Talia with her hair in a bun, stood under the showerhead as warm water at a perfect temperature and perfect pressure, sprayed on her. The warm, colourless fluid trickled down her pale skin as pure as snow and got whirled into the drain. Talia saw threads of red getting flushed in the drain.
Stacy’s blood!
Talia was not nervous or scared, but felt numb rembering how Stacy got hit. If only Stacy didn’t push her, it would be she who got shot. She had unintentionally saved her life.
She was not feeling bad for the death of Stacy, in fact she felt a little relieved knowing she won’t have to face her anymore.
She gently scrubbed the blood sticking to her leg. She didn’t like others blood on her. She hated it. She rembered that ti when she had Cyrus’ blood on her. That ti she was kidnapped and Cyrus saved her. His blood was all over her. It was so sticky and then it turned flaky and she didn’t like the feeling. He was in the hospital, she fainted and when she woke up, she was clean.
Why does this seem familiar?
Stacy hated and died in my place... Cyrus loved and...did he die to protect too? Is it my fault, like my mother’s death?
Talia closed her eyes to let the warm water run over her. As she closed her eyes, she rembered Stacy’s face filled with despise and her words filled with rancour as she died.
’You survive all the ti... Monster! You won’t be fortunate for long!’
Monster! That word again! Am I really a monster who brings forth misfortune? Do I suck the fortunes from others making them unfortunate? Is that how I survive? By bringing misfortune to others?
NO!
Talia slapped herself to stop herself from slipping into that quicksand of self-blaming. There are no monsters and she certainly won’t be one!
When Talia ca out after taking a shower, she could hear Rebecca’s father trying to send Joe away while he pleaded to convince his father-in-law and Clint trying to reduce the tension between them both.
Talia walked to Rebecca’s room to see if she was fine but she wasn’t. From what Rebecca said previously, Talia could infer that Rebecca told Joe about Stacy bit Joe didn’t know about it. So either he forgot about it which is highly unlikely since it’s been only few days and that fact is not an easy thing to forget.
So the only other reason must be that Joe didn’t hear what she said. For Rebecca, knowing that Joe who was trying to win her over at those tis, didn’t even listen to her, would be heartbreaking.
"I’m fine, Tallie! You go do what you have to do!" Rebecca waved her hand at Talia standing at the bedroom door.
"I’ll be back soon," Talia said talking in a deep breath. After nodding at Sally who had a despondent face but still trying to smile, Talia got down the stairs.
In the dining room, Mr. Ed pulled a chair for Talia to sit.
Talia looked around to see the entire area spotless within half an hour as if no one died in this place soti ago. There were no police tapes, no chalk linings and no forensic agents....
If not for the mild scent of bleach and the missing rug where Stacy was lying in a pool of her own blood, Talia would have believed that she dreamt everything that happened so ti ago.
"Stacy’s father... As Princess Talia felt like you’d seen him before, the Lockhart family conducted investigations. They found that he was in Esteria two decades back. The kidnapping incident that happened when you were six, might have had that man’s hand in it. We could only speculate since its been a long ti and the initial investigations around that ti found no connection with him. He pretended to be your father’s friend as he worked as a professor and both of them t in bars often and it is possible he gathered a lot of informations about you and your family."
Mr.Ed paused. That man had contact with Nicholas Sinclair, Arthur’s uncle. Jonathan might have gas lighted Nicholas to go after Maria Brunton, the Princess’ mother. But he didn’t want the Princess to get reminded of her mother’s death now.
Talia could feel there are more details that needed to be explained. Reminded of the kidnapping incident felt like that scab that was in her heart got peeled off once again. She shivered for a mont.
That kidnapping incident was one of her worse traumas and she vaguely rembered they put forth demands for her grandfather while keeping her drugged. She rembered those n telling her that her grandfather was not willing to do what he was told and wants her dead.
Cyrus saved her that day! She was covered in his blood.
Her trust towards her grandfather that had started to shake after her mother’s wake, started to reduce after that incident. Afterwards there were a lot of argunts between her grandfather and her alcoholic father. It was Cyrus who protected her from everything at those tis and soon she was shipped to S-country.
Talia gritted her teeth and pulled herself together. Now is not the ti to be loving in the past. She is fine now. She should count her blessings and not her sorrows.
"What grievance did he have against my family? And can I have a look at his photograph from then?" Talia asked. It seed like Stacy’s father got closer to her father on purpose. Also she wanted to know where she could have t him.
Was he there in the warehouse where I was kept? Or did I t him when I was with my father?
Mr. Ed could see Talia’s mood was fluctuating but she was holding herself back from losing herself. He didn’t want to talk about it all now,but seeing that bright eyes looking at him, he continued further. He knew he won’t be allowed to leave without her getting all the facts.
"His original na was Jonathan Cooper. He was the son of Obedia Cooper, the founder of the conglorate Colza... Do you rember him, Your Highness?" Mr. Ed looked at Talia, observing the changes in her mood. He cannot stress her more.
"Cooper? Colza?" Talia didn’t rember that nas. It happened a long ti ago and since she was a sensitive child, most of the ti, they didn’t tell her everything.
Mr. Ed turned his laptop monitor towards her and the picture of that old man in the screen triggered her mory. She only rembered vague details.
"He was a bad guy," Talia said. She didn’t rember clearly but she could only rember that feeling of disgust towards that old man.
"He was terrible! And your grandfather helped bring him to justice-"
"And Jonathan wanted to get back at my grandfather and tried to hurt ?" Talia chuckled lightly and searched in her phone to find out what awful thing Cooper did that made even her grandfather who never interferes in other’s business, to take the initiative to bring him down. And reading the charges against him that were proved with solid evidences, Talia felt her stomach churn.
Now this one is a real monster! He deserved it all!
"So Jonathan thought my grandpa took away his chances of being rich? Stacy said that she deserved the sa life as ! She wanted to be rich? Hmpf! Well, she should have blad her grandfather for being a monster,"Talia snorted. He probably kidnapped her to get money he thought he deserved and he even raised his daughter teaching her that she was supposed to be a rich princess but the Brunton family ruined her chances.
What kind of terrible people think what that Obediah Cooper did was acceptable?
Sohow her mind got cleared, " But the Lockhart family wouldn’t have let get closer to Stacy if they knew who she was," Talia asked.
" Her father changed his na and surna after he left Esteria and he faked his history. Only after digging deeper we were able to find out about it. She was supposed to be your secretary and they only checked her background which was normal," Mr.Ed replied.
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