tears I watched as his jaw clenched and for a second, just for a second, guilt and sadness flashed across his face before he was back to glaring at me coldly.

"Tell me did you plan to use Maria against me? Was she a part of your plan?"

For the first time since I confronted him, there was a flare of anger in his eyes. He fixed me with a cold glare. "Don't bring her into this."

"You brought her into this when you said you were interested in her!"

"I said don't fucking bring Maria into this!"

And I punched him again. "Don't say her name with your filthy mouth."

Before I could punch him again, Adrian bursted in and grabbed my arm pulling me to my feet. "That's enough."

I was a crying mess. He was my best friend and he betrayed me. God dammit. And I thought we will forever be friends, forever share everything with each other.

"It's over now, Lucian." Adrian told him, glaring at him. He was his friend too.

Lucian just rolled his eyes at him and looked away, the blood staining his white shirt.

"That picture of Althea..." He spoke suddenly, his eyes fixed down on the floor. "I sent that. She's innocent, that man kissed her forcefully. She didn't cheat."

I punched him again for that.

Adrian got me out of there and into my car and those fucking tears still wouldn't stop.

"Where do you wanna go?" He asked softly.

"Take me to my wife."