The Elites

Someone You Loved

"Now the day bleeds
into nightfall
And you're not here
to get me through it
I let my guard down
And then you pulled the rug"

"Someone You Loved" – Lewis Capaldi

"What are you doing home from school?" Susan asks, glaring at the two of us. "Go back to school this instant!" Has no one learnt by now that Hope doesn't do what she's told?

"Who's my father?" Hope snaps, glaring at her mother. Melissa sighs and glances at me, I bite my lip. I really wish we hadn't come here; it would have made everything so much easier, I can't and won't forget what I just heard.

"You know who your father is" Melissa says to Hope, in an unsarcastically gentle voice. "Your parents are the people who love you and raised you." What have we walked into? Melissa being gentle with Hope isn't a good sign, it's causing my stomach to turn itself into a knot.

"What does the evening Eleanor died have to do with Hope's birth parents?" I ask, how does Melissa know what happened the night Eleanor was killed? I know Susan and Melissa aren't involved, but I had no idea they were this far along in the case.

"Why don't we all sit down and discuss this in a calm, rational manner?" Susan suggests and she gently leads Hope to one of the couches. I sit down next to Melissa, across from Susan and Hope. I have no idea what we're about to find out, but it's for the best, we'd find out at some point, anyway.

"When you were missing, I looked into your birth parents" Melissa says to Hope, who looks down at the ground. "Your mother was in another state, but I found out you have a half-brother, you share the same mother." I don't know why I'm so surprised at this piece of news, most people do have siblings.

"How old is he?" Hope asks, still not looking at anyone in the eyes. I want to go over and comfort Hope, but my feet stay planted on the ground. Susan places her arm on Hope's shoulder, causing me to feel slightly guilty about all the negative thoughts I've had. Susan loves her children and she was trying to protect Hope's emotional state all along, she wasn't as terrible as I assumed.

"Twenty" Susan answers softly. "His name is Reed. I found out right before you were attacked."

"What?" I exclaim, I've only heard of one Reed in my life. "The guy who attacked Hope is her brother?" This cannot be happening! Is Susan seriously telling us that the boy who attacked Hope is her brother? How could nobody tell Hope?

"Yes, we believe the attack was intentional, he found out about you a month beforehand" Melissa says quietly to Hope, who looks shocked. Reed might not have been homophobic; he might have just wanted to hurt his sister. "His mother claimed he was furious that you got adopted by a rich family while he was raised by your parents who struggled to make ends meet."

"I was a baby when I was adopted, I had no choice over who adopted me" Hope says, still seeming shocked. It makes sense that Reed would think the situation was unfair, but how could he blame Hope? Hope was ten months old when she was given up for adoption, she has no memories of her birth parents.

"He came to us for a money a few days before you were attacked" Susan says softly. "His parents rekindled their relationship four years ago, but Reed's father was diagnosed with cancer, they couldn't afford treatment, so Reed came here and asked me to pay for the treatment."

"You said no, didn't you?" I ask, unsure how to feel about this. Susan doesn't owe Reed or his family anything, but she could have easily paid for the treatment, it wouldn't have even dented her bank account.

"Yes, I told him to leave and to never come back" Susan says, so he decided to hurt Hope. My assumption is he wanted Susan and Andrew to hurt as much as he was or maybe he thought he could scare them into paying for treatment.

"How could you not tell me this?" Hope snaps, looking betrayed. "What does any of this have to do with the night Eleanor died or my bio dad?" I'm just as confused as Hope is. Reed and Hope only share the same mother, so how does Hope's dad fit into this?

"How am I involved?" I ask, looking at Melissa. I know Melissa wants to protect me, but the time for that is over, it's time for her to be honest with me.

"Your dad owed money to people" Melissa says quietly, I never knew about any of this. How could Melissa keep this from me? "I paid it for him, but they wanted more, when your father refused, they caused the accident." I feel my phone fall from my hand onto the carpet, I've always known it wasn't an accident, but this is shocking. How could somebody kill my parents over money?

"What does that have to do with Hope?" I ask, trying to process all my thoughts. My thoughts are floating around in my mind and I can't manage to grab onto them, too many thoughts and feelings are racing through me.

"Your dad was involved in things that were less than legal" Susan says to me, every part of me wishes I had just stayed at school today. My entire world is changing, I had no idea my dad was a criminal. "People he worked for may have been involved in the abduction of my daughters, we think your father might have been planning this before his death."

"My dad would never have kidnapped people!" I snap at Susan, she's wrong! My parents were wonderful, neither of them would have been involved in anything illegal, especially murder or kidnapping! I turn to Melissa, why isn't she defending her brother?

"Your dad had suspicious amounts of money, you inherited it but I didn't want to change how you felt about your parents" Melissa says, looking ashamed. "I was going to give it to you when you turned eighteen and act like I gave you some money, too."

"I can't do this" I say, standing up. I head towards the front door, nobody stops me. I feel guilty for leaving Hope, but I need to be by myself for now, my entire world just changed and shattered. Hope will be fine without me; she'll be told everything else and she can tell me when I'm ready.

"Juliet" Hope says, appearing behind me. She throws me her car keys, I turn and look at her in surprise, is she seriously letting me take her car? "Call me, okay?"

"Thank you" I can't believe she's letting me take her car and not forcing me to stay; or asking if she can come with me. I head outside and start up Hope's car, I have no idea where I'm going but I'm going somewhere far, the further the better.

*Author's Note* So, what are we thinking?