Forlot: Who Framed Her? - Book Seven {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Cindy looked through the glass window as Ms. Hayley Taylor was having a serious conversation with someone. Cindy felt terrible. She was leaving her friends behind. It was hard for her, but she had to. Caleb's life was at stake, and if Ms. Hayley Taylor did indeed have the antidote to awaken him from his long and deep slumber, she had to assist her.

You readers might call her sinister. Something low like a traitor. But what would you do if a person whom you hold near and dear could be saved by an antidote?

"Hey. Is it okay if my friends go to the bathroom? In the courthouse?"

Hayley sighed. "Very well."

"I promise, Ms. Taylor, that I will not defend Ash."

"You had better not. Or you will be attending six funerals very soon." She hung up and put her cellphone away. "Cindy."

"Huh?!" Cindy was in her own thoughts, and Hayley broke through them. She pushed herself away from the door that separated the room where Tim, Jim, Billy, Sue, Jane, and Jenny were trapped from the hall of stairs. "Y-yes?"

"Lead the way to floor seven and the surveillance room. I would like to look at all the cameras and everything that were captured by them."

Each word that tumbled out of the woman's and the girl's mouths bounced off the walls, echoing.

The floor was white, and the walls were blue, and they were standing in front of a flight of stairs that led to each floor of the mansion. There were a total of eleven floors.

Cindy frowned and held out an open hand, her fingers outstretched. "First, the antidote," she said. "So that I know that you can be trusted during this mission in finding any evidence."

Ms. Taylor was clutching the small bottle. "My little helper. You will get what you want when you locate the evidence and hand it to me. That is when we will make a switch. A pass. I give you what you want, and you give me what I want. Unless...you were lying that you do not give a crub about the writer."

She lowered her hand and arm. "Do you think that I would lie in a time when Caleb needs me the most? No. I was serious. I care more about my boyfriend than that writer. What does she even know?"

The evil woman snickered, for she truly believed in her. "You sound...angry. Frustrated. Why is that? Is it because of me?"

"Not you. I...I am mad at someone else."

"And who would that be?"

"Her name...is Ava Campbell. She loves abusing my boyfriend and gets away with her crimes."

A creepy smile slowly spread across her face. "I can help you and Caleb deal with her."

She raised an eyebrow. "You can?"

"Absolutely. I desire to be mayor, and mayors are supposed to help their people."

"Eh. I will think about it." She had to drone out the shouts and cries coming from Tim and his gang and started stomping up the stairs. Her heels created loud, clicking sounds as she did so. "Why do you want me to go first anyway? Afraid that I will stab you in the back? Literally?"

The lady followed her. "You are leading me, and leaders always go first."

"How do I know that you will not stab me in the back? Literally?"

"I have no weapons on me. No knives. No guns. Just my phone and your antidote. I swear. I cross my heart—"

"Okay! I believe you."

By the time that they reached the seventh floor, both of them were tired.

"This...had better be...worth it!" Ms. Hayley Taylor exclaimed between breaths. "I am so stinkin' exhausted!"

"Tell me about it," Cindy agreed with her. "Too bad that we could not take the elevator, and I bet that Ava is behind the elevator collapsing."

"But you have no proof that she could have done it."

She quickly and quietly unzipped her handbag and pulled out a small and sharp object. "No. But I have you!" She spun around and, before Ms. Taylor had a chance to react, stabbed her in the shoulder with the object.

"Ah!" Ms. Taylor screamed. Holding her arm that the pain was shooting through, she glanced at her injured shoulder, and then back at Cindy. "You brat! You stabbed me with a needle!"

"Not just any needle. Caleb's needle. I volunteered to hold it the night of the dance and almost forgot that I still had it. What makes it even better for me - and worse for you - is that needle contains medicine. Medicine that will cause anybody who is injected with it grow weak."

She growled. "You little..."

"You are an idiot!" Cindy pushed her with all her might.

Ms. Hayley Taylor screamed louder as she tumbled down the stairs and to the sixth floor. She now had bruises all over her skin and was lying on the floor, groaning.

Cindy hurried down the stairs. "You are an idiot," she repeated. She grabbed ahold of her shirt and pulled her upper body up. "For believing that I would assist you in taking down Ash. She has done so much for me, and I would never do anything that would cause her harm. Psychically and emotionally."

Ms. Hayley Taylor coughed. "Do not press your luck." She grabbed Cindy's ankle and pulled her to the ground.

"Ah!" She fell hard.

The woman got back on her feet, and Cindy did the same and pounced on her.

Then the fight broke out.

They accidentally entered a room on the sixth floor...

...and were now standing over piles and piles of acid.

Each second that passed, Hayley grew weaker and weaker, and Cindy managed to shove her.

And gasped as Hayley fell off the platform and landed in a pile of acid. Upon contact, she sank.

But it was not over. In fact, this was only the beginning.