Chapter 34: Chapter 34

"Whatever you do, never run back to what broke you"

Evelyn's P.O.V.

I got off the bus and started walking towards the Black's Palace. My mind was a mess. All the hectic events of today had exhausted me. I looked around only to see a few kids playing with each other, a few couples walking while smiling and cuddling with each other. My heart twitched with pain as I saw these carefree people who are enjoying their life and then there's me whose life is no more than a melodrama. I don't know why people can't let me live in peace. I don't know what wrong I have done with everyone. Neither I fought with them, nor badmouthed about them, nor mocked them nor passed them rude taunts. Then why the hell they are bothering me? Why can't they just let me live in peace?

~Flashback

“You're coming with us and I won't take a no as an answer,” Brandon rasped; his tone laced with anger as he looked at me with his raging eyes.

“No Brandon, I won't go anywhere with you,” I snapped at him.

“Why? What's stopping you?”

I looked at Xander in shock.

'Does he know everything', I asked Xander through my eyes. He got my question and nodded.

“Yes, I know everything so you both can cut your stupid act,” Brandon growled from behind.

“Who told you? Xander?”

“Cut the crap Eve. We should be worrying about how to take you from this hell rather than debating on such useless issues.”

“Exactly now let's go, we need to take you to my doctor even”, Brandon grabbed my right wrist and pulled me to himself. I gulped.

“D-Doctor?”

I frowned when he glared at me and abruptly his hold on my wrist tightened making me wince in pain.

“You have a tracker on your neck, right? So, we need to remove it otherwise Dylan will know about you.”

“Yes, we need to go quickly before he comes to know about our plan.”

"Where?"

A deep voice echoed from behind making my heart lurch in fear. I abruptly clutched Brandon's hand tightly.

We all looked back only to see Mr Black looking at us with a frown.

“Where are you all going?”, he spoke in his deep husky voice. I glanced at Brandon only to see him glaring at Mr Black ferociously.

‘OH MY GOD!! This is not good.’

My heart started beating erratically. If Brandon explodes and lashes out at him, everything will get ruined. Dylan will come to know about everything. The last time he pulled my family card, this time he will kill them and then me. I need to do something quickly.

“Uhmm, actually Brandon and I are going shopping. Tomorrow is my birthday Mr Black.”

I smiled at him. He looked at me softly and smiled back.

“Oh!! That's great. Dylan is also planning for your-“

“Let's go, Evelyn.”

Brandon harshly cut him in between and started dragging me along with him. Mr Black immediately came in front of us. Brandon glared at him.

“Evelyn, can you excuse us two? I need to talk with my son in private.”

He spoke as he held Brandon's shoulders. Brandon looked at his hand and then back at him.

“I am not your son and I don't have time either. So, move.”

He snapped. I looked at Brandon in shock. His eyes were blazing with fire. I gulped. I looked back at Mr Black only to see him staring at Brandon deeply as if they both were communicating through their eyes. Their expressions were completely clear as mud to me. I kept shifting my gaze from Brandon and then back to Mr Black like a dumb.

Abruptly Brandon left my hands and spoke in his deep raspy voice, “Alright.”

With that, they both exited the room leaving me and Xander befuddled.

“What just happened?”

“I don't know.”

End of Flashback~

Inside Black's Palace

I entered the mansion only to be welcomed with a deadly eerie silence. I roamed my eyes around slowly, not a single soul could be seen inside the colossal hall. The only voice which could be heard was the sound of my shoes hitting the shining marble floor.

"Evie"

My breath hitched as soon as I heard that familiar voice. The corner of my eyes started burning as tears automatically filled in them. I curled my fingers into a tight fist. Soon the sound of footsteps echoed inside the hall. I looked up. My jaw clenched as soon as I saw those two faces...

Whom I hate the most.

"My daughter"

Yes, they were none other than my parents.

My mother was standing right in front of my eyes while staring at me with teary eyes. Her eyes were glistening with ecstasy but her lips were curved in a sad smile. I tore my gaze away from her and looked at my Dad. He was looking at me with a pained expression. His eyes had turned red which meant he was crying for so long. But his eyes were drowned with remorse and hurt. All of a sudden, my tears dried up which shocked me as well. I couldn't feel anything. Nor my heart rejoiced to see them nor did I feel sad for missing them.

Their delighted expression slowly turned into a worried one. And I am sure it was because they didn't find an ounce bit of emotion in my eyes nor a change in my demeanour. I kept staring at them with cold eyes while my face was blank.

Mom came towards me with tottering steps. However, Dad didn't move an inch. I didn't even look at her as my eyes were fixed on Dad who was staring at me with so much guilt.

“Aren't you happy to see us, Evie?”

She smiled with teary eyes. Her words eventually ignited a spark in the cold fire which was deep-buried inside my heart giving it rise to a volcano. Her eyes widened as she saw my face. Anger surfaced in my blank expression. I took a step towards her and smiled bitterly.

“Happy? To see you guys?”

I chuckled. Mom kept looking at me with a confused expression.

“The two souls who are responsible for my ruined self, who is responsible for turning a happy-go girl into a corpse, who is responsible for wiping my smile off my face, who is responsible for snatching away my happiness, for making my life hell, for destroying my dreams, for damaging my self-esteem. I should be happy to see those two tormentors of MY LIFE!!!”

I gritted with a clenched jaw. She looked down in shame.

“Evie, we didn't have any option”, she mumbled in a broken voice.

“OF COURSE YOU HAD!!!!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs. She lifted her head and looked at me in shock.

“You always had. You knew how hard I was working for the company. I worked like my fingers to the bone to clear off this myriad debt but no, your patience ran out. You wanted results before timing and so what do you do? You sold your daughter to save your damn company. You sold me to a group of manipulators, abusive monsters just to live your life in luxury. Isn't it?”

I spat. Mom shook her head vigorously and held my shoulders.

“Evie, listen to me. I know we did wrong but we would have come on the streets. Forget about us, I don't even care about me but we had a daughter with us. We need to think about you. We can live with necessities but how would have we fed and protected a grown-up daughter from the cruel eyes of society? You know nothing child. Hungry vultures always keep roaming around the city only to hunt down such innocent and beautiful young women. We needed to protect you at any cost-“

“Hahaha”

She halted her speech when she heard me laughing. She frowned and was about to speak when I yanked her hands off me.

“Hungry vultures? Protected? What rubbish are you talking about? So, you mean to say that you married me off to a billionaire so that you can protect me, right?”

Mom looked at me. I raised my brows for an answer, she immediately nodded.

“Alright, so it doesn't matter to you if your daughter's husband already has a girlfriend? If he is fucking another woman even when he has a wife waiting for him at home? Her in-laws are abusive towards her, his husband hits her, insults her, made her work as a maid in his house and treats her worse than a slave. Her husband hadn't given her the status of his wife in front of the whole society. But that's alright in your eyes because as per your clarification, you did everything to save your company?”, I spoke while gnashing my teeth, a lone tear escaped my eyes as I remembered those barbaric moments.

“At least you had a roof over your head, you get food to eat. I know what they did was wrong but-“

“Why are you here then?”, I cut her off harshly. She looked at me perplexed.

“W-What do you mean? Can't I come to meet my daughter?”, she looked at me with hurt. I scoffed.

Either she is deliberately being blind or she is not at all concerned about my sufferings.

“After so many months you realized that you have a daughter? Because as per my knowledge my parents disowned me the day, they married me off. They cut me off with a shilling and I don't remember having any guardian,” I said and shrugged my shoulders. Her eyes turned red after hearing my venomous words. She grabbed my right forearm in a tight grip.

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I KNOW WE DID WRONG BUT WE WERE BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS, WE WERE ABOUT TO GET DOOMED. I UNDERSTAND YOU DIDN'T EXPECTED THAT BUT THE DEBT WAS WAY TOO MUCH. EVEN IF YOU HAD WORKED TILL YOUR LAST BREATH, YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO CLEAR IT OFF!! AT THAT MOMENT DYLAN BLACK WAS OUR ONLY HOPE!! YES, WE WERE VILLAINS BUT PARENTS' CRUEL DEEDS ALWAYS HAVE A MOTTO, A TRUE CONCERN IS HIDDEN IN IT FOR THEIR CHILDREN.”

She yelled on my face. I kept staring at her blankly. Mom noticed my indifference. She then held my both hands in hers and squeezed them tightly.

“You are my own flesh Evie, my daughter. Whatever I did it was for your good. You can be angry but don't say you're an orphan. That you don't have a mother,” she cried.

“I never said that,” I immediately replied. Her eyes sparkled with joy.

“I knew you would forgive your Mo-“

"Evie?"

A cheerful voice called me from the kitchen. I turned my eyes towards the source of that peaceful voice.

“Mom”

I immediately detached my hands and ran towards her.

End of Evelyn's P.O.V.

Mrs Clarke froze as soon as she heard her daughter calling another woman Mom that too in front of her. That couldn't be a more heartbreaking moment for any mother. Even Mr Clarke was stunned to witness that heart-wrenching scene.

He was broken completely from inside because the girl who couldn't stop chattering with her Dad, whose eyes would always keep waiting for him anxiously so that she could narrate her tales of school to him, who would always keep nagging and annoying him, who would always keep following him like a puppy all around the house, didn't even speak a single word to him today. She barely considered his presence and avoided him like a plague. And today she fought with her parents and smiled at a stranger.

Mr Clarke didn't fail to notice the spark he saw in Evelyn's eyes when she saw that woman. How her dull face lit up with joy just the way the two-year-old Evelyn used to move her legs quickly and smile when he used to return home from his office. How she ran to that woman happily just the way she used to do when she was a baby and he used to lift that toddler in his arms and kiss her chubby cheeks.

Mr Clarke sadly chuckled remembering those memories because he knew that no matter whatever he does now, nothing would be the same ever again.

Evelyn looked back at her real parents, she noticed their sad eyes which were completely drenched in pain and their long faces. She smiled at them and looked at Mrs Clarke.

“I hope I have finally given you your answer,” she spoke coldly. Maria kept staring at them in confusion as she was oblivious to everything. Mrs Clarke gulped the lump of throat formed in her throat.

Now there was no use to say anything. Mr Clarke kept looking at Evelyn painfully and sadly.

He was her Dad, he could have saved her that day but he didn't. He gave more priority to his company, to his reputation than to his daughter whom he had always treated as his Princess. Evelyn was the jewel of his life whom he let looted by some vicious and power-hungry beasts. He knew what he was doing, he was in his full senses when he took the decision to hand her little Doll to that Devil but his hand didn't tremble a bit when he signed a deal to save his life at the expense of his daughter's happiness, his heart didn't clench a bit. He traded his daughter just to save his damn company.

His heart did ache when he saw her crying and begging him not to leave her with these monsters on the wedding day. He wanted to save her but his selfish goals, his greed didn't let him hold her hand, didn't let him save her when his daughter needed her saviour the most. His Princess had gone through a lot and now that warm-hearted girl had turned into a cold grown-up woman and it was all because of him as she was much closer to him than her mother.

So, was there any use of lamenting now? No.

Evelyn walked towards them while pulling Maria along with her.

“Don't shed your precious tears, Mrs Clarke. There's no use now,” she said while her parents kept staring at her with tears streaming down their faces. Maria's eyes widened when she realized that they were none other than Evelyn's parents.

Evelyn then walked towards Mrs Clarke and spoke while staring into her eyes.

“The day you entangled me in this cruel relationship, you also ended our own. You left me to die in this hell while I kept begging you to show some mercy. You caged me in a house, Mrs Clarke, where I have no respect, no value. Your cruel, selfish deeds reduced me from a human being into a cyborg, a golden duck, a Genie. You don't know how sleepless nights I have spent in this hell, how many tears I had shed, how much your so-called saviours whom you chose to make my life easier, tortured me. You were never there. But as it is said. You left me but God didn't. He sent an Angel for me. An Angel who took away all my miseries, who considered my pain as hers, who fulfil all the duties which should have been fulfilled by you.”

She said by pointing her index finger at her, her tone staggered a bit as heavy tears filled in her eyes. Maria bit her lip to control her sobs while her parents kept taking all her accusations silently as they were equally responsible for Evelyn's sufferings along with Dylan and his family.

“And now she had replaced you even. She had occupied that place in my heart, the level of respect that I used to hold for you guys earlier.”

She spat angrily. Mrs Clarke's heart shattered into pieces after hearing it.

"History repeats itself, Mrs Clarke, now it's my time. You ignored my tears and abandoned me that day so today I do the same. I free you from my life. From now on, don't you ever come in front of me because for me, you don't even exist anymore"

*****