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Chapter 82
Zora
“What is the matter with you?” Eloise asked me, and they joined me in the bathroom. Other than the tea and biscuits I ingested, there was nothing in my stomach. So when I threw everything up, I sat by the toilet seat, heaving.
Kara poured cold water overhead, and I sighed with relief because I was burning up.
“What is wrong with you?” Eloise asked, looking concerned, and I shook my head
“I guess I am reacting to something in the tea or biscuits. It might also be because of the up–and–down feeling today. Everything has been crazy.” I said, feeling better.
“Maybe you should rest,” Kara said, and we left the bathroom and went back to the couch.
We talked about other things, watched a movie, and then they left.
Darius returned thirty minutes after they left, looking very angry and troubled.
He went to the bathroom immediately, and even though I wanted to join him, I wasn’t feeling that great.
He lingered in the bathroom before coming to bed:
“Are we not going for dinner?” I asked him, and he shook his
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He looked at me and held my hand.
“You look pale,” he said with concern, and I smiled at him and caressed his cheeks gently.
“And you look tensed,” I said, and he smiled at me and pulled me into his arms.
I placed my head against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. I felt his uneasiness, and I knew the issue with his brother troubled him.
“You need to be calm, darling. I know you care about
Abelardo, and I pray he is innocent too, but you need to be calm,” I said, and he kissed the top of my head.
“I want you to join me in questioning him and Larry tomorrow. Do you think you are up for it?” He asked me, and I looked at him with a broad smile.
“That will be amazing. It will be more fun than anything I have been doing since I got here,” I said, and he frowned at me, his dark eyes flashing. I wondered what I said to make Cremin jealous.
“More fun than making love?” he asked, and I smiled broadly, shaking my head.
“No, definitely not,” I said, and he smiled and tickled me.
“Did my mother come to this room after I left?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“We are definitely now enemies. I doubt she will come here knowing you aren’t here,” I said, and he nodded.
“She has taken a short trip, and for some reason, I am nervous because it has to do with Abelardo,” he said, and I frowned at
him.
“Kara and Eloise said they saw her in the lounge a few hours ago,” I said, and he nodded.
“The alcohol must have given her a bright idea,” he said, and it did not sit well with me.
A desperate woman would do anything. Nellie’s judgement could not be trusted at the moment.
“Did you have her followed?” I asked him, and he shook his head.
“I doubt I need to have her followed, Zora. She is just angry. Besides, she is my mother. I can’t treat her like a suspect in a crime,” he said, and I nodded even though I disagreed with
him.
I honestly wished he had her followed. Deep down, I doubted her trip had anything to do with Abelardo’s freedom.
After hearing what Kara told me she said to them on their way to my room, I knew she believed I had masterminded everything.
She had also implied that my position with Darius wasn’t a given and that two months was time enough for things to change. I wondered what my new antagonist had in store for me. I prayed silently for the strength to overcome.
Morning came, and Darius and I got ready for breakfast.
It was going to be a busy day, but I was not feeling up to it.
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I was a bit tired even though
though we didn’t do anything and I had just woken up from sleep.
I did not think much of it and just got ready quietly.
Once we were done getting ready, we went to the dining room to have breakfast.
Everyone was there as always, and we ate in silence.
What happened with Abelardo had brought gloom into our lives. I hoped the matter was solved quickly.
I prayed it did not linger because we all deserved better.
Our love was still young; we were still getting to know each other and trying to manoeuvre through our differences to accept them and make it work. This matter needed to be solved as soon as possible.
“Zora will be accompanying us to question Abelardo and Larry,” Darius announced, and Marcel nodded.
“I want Kara to come with us too,” Marcel said, and Darius didn’t seem okay with it, but he did not complain.
Raphael requested to bring Eloise along, and I touched Darius’s lap to stop him from making a scene.
I could not really eat, so I just pushed my food about the plate picking the bits and stalling for breakfast to be over.
We finished, and Darius decided to go to the cells on the property to question Abelardo.
As we moved towards the place, I remembered when
Abelardo attacked my friends and me and locked us up
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because of councilwoman Jenny’s death and the attack on his mother.
I was still baffled why the attackers spared Nellie’s life. It really didn’t add up.
When we got there, we noticed Abelardo outside his cell in
officers.
chains standing will soo
“What is going on here?” Darius growled. He was angry.
“What is the council task force doing here?” he asked, and the men saluted him and bowed their heads immediately.
“Your eminence, the council has ordered that we move him to the council prison,” One of them said.
“Under whose orders and why?” Darius asked.
“It was a collective decision by all council members. The act of treason is judged and punished by the council,” The man said and handed Darius a paper.
Darius did not bother to read the piece of paper. He just tore
- it.
“Out of my house now!” he ordered them, and they shook; even I shook because there was an authority in his voice.
We let them leave, and Darius’s Brians ushered Abelardo to a
room
We followed, and as soon as Abelardo sat down, he looked at Darius.
“What would you gain in this? You already have it all. Why lock me up? First, your woman threatened mother to keep me at
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home, and now I am being tried for treason. What happened to you, Darius? We used to fight, but nothing like this,” He said with disbelief, and I could see he was genuinely hurt.
“It stopped being fair when you decided to forge my signature and seal and send Bryce to stir up shit in the east. You knew the development tax issue was false, yet you still chose to use that same method to cause trouble for me. Why?” Darius asked him, and he looked at me.
“Do not look at Zora; focus on me, Abelardo. I need to know why you would actively work against me,” he said, and Abelardo’s eyes welled up with tears.
“If I tell you my truth, would you believe me?” Abelardo asked, and Darius did not respond.
“Answer me!” Darius growled at his brother. The pressure was overwhelming, making me nauseous, but I held it. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead, and my vision was a bit blurry, but I tried to keep it together.
