Chapter 7

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The hall erupted in murmurs.

I stood still for a few seconds. I hadn't expected Vance to come or even disagree on Dad handing over the company.

"Vance, Raven. What do the two of you mean by this?" Dad's eyebrows shot up, forehead wrinkling as he looked between the two of us.

Vance adjusted his deep green suit with trembling hands before climbing the stage.

Something had changed about him. Since I have known him, he always seemed to have some kind of burden on his shoulders. When I was a kid, I often caught him sitting by the balcony and staring at the sky.

At the time, his back would look desolate.

But now, his shoulder shook with tremors and his eyes kept darting around like he feared something would jump at him from the crowd. It was the same look he had whenever he woke up from nightmares in my past life.

My feet moved before I could think, and I was following him.

"Elio isn't fit for this position." He tried to keep his voice steady, but he failed.

“And why is that?" Dad snapped.

Vance took a step closer, so close that if I wasn't standing beside them, I wouldn't hear what he said. "Martha lied to us, Elio is Vincent's son." He said the words shakily.

Dad's reaction was immediate.

Color drained out of his face as he snapped his head towards Vance, his hands trembling at his side. "H-How is that possible?"

"I knew she was suspicious the moment she brought Elio to us." Vance whispered, looking like he had seen a ghost.

I edged forward.

Vincent? Who the hell is that?

I parted my lips to question them, but right at that moment, Elio stormed over. " I still haven't gotten my response, what makes me unfit for the position?" He demanded.

The sound of his voice made Dad flinch. While Vance turned around stiffly, unable to utter a word.

Cameras flashed at us from all angles, and the crowd was now focused on us. A sense of unease slithered through me.

I couldn't let this opportunity go just like that, so I stepped forward. "Do we still need to respond to that?" My lips curled back in a sneer.

"Of course." He adjusted his suit, chest puffed. "I have spent the last five years working night and day for Knight Corps. And I have brought the company to a higher level. If there is anyone here who deserves that title, it is me."

"Oh?" A cold smile spread on my lips. "If what you mean by bringing the company to a higher level is embezzlement, then you might as well just sell the company."

Surprised flickered in his eyes but he was quick to gain composure. " What evidence do you have to back up your claims?"

"I have more than enough proof." The large screen behind us lightened up and all the records of Elio's dealings with the company funds were exposed on the screen.

The room exploded with murmurs and conversations, cameras flashed, and the already bright and loud room grew louder.

Good.

This was exactly what I wanted, the louder this blew up, the bigger his crimes would look.

"You have embezzled almost one billion dollars from Knight Corps in the last two years. And not only that, you have also been using the company's money to fund an organization named Flame Wings." Winter came up to the stage with the documents in hand.

Elio staggered back, face pale. "These are all fabricated. Someone is trying to frame me-"

SMACK!

I didn't let the word leave his lips before I swung my hand and delivered a loud slap to his cheek. "The evidence is right here, how dare you deny it?" I threw the document on him, watching as the white paper dropped to the ground.

Instantly, his face contorted to fury, yet he held back. "Ray, why are you doing this to me? You lied against me and now you even slapped me?" He held his cheek, every vein on his hand bulging.

"Raven, how could you be so heartless? Even if Elio doesn't love you, you don't have to frame him like this." Thalia climbed the stage, her doe eyes shimmering with fake tears.

"You have been acting strangely since you fell into the swimming pool two weeks ago. I thought it would only last a few days, but now you are trying to frame me?" He tried to grab my hand but I stepped back.

"Who do you think you are that I would waste my time framing you?"

Thalia bit her cheek, her head lowered. "Is it because he loves me instead of you? Even if it's that way, you don't have to ruin his future." Her tears fell down like pearls from the ocean. "I-I can leave him if you want, then the two of you can be together and you will no longer need to lie against him."

My whole body vibrated like a wire about to snap.

I have never had the urge to beat someone up this much in my life. Of all the four who partook in my death, Thalia was the one I feared the most, up until my death, she never dropped her fake white lotus act.

Even while framing me in front of Elio, her act was always the same, tears and self blame words. Anyone listening would pity her.

Winter was faster than I was, SMACK. The force of the slap sent Thalia falling down with a thud. "You slapped me?!!!" She screamed. Her facade falling.

"I did." Winter cleaned her hand with a handkerchief. Her brow lowered in remorse. "I just felt bad seeing you pinch yourself to force out tears, so I decided to give you a little push. See? The tears are now coming more naturally aren't they?"

"You-"

Laughter drifted through the hall.

I turned towards Elio. "If I framed you or not, the police will be the judge of that. Besides, Flame Wing is an illegal organization and you dared to fund them, this is an undeniable fact."

Right on cue, the cops we had on standby walked over. "Elio Knight, you are under arrest for dealing with an illegal organization and the illegal embezzlement of funds. You have the right to...."

"No! No! No! No! You can't take him, he didn't do anything!" Thalía cried as Elio was being cuffed. "Say something, Elio. Tell them you didn't do it!" Tears and snot ran down her face, this time, they were real.

She looked into his eyes expectantly, but his response was silence.

One brow lifted.

I expected him to put up a fight, or even deny it more, but Elio didn't do any of that, instead, he calmly allowed them to handcuff him.

Just as they were about to take him away, he turned to me, gaze cold. "You shouldn't have done that, Ray. I was going to let you live before. But now you have unleashed hell upon yourself."

The hair at the back of my neck rose and a memory of that room flashed in my mind. The coldness in his eyes as he pushed me down the stairs, and personally administered the drugs that turned my dreams into a nightmare.

I gasped. Why wasn't he scared?

Why was he looking at me like I was the one being exposed?

No!

This wasn't how it was meant to happen. Something was wrong.

Very, terribly wrong.

~P-Lia~