Avery pulled out her phone and called Cole.
“Hello? Avery?” Cole answered.
“Cassandra’s dead. Did you know?”
“What?! What do you mean she’s dead?! I’m at the hospital for a checkup…. She was fine when I
talked to her on the phone last night,”
“Did you fight?” “No!” Cole exclaimed.
A few seconds later, almost as if he had remembered something, he added, “I remember now.
Cassandra was here when Uncle Elliot came home for dinner last time. It wasn’t a pleasant night.
Uncle Elliot told her that she won’t have much longer to live, and she’s been terrified about that
conversation ever since-”
“That’s impossible! I was with Elliot all night. He didn’t do anything!”
Cole sighed, then said, “Why do you lose all reason every time Uncle Elliot’s involved? I’m just saying
what I know. You’re the only one I’d tell this to. If the police asked me, there’s no way I’ d mention
this…”
“Listen up, Cole Foster! You better not have anything to do with Cassandra’s death. The police will get
to the bottom of this!”
“It wasn’t me. I don’t have a motive! I wouldn’t resort to murder even if we got into a fight,” Cole
responded coldly, then added, “Avery… Ever since you fell in love with Uncle Elliot, I’ve become
nothing to you.”
“Please keep that bullsh*t to yourself! What was I to you when you were messing around with
Cassandra behind my back?!” Avery snapped, then furiously hung up the phone.
“Who were you talking to?” asked the officer.
“Cole Foster. He’s Cassandra Tate’s boyfriend,” Avery said.
She gave the officer Cole’s number, then said, “Cassandra’s been hanging out with him a lot recently.
I’m sure he knows why she killed herself.”
Avery walked out of the police station that afternoon and took a cab to her mother’s place.
After reporting the news of Cassandra’s death to Laura, Avery muttered, “I couldn’t recognize her,
Mom… It was just all blood… I couldn’t see her features….”
Laura wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and said, “Don’t be scared, Avery. It was her life! It
had nothing to do with us! All we need to do is live our own lives!”
“Cole said that Elliot did it…” Avery said. “I don’t believe it! Elliot would never commit murder!”
“Did you ask him?” Laura asked. “Even if it was him, I’m sure he had his reasons.”
“Come on, Mom. There’s never a reason to kill someone. If Cassandra broke the law, then the law
should be the one to deal with her.”
“Did the law do anything about her uncle’s crimes?” Laura said, then held Avery’s hands in hers and
added, “I didn’t say that murder isn’t wrong. I’m just saying that Cole might not be telling the truth.”
Avery quickly composed herself and said, “I just dropped by to tell you this… I’m leaving now … I need
to see Elliot.”
“I’ll take you there,” Laura said. “You’re not in your right mind right now. I’m worried.”
Avery had ordered Elliot to be on bed rest for at least a week, and so, he was obediently resting at
home.
Avery arrived at the Foster mansion at two in the afternoon.
The sight of her aloof expression and pale complexion made his heart tighten in his chest.
“I need to talk to you, Elliot,” Avery said as she took a seat next to him.
Elliot’s large hand clasped Avery’s small one. His hand was like a lion’s large paw. It wrapped around
hers in a gesture of reassurance.
Avery was not used to the affectionate act and withdrew her hand on reflex.
After a few seconds of pondering, she tried to ease into the subject but ended up getting straight to the
point.
“Cassandra’s dead. Did you have anything to do with it?”
This was always the straightforward, no-nonsense way that she got along with Elliot.
•Elliot’s eyes darkened, and his voice was chilling as he asked, “Why aren’t you asking about who was
trying to kill me last night? Is Cassandra Tate’s life more important than mine?”
Cassandra’s death had taken up so much of Avery’s mind that day that she almost forgot about the
events of the night before.
TIT
“Who was it?!” she asked with fiery eyes. “Did you find out who was behind it?”
“Would you still feel sad about her death if I told you it was Cassandra?” Elliot asked as he fixed his
eyes on Avery.
He watched as her expression went from one of shock to suspicion, then turned into anxiety.
“So… You really had something to do with Cassandra’s death,” Avery said through the lump in her
throat. “Was there no other way to go about it? Why did you have to go to such extremes?”
“Don’t look at me like that, Avery,” Elliot said as the earlier tenderness disappeared from his face. “I’ll
send whoever crosses me straight to hell. I’ve always been like that.”
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