CHAPTER TWO- BEFORE THE FALL
1457 Words
FIVE MONTHS EARLIER
The rain came down hard.
It battered the windows of the Coleman mansion, turning the city into a blur of headlights.
Eli Coleman stared out the window into the storm. His mom was late for dinner. He checked his phone again; no calls or messages.
Nothing.
He frowned and dialed her number; it went straight to voicemail.
Something uneasy moved in his chest. It was unusual of her to be out this late. His phone vibrated; it was an unknown number. He answered immediately.
“Hello”
“Please, is this Eli Coleman?”
“Yes?”
“This is New York Prestige Hospital; we're calling regarding your mother, Margaret Coleman.”
Eli's heart dropped immediately.
“What happened? Is she okay?”
“She has been involved in a serious car accident.”
“Is she alive?” Eli whispered in horror. There was a slight hesitation from the other side of the line.
“Please, you need to be here as quickly as you can.”
Eli was already reaching for his car keys.
“Please tell me she's alive!” he screamed into the phone.
“We're sorry, Mr Coleman, we can't say anything till you get here.” Eli hung up and ran out the door.
……………………………………………………………….
By the time Eli got to the hospital, he was already hyperventilating. He had already lost his dad; he couldn't see his life going on without his mother.
He rushed through the emergency department and spotted a nurse. “Margaret Coleman, she was brought in from a car accident!” The nurse looked at him with sympathy.
“Sir…”
“Where is she?!”
A doctor walked up to him.
Eli looked at his face and immediately knew.
“No”
“We're sorry, Mr Coleman…”
“No, no, no.” Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“We did all we could; her injuries were too severe.”
“No! You're wrong.”
He sank to his knees.
His mother was dead.
The woman that loved him. His biggest supporter. She held his hands after he lost his father, taught him all about the family business.
Gone.
People moved around him in a blur. His breath came out painfully, his lungs constricting.
A few minutes later, Marcus arrived.
He had received the call while working and sped through the storm without thinking.
The moment he saw Eli on the floor, he knew.
His little sister was gone.
He pulled Eli into his arms.
“She's gone. Uncle, she's gone.”
Eli broke and sobbed in his arms like he was a child.
“My mother is gone.”
“I know”
“She's gone”
“I know, Son,” Marcus held him until his tears ran out and he was whimpering and shaking.
……………………………………………………………
The truth came out two days later.
Marcus was going through Margaret’s study; he opened her drawers and went through notes and files.
Her musky chocolate body mist still lingered in the room.
He couldn't bring himself to pack her things away; he saw her in everything.
He looked at her purse lying on the desk. The hospital had sent the items that were with her during the accident.
He opened the purse; her phone was inside and only slightly cracked, surprisingly.
He powered it on and saw several messages and missed calls.
A name caught his attention.
Richard Hart.
He opened the chat, and his face dropped.
There were tons of messages.
Private messages, romantic messages, hotel addresses.
He stared at it in disbelief. His sister had an affair. He kept on scrolling till he saw a message.
"I'm leaving now. I'll see you at the hotel."
Marcus looked at the timestamp, and his blood ran cold.
She sent this on the night of the accident.
“No” his hands trembled.
The door opened, and Eli walked in.
“Uncle?”
Marcus quickly locked the phone and hid it behind him.
“What's wrong?” Eli looked at him suspiciously.
Marcus didn't know how to disclose the information he had just stumbled upon.
He sighed in resignation as Eli got closer to him. “Read this.” He passed the phone to Eli.
Eli’s eyes roamed through the messages, then he stopped, blood drained from his face.
“Richard Hart?”
He looked up, and Marcus nodded. “Why is she talking to him?”
“She was having an affair with him.”
“No! Mom wouldn't do that.”
Eli kept on scrolling till he got to the message.
His eyes widened.
“That night?”
“Yes”
“She was driving to see him!”
Marcus's jaw tightened, his body shaking with fury.
Eli slammed the phone on the desk, his eyes darkening.
“He killed her.”
………………………………………………………………..
Richard Hart knew Eli or Marcus would march through his front doors. He didn't expect it to be this soon.
The doors of his house swung open, and Eli walked straight to him.
Richard's face remained expressionless as he stood up from the sofa.
Did you sleep with my mother?
Elena Hart froze; she looked up at her husband slowly.
“You did what, Richard?”
“Your husband has been sleeping with my mother!”
Elena's head spun; she reached for anything around her to gain her balance.
”Eli, listen—”
“Did you?!” Eli grabbed the collar of Richard’s shirt.
Richard lowered his eyes.
“Yes”
The answer blew Eli like a punch.
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. He tightened his grip on Richard.
“She died because of you!”
Richard shook his head, avoiding Eli's eyes.
“I never meant for that to happen.”
“But you knew she was coming?”
“Yes," Richard answered, his whole body shaking like a leaf.
“You knew she was coming, and you let her drive through the storm.”
“I didn't know she'd crash.”
“You didn't care!”
“Eli—”
“You killed my mother!”
Eli looked at Elena. “Your husband is an animal.”
Eli released his grip, and Richard sank to the floor, his legs giving out.
He sobbed quietly.
"I never want to see your family again.”
“Eli, please…” Elena said, her cheeks stained with tears.
Eli walked to the door and turned back to face Richard. “Keep my mother's name out of your filthy mouth.”
He slammed the door.
…………………………………………………………….
Margaret's funeral was held four days later.
The Coleman estate was filled with mourners. Friends, business associates and colleagues. Ariana Hart stood beside her mother. She hadn't stopped crying since she heard the news.
Margaret Coleman treated her like the daughter she never had. She had grown up with the Coleman family; Margaret was always present for every birthday, every graduation, every Thanksgiving.
She even said she loved her more than her son, jokingly from time to time.
Eli…
He stood beside his uncle. His expression was dark and his eyes deep with grief. She started making her way to him, to comfort him, but he looked past her and his face hardened.
Ariana turned around, following his line of sight.
Richard Hart had just arrived. She had left early with her mom, and when she asked if he was coming, he just acted weirdly. Marcus walked up to Richard.
“You have no right to be here”
“I came to pay my respects.”
“You killed my sister!”
Several heads turned in their direction.
“I never wanted her dead”
“You were sleeping with her; she died on her way to see you.”
Arianas' eyes widened in horror. She looked at her mother; Elena was sobbing uncontrollably.
Arianas' heart sunk.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“Leave now or else…” Marcus opened his coat, showing Richard the gun at his waist. Richard lifted his hands and walked away quietly.
Ariana ran towards Eli.
“Eli”
He started walking away
“Eli, please”
He continued walking.
“Eli!”
He finally stopped.
“Eli, I'm so sorry.”
Ariana stood behind him, tears streaming down her face. He didn't turn around.
“Please don't shut me out. I didn't know about them.”
“I know, but I can't do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
“Be around your family.”
“And me?”
“Stay away from me, Ariana.”
He walked off without sparing her a glance.
She stood there watching him disappear into the crowd.
Her heart disintegrated with every step he took away from her.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD