The accusation
1030 Words
Isabella smiled as several guests approached to congratulate her.
When she looked around for Alexander, she realized he had wandered off. He never actually made his way over to her.
Most likely, a relative had pulled him aside to talk business or to take pictures with the Lancaster family.
She didn’t think much of it. After all, he was the groom, and everyone wanted a few minutes with him.
While waiting for him to return, she picked up a glass of water from a passing tray.
Then, the phone inside her purse began to vibrate.
“No… please… no…”
Eduardo Romano’s voice came through the phone like a desperate plea.
Fear shot through Isabella’s body like lightning. Without thinking twice, she stepped away from the guests who were still celebrating her wedding in the gardens of the Romano mansion.
“Dad? What’s wrong?”
On the other end, all she could hear was his labored breathing, as if he were struggling to stay alive.
“Come… quickly… Don’t trust…”
The call was cut off, and Isabella’s heart began pounding violently.
Without wasting a second, she lifted the skirt of her wedding dress slightly and ran toward the inside of the mansion.
The guests barely noticed she was gone. Some assumed she had gone to touch up her makeup.
Others thought she simply needed a few minutes to catch her breath after the ceremony.
No one imagined that it would be the last time she would ever smile. Tears began to blur her vision as she rushed through the long hallways.
Her father had told her he would be using the mansion’s study to take an important phone call.
When she reached the door, she found it slightly ajar.
Her breathing stopped for an instant. She slowly pushed the door open, and her world shattered.
Eduardo Romano lay motionless on the floor, surrounded by a massive pool of blood.
Just a few steps away stood Alexander Lancaster, the man she had married only moments earlier.
His elegant wedding suit was splattered with blood, and so were his hands. Alexander slowly lifted his head when he heard the door open. As soon as he saw her, his lips could barely move enough to form the words.
“It’s not what it looks like… I swear, my love.”
A heart-wrenching scream escaped Isabella’s throat.
Isabella’s scream echoed throughout the mansion. Alexander took a desperate step toward her.
“Isabella, listen to me! When I got here… I…”
She instinctively stepped back, unable to take her eyes off her father’s body. Her legs began to give way.
“What… what did you do…?” she screamed in utter disbelief.
Alexander shook his head over and over again.
“It wasn’t me. I would never hurt the father of the woman I love, and you know that.”
His breathing was ragged, and his hands trembled as he stared at the blood covering his fingers, as though even he couldn’t understand how he had ended up in that situation.
“When I came in… he was already…”
“So that’s why you asked me to trust you no matter what happened—because you had planned to murder my father,” she said before he could continue.
“No, my love, I swear I…”
He never finished the sentence because several people rushed into the study after hearing her scream.
The first to arrive were members of the Romano family, followed by the mansion staff.
Everyone froze at the horrifying scene. Silence filled the study, broken only by Isabella’s anguished cries.
Then a woman let out a scream, unable to believe what she was seeing.
“Oh my God! What happened here?”
The guests began crowding the doorway, and whispers spread like a wave.
“What happened?”
“Is that Eduardo Romano?”
“Is he dead?”
“Why is Alexander covered in blood?”
Every question tore Isabella apart even more. She felt as though no air was reaching her lungs. She couldn’t stop looking at Alexander.
The man she had vowed to love only minutes earlier—the very same man who was now standing beside her father’s body.
Then the sound of several police sirens approaching the mansion echoed through the air, and everyone turned toward the windows.
Within seconds, several police vehicles came to a stop in front of the main entrance.
The officers quickly got out and began entering the residence.
One of them made his way to the study. His eyes swept across the scene in just a few seconds.
He looked at the body, the blood, and Alexander, who was covered in it.
“Nobody move!” he ordered as he displayed his police badge.
Two officers immediately approached the Lancaster heir.
“We received a report about what happened here,” another officer said.
Alexander offered no resistance. He simply raised his hands slowly, which were still stained with blood.
The officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and the metallic click echoed through the room, filling everyone’s mind.
Isabella felt her world collapse all over again.
“Alexander Lancaster, you are under arrest as the primary suspect in the murder of Eduardo Romano.”
Alexander slowly turned his head, and his eyes met Isabella’s. There was no anger, no fear—only profound despair.
“I swear I’m innocent, my love. I swear,” he shouted from a few feet away.
She wanted to answer. She wanted to believe him. But the words died in her throat. Everything before her told a completely different story.
She looked at him with tear-filled eyes, ragged breathing, and a painful knot in her throat.
“My love, I swear I would never do something like this. Never. You have to believe me, Isabella!” he shouted as he tried to move toward her.
But she was still in shock, she didn't even fully hear his Words, it was as if she were listening from afar.
However, the police officer wouldn’t let him take a single step. He held him firmly until, at last, the handcuffs locked tightly around Alexander’s wrists.
- Writer
