Chapter 316: Chapter 316

"It’s been a while since Shelby said the children were returning from the festival grounds. Why are they not here yet?" Geneva said for the hundredth time that evening. She was with Alex in their room as the two had opted out of the festival’s activities. To them, this was meant for the young ones and older people like them, only needed to take a chill in times like those.

"You worry too much," Alex responded calmly, as he was used to his wife’s newfound worries with the children. Even he found himself doing that once in a while, and he found that it was nice. However, he still continued,

"With Murry, Shelby’s special bodyguard, with them, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Ah! I see now. You are only eager for the packaged snacks that Ava is sending over!" Alex teased, and Geneva pretended that she had not heard him as he bellowed with laughter. The two continued to tease each other, making Geneva fake-glare at him, and Alex raised his hands in surrender.

"On a serious note, are you okay, my dear Geneva?"

The smile and glare fell off Geneva’s face as she knew what her husband was referring to.

"At this age, what is the use of keeping such a secret? Thank you for breaking the ice with the kids. I don’t know how I would have coped with this on my deathbed."

As she said this, their minds were drawn to the day when Alex had let out the one deadly secret that the two had carried for ages.

"Stop saying such ominous things; I only wanted you to feel free in your shoes. You are the matron of this estate and its owner. I don’t know why you allow my sisters to have their way with you.

You, my dear, are the most powerful woman on this island. All bow to you, but you let those undeserving people ruin you. I stayed out of this because you asked me to, but don’t you think it’s enough after forty years? I kept my promise and made you as comfortable as you could be, but you still make me sad on this...."

Geneva stared, surprised at her husband. Apart from the day he had proposed to her, this was the only time that he had said so many words like that. In fact, the proposal day did not even come close!

She placed her hands on Alex’s, her eyes misting. This was probably one of the only times, that Geneva allowed her emotions to take over,

"This is still something that I must do for myself. Thank you, dear."

"What of .... Katie?" Geneva asked. She had various ways to find out what had ’happened,’ but Geneva did not have the heart to do so. Katie might have hurt her by spying on her all those years, but a tiny part of Geneva saw her as a daughter and a friend, and that was what made it hard.

"I’m not sure how to explain it. Interestingly,"

Alex continued, "Katie seems to have no recollection of what had happened or even her time here. She was found on one of the hikers’ trails and had hit her head badly. She has completely lost her memory and, from what I hear, does not even know her name. She is now recuperating in a small cottage on the outskirts."

Geneva raised her brows in surprise. It had barely been a few days, so what the heck had happened?

’How could this coincidence happen? Just when they thought that they had to silence Katie? Did such coincidence even happen?’

Brianna screamed and jumped around, brushing her hands and face. She jolted upright, nearly twisting her feet, gasping for air, her body drenched in cold sweat. Her heart pounded violently against her chest, the echoes of the ordeal still gripping her mind like iron chains.

For a few agonizing moments, she couldn’t tell what was real—her pulse raced, eyes wide with panic as she scanned the small cubicle in which she was. Her hands trembled as she touched her arms and face, desperately grounding herself. Sweat poured off of her, and her hands felt cold.

A little too cold! Slowly, the oppressive weight of terror began to lift when her mind registered where she was..

Brianna blinked, the strange surroundings coming into focus. The soft glow of the overhead lights, her pants down and her dress rolled up, and the rhythmic sound of her own breathing were all reassuring signs that it had only been a dream. Dream? It did not make sense to her.

Her heartbeat began to slow, though the chill of fear still clung to her skin. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, forcing herself to remember that she was safe, that none of it was real. But the vividness of the ordeal left a lingering unease as if the horrors could still reach her from the darkness of her mind.

It took her a while to get up, dress, open the cubicle, and step out. Brianna had to grip the cubicle door to keep herself straight, as her legs were jelly.

She looked around to reassure herself double that she was indeed in a ladies’ room and not on some mountain.

She finally reached the sink and splashed some water on her face. ’It was all a dream.’ She kept repeating over and over as if to convince herself.

She raised her hands and could see them visibly tremble. Brianna looked and inspected her dress, but it was clean as could be, with no trace of mountainous remnants on it. That was what convinced her that it was just a dream.

"But why would I sit on the WC and sleep? I have a mission!"

She could not believe it. Brianna tried to walk through memory lane by recalling the events from the evening, muttering to herself as if that could ground her back to the reality she was trying vehemently to grasp.

"So, I came in and that bitchy witch humiliated me!" The thought of Shelby’s slaps made her let go of most of the fear that was shrouding her. It was as if she had found the anchor that held her in place.

Her imagination was rather vivid from childhood, but Brianna knew that this time, it had been too extreme, and she was still not out of the grasp. She closed her eyes tightly as that feeling of being thrown off a cliff came rushing back.

That sensation, even though it seemed to be like a dream of a sort, was all-consuming. She remembered Ian’s assistant’s unfeeling cold gaze as he had hurled her, making her lurch violently as though the ground had been ripped from beneath you, leaving nothing but empty space.

Gravity was terrible, as was the feeling of the free fall! She wrapped her arms around herself as tremours ran through her just from recalling what now seemed like a dream of a sort!

She remembered the deafening wind roaring past her ears while the world above shrunk into the sky as she could not make sense of the distance to the ground.

Her body had been weightless yet heavy as it plummeted uncontrollably, limbs flailing in the air, reaching for anything to grasp onto but finding nothing! Panic had flooded her senses as she screamed out, hoping that someone would come to her rescue.

Her chest tightened, and her heart raced wildly. Time itself had slowed down; each second stretched out in terrifying clarity seemingly, like an hour. The air had been biting cold as gravity did its work, pulling her closer and closer as the helplessness and primal dear drowned everything. She could not feel anything but close her eyes and await her fate, only for her to find herself in the bathroom.

"Ian came, and then we went to the private room, and then I excused myself to the bathroom...."

Brianna was still puzzled. She checked her phone and saw that only about half an hour had passed.

As her mind roamed, she convinced herself that all was good.

Brianna took a few more minutes to calm herself,

"Ian would never do that! What kind of stupid dream was that within just a few minutes?" Even though her hands were still shaky, she powered her face, with a little difficulty, spluttering some of the face powder on her dress as well as gritting through the pain of the tender skin and then headed out.

"Miss? Are you feeling unwell? Why do you look so pale?" An older woman asked with concern as Brianna strode out.

"How’s that any of your business?!" Brianna snapped, and another person pulled the woman aside and whispered something in her ear. Many people had seen what had happened earlier, and pitying looks followed Brianna as she dashed across the lobby and back towards the private room.

"Strange, why is there dirt on the floor? This is a squeaky-clean place, so how did that much dump soil get here?"

"I think it’s from that girl who just left?"

"But isn’t she just coming out of the ladies’ room? It’s as if she has been in the small forest behind!"

"Hahahahahaha.... In those heels? Well, for a rude girl like that, you never know!"

Currey finished his report in the private room just as the door pushed open.

He stood to the side to allow Brianna to come in. It was funny how she strode in like she owned the place. Ian used his mind link,

’That was just the first step. Now let’s move on to the real game she likes to play with others!’

Currey shuddered and couldn’t help but think of what Brianna had gone through.

Brianna’s watch had been recalibrated, and she thought only a few minutes had passed. She had actually spent almost a couple of hours on that cliff!

Ian had let her relive the ’nightmare’ of being thrown from the cliff several times. Currey would catch her just before she hit the ground, wipe her memory, and redo it each time.

Brianna would beg with tears for Ian to stop but they had only watched on with indifference. She did not remember, but Brianna’s darting eyes showed that a ’great fear’ had been embedded into her.

The thing was, judging from the thoughts that were running through her mind, she had not repented and still wanted to see through her plan. She was like a child who thought she could hide something from her parents. With her thoughts borne out to them, she was just cattle waiting to be slaughtered, and Currey did not have any pity for her!

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