last summer [fp jones]

zero

The time was 2:07am on the Upper East side of Manhattan, those who were still awake were returning home from a party or booty call; for the Upper East Side's infamous Hella Lodge however she was awake for a different reason.

After receiving a phone call from the police that her husband was dead, Hella sat in a pile with a tear streaked face on her childhood living room floor; the shock quickly began to turn to denial as she wiped at her tears and ran to the front door, grabbing her keys on the way completely forgetting her lack of clothing and shoes until she actually made it to her destination.

Hella simply repeated over and over in her mind 'FUCK IT, FUCK IT' as she walked down the halls looking the worst she has ever been seen in public before finding a nurse that wasn't busy more then willing to take her to where she needed to be.

Yes, Hella Lodge was in denial and up until she walked into the morgue to find her husbands naked body laying on a metal slab did she think that there had to of been some mistake, that after being together as long as they had this shouldn't of happened... she was wrong.

—•—

Hella Lodge hadn't had time to grieve over her recently deceased husband when the police walked in and put her in cuffs, in her daze the young woman didn't fight like she had the many times prior, her body moving on its own accord.

It wasn't until she was asked to look up and "smile for the camera" did Hella realise what had happened, however unlike her prior arrests Hella didn't pose or smile, the entire time her face remained blank as tears silently fell down her reddened cheeks from unknowingly bursting into tears on the way to the station.

Hella then found her stuck in an interrogation room with Alec Raeken, a childhood friend turned friends-with-benefits of which she quickly shut down and cut all ties with the moment she saw that he was starting to care about her.

It turned out that after so many of her ex's dying and now her billionaire husband made people question if it hadn't been her all along, in fact they had been investigating her for quite some time they just never had a motive until now.

It wasn't long after that her father and his layers made their debut, as it turned out news of Salvatore Blake's death and the police's suspicion that his wife was the murderer was leaked; luckily for Hella as her father was an early riser and if he hadn't been she knew that Alec would come up with some bullshit lie to keep her locked up.

When her father, Hiram Lodge, brought Hella back to Chez Lodge she immediately ran into her mothers arms and burst into tears she realised she had been holding back.

—•—

   Months passed by as she had Salvatore's funeral, was fired from her job, dealt with paparazzi following her everywhere she turned, the tabloids dubbing her the "BLACK WIDOW OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE" and internet trolls leaving comments on photographs and tweets on not just her social media account but any who had a picture with her.

    The moment that she was exonerated due not only to lack of evidence but to bias in the police department did the retractions start to be posted, people give their sympathies to her instead of curses and hoping she got the death sentence and her old job offer with on hefty raise come in; however it was too late in Hella's mind for them to apologise, so after packing up her things and calling a moving van did she have her family over for takeout before crossing the country to the restart her life in the very town her parents did all they could to escape from.