Eden (Urban)

fourteen

While Sai was in one room weeping about the night's events, Bree was in the other spinning her web of lies.

Her mind was still a bit shaken up, considering all that she needed to hide from the police and the story she needed to sell. She knew it would be a little difficult since both Elijah and Sai would be telling the same, believable truth. But Bree had been preparing for this for a long time. She knew exactly how to sell this.

"So, can you tell me exactly what happened tonight?"

The detective pushed a cup of water towards her and she took it, nodding gracefully. "Sai recently came back into our lives, kind of like she wanted to reconcile the friendships she broke when she left."

"And why did she leave?"

"That's a longer story, which I'll get to later. She had a history with Elijah, and there was a lot of tension because of how badly their relationship ended," Bree paused for dramatic effect, "I'm sorry, it's just hard knowing she was so close to hurting all of us." Fake tears streamed out of her eyes. The detective sighed empathetically, then handed her some tissues.

"Thank you," she dabbed her face. "She never liked me from the start. And me being with her ex didn't help my case at all. I thought it was me she was going to shoot."

"I know that's tough."

Bree nodded. "I was at home with Eli's brother, Desmond. I had never met him before, nor did I know much about their relationship. He kinda just showed up, and I wasn't gonna turn him away."

The detective scribbled something down on paper as she continued. "We spoke for a little, just small talk. Then Eli and Sai came back, and she was carrying Nori, her boyfriend's child. We had spent weeks looking for her, meanwhile Sai had her the whole time."

"Do you know where Sai kept the child during the month that she was missing? Any motives for kidnapping her?"

Bree shook her head and reached for the cup of water. Her hands visibly shook as she took a small sip. "I don't know. She just came in holding Nori, who was crying. Elijah and I were tryna calm her down because she was angry. She started screaming at the both of us, and she almost dropped Nori. She didn't even notice when I took the baby out her arms."

"What was Sai angry about?"

"She started going on this rant about how we ruined her life. How everything that went wrong was Eli's fault, and also mine. But when she saw Desmond sitting there on the couch, she completely lost it."

"Did Sai have a relationship with Desmond that made her respond in that way?"

Bree sighed and took a moment to respond. "She kept saying that he was the one who caused her... accident."

The detective perked up. "Accident?"

Timidly, Bree nodded. "Can you tell me about that?"

"Shortly after Sai and Eli stopped dating, she pulled away from our friend group started seeing someone else. We never met him before and she only talked about him a few times. He was abusing her and we didn't know it," Bree broke down crying, sobs wracking her chest. Snot and tears ran all down her face, and her eyes turned a deeper shade of red.

"I f-feel like I failed her."

"Don't blame yourself, you didn't know," the detective's eyes softened. Bree knew she had him right where she wanted him.

She sniffled a bit before continuing. "He beat her up so bad she almost died... and she miscarried without knowing she was even with child. When she saw Desmond, she immediately started saying it was him that did those things to her."