Chapter 63
“I have no idea. She left for abroad after that day and we lost contact with each other,” Hayley said slowly while shaking her head. Then, she looked up nervously at Elliot and urged tearfully, “Elliot, you have to promise me not to ask Anastasia about this. I don’t want you to prod into the scars of her past, okay? Besides, if she finds out that I was the one who told you all about what happened to her, she’ll only hate me more.” ..
Elliot knew that going through something as horrific as this was traumatizing for any woman. As such, he nodded and said in a fit of compassion, “I promise I won’t mention a word about this to her.”.
Burying her face in her hands, Hayley began to sob and snivel again, though she was actually smirking into her palms with the corners of her lips tipped up villainously. Now that Elliot knows of your dark past, would he still want someone as tainted as you, Anastasia?
Presently, Elliot reached out to pat Hayley’s shoulder. “There, now-stop crying and get some rest. I’ll be going back to the office.”
“Don’t go, Elliot.” Hayley grabbed the hem of his shirt and eyed him piteously. “Can’t you stay with me for a while longer?”
He had only just risen from his seat, but now that Hayley had asked him to stay, he did as told and sat down once more. This made him think of that fateful night from five years ago, when he had been so out of his own mind that he ravished Hayley like a monster. He could still hear her sobs from that night like haunted, disembodied tunes in the back of his mind, and he could still feel the way she struggled to break free from under him. And yet, he never stopped, merely pinning her down so that he could have his ruthless ways with her.
“That night… It was my first time as well, Elliot,” Hayley mumbled shyly as she looked up at him with her pretty eyes.
He nodded and said gently, “I know.” He had known, indeed, for he had noticed the drops of blood on the couch when he woke up after the brutal deed. The thought of this only made him want to compensate her more.
“Elliot, I… I want to keep being your woman,” she added boldly, abandoning all subtlety as she confessed her feelings for him.
His gaze was warm and steady as he said, “We’ll talk about this after you get better. I have a lot of things going on at the moment.”
She could hear the rejection behind his carefully-chosen and empty words, but that did not deter her at all. “Elliot, please don’t turn me down. I know I’m not beautiful, but I… I really like you.”
Just then, Elliot’s phone rang, and he rose to leave the room. “I have to take this call.”
Hayley watched as his tall and straight figure marched out of the hospital room. As she pursed her lips in disappointment, she still fervently believed that one day she would become his woman indeed.
The person on the other line was Harriet, who had been waiting for a really long time for Anastasia’s arrival. When the guest of honor never showed up, she began to grow frantic and decided to call her grandson for an explanation. “Elliot, why isn’t Miss Tillman here yet?”
–
“Something happened on the way, Grandma. I’ll bring her over to the house tomorrow.”
“What happened?”
“It’s mostly my part.”
“Fine, then! Bring her over tomorrow morning. Better yet, we should have lunch
Beste together!”
“Okay, I’ll arrange for it immediately,” Elliot answered respectfully.
He hung up the call and paused for a moment, then spun on his heels to return to the hospital room. After pushing the door open, he then said to Hayley, “They need me back at the office, so I’ll be going off now. Get plenty of rest.”
Hayley dared not force him to stay, so she merely nodded obediently as she said, “Okay.”
With a small nod of relief, Elliot turned and left the hospital room.
Meanwhile, Anastasia had hailed a ride back to the company, which took up two hours of her time. As such, she immediately leafed through the documents and started tying up all the loose ends in the office, but she had barely drawn anything when her phone rang.
She picked it up and asked, “Hello, who is this?”
“It’s me,” Elliot replied.
“Oh, look who’s back. Did Erica decide to let you go?” Anastasia asked with a raise of her brow.
“I’ve rescheduled your meeting with my grandmother to tomorrow morning.”
“Well, then, as long as you’ve spoken to her. Anyway, I have to get back to work now.”
“I’d like to buy you and Jared dinner tonight,” Elliot suddenly offered.
“No, thanks,” Anastasia replied. She didn’t feel much like entertaining him after seeing how he and Hayley were all huddled up today at the parking lot.
If she had to be honest, she hated Hayley with a passion. They were both once as close as sisters, but clearly that friendship had been nothing more than a joke to Hayley, who did not hesitate to stab Anastasia in the back at first chance and push her off the cliff into a dark abyss.
If it weren’t for Jared, Anastasia didn’t think she could ever be saved from the agony that followed the incident which left her scarred. She would’ve spiraled into depression and hatred. She could still remember how the man—that scoundrel who
thinking she was going to die.
