Free Web NovelChapter 229: Free (1)
Hank was left with no choice but to kill Noelle. He couldn’t trust that she would not speak of what she saw. Ian was gone so he knew no one would come looking for a mere maid. He had not anticipated that Ian had loved her so much, he would return to find out what happened to her.
Ian fired the first shot at Hank and unlike the one with Layla, he did not miss. His father’s silence told him everything. Noelle’s death was cruel.
Layla attempted to stand to go to Hank who was hunched over, his hand pressed to his shoulder, but she sat down when Ian looked at her. She hated how Hank treated her lately but she still loved him. It was hard to sit still when her husband was bleeding before her eyes.
"Where did you put her?" Ian asked, ready to shoot again. If not for wanting to know where Noelle was resting, he would have shot Hank in the head and been done with this. "Speak quickly before I shoot again."
Hank bit his lip to the point it started to bleed. He had never experienced any pain more terrible than being shot. He wanted to get up to take the gun from Ian and return the pain but when he looked up, Hank saw how furious Ian was. The second he moved, Ian would end his life.
"She’s somewhere on the property. Figure it out yourself!" Hank spat, shifting his body to rest back on the chair. He started to pant as the pain increased. If he was going to survive this dreaded night, he needed a doctor right now.
"Just say where she is," Victor urged his father.
"Why should I? He’s going to kill me anyway. It was my mistake to think I could make something out of a bastard. And make something out of a son who won’t be alive long enough to reach my age," Hank said, giving up as he knew Ian didn’t come here to just leave him alive.
Hank was let down by both his sons and neither one should become his heir. He only wished he had put this in writing.
Ian shot the right side to get Hank to shut up. "You’re a pathetic excuse for a father. I am only asking you once more, where is Noelle?"
"She might be near the pond," Layla blurted out.
Hank was in much pain to tell Layla to keep quiet. How did she know where he had placed Noelle?
"The only place that has changed during that time was the pond. No one goes there and he had a flower bed added there. Please, spare us," Layla pleaded. Her chest felt like she had been stabbed each time Hank groaned in pain. "I am sorry for what we did to you."
"If there wasn’t a gun in my hand now, you wouldn’t be feeling sorry for what you did. You have not apologised to Victor about the poison. What poison did you use?" Ian asked, taking the attention from his father to Layla.
Noelle’s resting place was important but they could not leave without having the name of the poison Layla used.
Layla looked at Victor. She did not notice she had not apologised for poisoning him. Did she need to apologise when the poison wasn’t meant for Victor and it was he who troubled something not meant for him? She had done her share of trying to keep Victor from the cottage. He needed to accept that he had poisoned himself.
’I did not poison my son,’ Layla thought. Apologising meant that she did something bad.
Layla thought they should point fingers at Noelle who knew of the poison but did not make any effort to stop Victor from eating what was sent.
"Mother, what was the poison?" Victor yelled, frustrated with the silence and the denial. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
With death’s door so close, shouldn’t his mother choose now as the time to speak? He had consumed the poison that was brought onto the estate because of her. Had she not tried to kill Ian then Victor would not be this way.
Layla flinched, startled by Victor raising his voice. "I- I don’t know. I just asked what would be most effective."
"Think of the name of the poison carefully, the look of the bottle, or the person who sold it to you. My chances of finally healing lie with you telling me what you know of the poison. If there is any part of you that regrets what has happened to me, please tell me where I can get the poison," Victor pleaded.
"There is still a bottle here. It still has some of the poison," Layla confessed.
Victor didn’t understand why she still had the poison in the estate when it was only recently that Ian and Ivy returned to the estate. Who was his mother planning to use the poison on?
Victor turned to his father who was creating a bloody mess where he sat. Hank looked out of it.
His parent’s marriage was awful but was it so bad that his mother wanted to poison his father or was there something he missed? She had always suspected that Hank would bring Ivy back to the estate. Was she waiting?
"It is in my drawing room, neatly placed away in the vase on the highest shelf of the cabinet by the door. Victor, you know that I love you. I would never do anything to harm you," Layla said, needing him to be on her side so she could survive this.
"Whenever you say that, it only upsets me that you act like a monster because of me. Ian, you must ask him where Noelle is before he passes out. I am done with my mother," said Victor.
"Go on and find the poison and do not return until I come to find you," Ian instructed Victor.
Victor did not want to go. "But I-"
"Victor, go now," Ian replied.
Ian was fine with Victor standing here with him when they just spoke, but he was tired of going around in circles with Hank and Layla. Ian knew that with how much Layla cared for Victor despite the fact he said he didn’t love her anymore, Layla would want Victor to get better so she wouldn’t have lied about the poison.
The only good thing about Layla was that she did love her son.
Victor reluctantly left the room. He could take whatever Ian was going to do now. He had witnessed his father being shot and was not affected.
"Victor," Ivy called, going to him. "Where is Ian?"
"He-" Victor flinched, startled by more shots going off. He trembled as he knew Ian might be the only person alive in that room.
"It is okay," Ivy said, covering Victor’s ears.
