His Ruthless Revenge (A Dark Bully Romance)

Chapter Fifty Six

We both face each other in silence as my words reverberate between us. It's eerily quiet and the only sound I can hear is the sound of my own breath. Chase doesn't appear to be breathing at all as his mouth is wide open in horror at what I just said
"You pushed him?" He asks hesitantly, keeping his voice low. "How do you know that? Do you remember what happened?"
"I don't remember anything leading up to it." I clarify quickly. "At least not yet I don't but I do remember pushing him."
"Fuck!" Chase exclaims fiercely, scrubbing his face with his hands as he turns his back on me.
"The police won't be able to tell, will they?" I demand helplessly. "I mean, they won't be able to tell that he was pushed instead of him falling, right?"
"April, of course they will! There's bound to be a post-mortem and they'll examine the body." He sighs wearily, raking his fingers through his hair in anguish.
"So... what do we do?" I whisper faintly, wringing my hands together as I look to him for answers.
He slowly turns to look at me and places both his hands on my shoulders.
"You tell the truth." He concludes firmly, nodding his head slowly. "You tell the police how you woke up in the middle of the night. I wasn't there beside you so you got out of bed and heard a loud noise; the sound of someone falling and when you got to the top of the stairs you found your father lying at the bottom."
I don't say anything in response as I try and digest what he just told me; biting on my lower lip to keep it from trembling.
"Do... do you really think they'll believe that he fell?"
"No, baby, they won't. " He answers confidently, shaking his head. "You'll tell the police that you found him at the bottom of the stairs... and me at the top of them."
"W-what do you mean? Why would I say that when it's not true?" I stammer incoherently, taking a step back in denial.
"It is true." He repeats calmly, tightening his grip on my shoulders. "You keep on saying that it's true until you actually believe it, ok? I was at home when he broke in and I'm the one who pushed him."
"Chase, no!" I cry desperately, clinging onto him for dear life. "I won't say that!"
"Yes." He insists firmly, refusing to take no for an answer. "You were already asleep before I got home and the first thing you knew about any sort of intrusion was when you heard him fall. You then saw me at the top of the stairs and I told you that I'd pushed him. We then decided to phone the police together."
He waits for me to gather my thoughts, attempting to make sense of what he's saying but I just can't. How the hell can I go along with what he's saying when it means that Chase will take the blame for something I did?
"No! I'm not saying any of it because it's not true!"
"It is true." He persists relentlessly, trying to convince me that it really did happen like he says. "I did this. I pushed him and he died because I killed him."
"But why can't we just be honest?" I argue fiercely, refusing to give in. "He's the one who broke in! He could have attacked me and he would have done but I didn't mean to kill him. I swear I didn't!"
"Shh... I know. April, I know that." He soothes me, pulling me in close to him as he cradles me in his arms.
"So, let's just tell the truth then. Please, Chase, please." I beg him, sobbing inconsolably as I collapse against him.
"April, I'm not even going to risk anything happening to you. I'm not having you spend a single second in prison for that piece of shit and this is the only way I can make sure that doesn't happen."
"But you can't go anywhere." I mumble quietly, burying my face into his chest. "I won't let you do this!"
"April, look at me." He commands assertively, tilting my face up towards his. "You're the strongest person I know and you can survive anything in life but the one thing I know you won't be able to survive is prison."
"But that might not even happen! If we tell the truth then the police will understand what sort of person he was. Kerry can come forward and maybe even Louise too. No one will believe that I attacked him and they'll understand that it was just self-defence."
"In an ideal world all of that would happen but we have to think of the worst case scenario right now and that might mean you spending some time in jail. Even if we tell them what he did to Kerry all those years ago; they might still think you pushed him and as fucked up as that is... it's still punishable by law." He reasons strongly, trying to coax me into going along with his plan.
"Oh, God." I gasp breathlessly, pushing him away from me. "Oh, God, oh God, oh God."
I keep on repeating my mantra over and over again as my mind ventures over into blind terror and overwhelming panic.
"April, stop it." Chase orders forcefully, making me stand still and look at him. "Take a deep breath for me, baby. Come on, I need you to look at me and breathe slowly."
He takes complete charge of me in that moment; patiently giving me instructions and waiting for my breathing as well as my body to gradually slow down.
We remain there in silence, our arms wrapped around one another and our hearts beating rapidly against each other's.
"What's going to happen next?" I ask him quietly;  terrified to hear his answer.
"We call the police like we were going to before. Except this time we tell them that I'm the one who pushed him. I'm the one who caused him to fall and I'm the one who killed him." Chase responds gravely, squeezing me tightly.
My eyes timidly glance up at the man who has been the centre of my universe for so long. The man I once feared so intensely and tried to avoid on a daily basis when we were at school. He's also the same man who broke my heart all those years ago and the man I've been trying so hard to forgive.
Finally, he's the man who has always loved me. The man who hid it so well and who saved me before I even knew that I needed saving.
He's the man who is willing to sacrifice himself just to make sure I'm ok and as I observe him make the phone call that will tear us apart forever, I realise it's finally over.

After all of the pain and immeasurable heartache we've inflicted on one another; it ends like this. The author of our twisted love story finally put her pen down and thought it was enough.

I guess it's my turn to pick up where she left off...