Chapter 102

Erin’s POV

“Erin, are you the one who killed Miss Susanna?”

“What was your motive?”

“How could you do something so cruel!?”

My breathing got caught in my throat as I stared around at all the reporters. I needed to get out of here.

“Enough of this!” I heard Henry roaring as he stood by my side. I was more than relieved to see him there. I wanted to hug him for coming to my rescue. “Erin had nothing to do with this and I’m going to prove it. Please leave this property at once.”

Henry wrapped an arm through mine to keep me by his side; something else I was incredibly grateful for.

Just as he was about to pull me away, I sensed Gavin nearby.

My entire body froze; I glanced around the crowd until my eyes finally found him. My breathing had fallen short and I couldn’t seem to look away from him. He was staring at me with such discouragement and confusion that my heart fell deep into my stomach.

I wondered what he was thinking at that moment.

Did he know I didn’t do this?

Or maybe he thought I did.

Held my gaze for a long while, most likely trying to process what was happening. His eyes scanned the scene for a brief moment before looking back at me.

They had already taken Susanna’s body away to be examined.

He was once close to Susanna, so I figured he was probably sad. I felt sad knowing that her life was taken so soon.

I saw the compassion lingering in his eyes and for a moment, I had a bit of hope. I thought maybe he would try to get me out of this, and I was relieved to see him, just as I was relieved to see Henry.

But then he said the cruel words that caused my heart to shatter into a million pieces.

“Gammas… arrest that woman at once!”

I gasped at his words and staggered backward. Even Henry appeared confused and tightened his hold around my arm, pulling me backward with him just as the Gammas began walking closer.

I needed to figure out how to get out of this quickly.

I looked up at the sky, watching as the white and fluffy clouds turn dark and dreary.

Regular rain wasn’t going to stop these Gammas from arresting me, but maybe if I turned it into hale, I could get away with Henry.

“Stop her!!” Gavin shouted, he knew the look on my face well and knew exactly what I was planning on doing.

Just as the hale began to fall from the clouds, I was stunned by the electricity. I screamed out in pain as the bolts shot through my body, causing the hairs on my head to stand straight up. I fell to the ground quickly while the hale crashed around me.

Everybody started screaming as the hale grew larger and started causing actual damage. Even the Gammas were growing worried as they dodged the large frozen chunks of water. I was breathing heavily as I remained on the ground; I wasn’t unconscious thankfully, but I had no idea where that electric bolt had come from.

Did somebody with powers do this to me?

“Erin!” Henry said, kneeling on the ground beside me. He had a slash mark on the side of his face from one of the hale chunks and my heart squeezed painfully in my chest.

I lifted my head and reached toward the bleeding gash.

“I’m so sorry,” I said in tears.

I looked at the rest of the scene and saw that some were incredibly injured, and others were knocked out completely. Gavin was staring at me with a look I didn’t recognize while some of the gammas were working to protect him from the hale.

“We need to get out of here,” Henry said, pulling me to my feet. “Can you walk?”

“I think so,” I said breathlessly, trying to ignore the pain I was feeling internally.

I looked back at Gavin and noticed he was still watching me; he made no attempt to stop me as I ran as fast as I could away from the scene.

We stopped running once we reached our home; it wouldn’t be long before they found us there, but at least I was able to buy a little bit of time.

“What happened back there?” Henry finally asked once we were secluded.

“I think she was being controlled by the Slayers,” I breathed, tears filling my eyes. “She snapped her own neck.”

“It looks bad, Erin. It looks really bad.”

“I know that,” I nearly snapped. “What are we going to do, Henry? They want me arrested…”

“Then, we will just have to find proof of your innocence.”

“If there were no witnesses, I don’t see how it’s possible to get—”

My voice trailed off as I remembered something. A few months ago, there was a string of thieves that would dine and dash at the restaurant. It started happening so much that Kelsey hooked up a new security system to capture anyone who enters and leaves the restaurant. There were some cameras inside the building, and outside.

“What are you thinking about?” Henry asked, examining my face carefully.

“There might be camera footage outside the restaurant,” I said to him, meeting his eyes. “Kelsey could get us that footage probably—”

Before I could utter another word, a tickle in my throat caused me to cough. At first, it was a normal-sounding cough, but then it turned violent. My chest ached and I had to press the palm of my hand to it to keep it calm.

I covered my mouth with my hands as I continued to cough, and I nearly fell to the ground. Thankfully, Henry had wrapped his arms around me and pulled me toward the couch.

Once I was sure I was done coughing, I removed my hands from my mouth and saw that they were covered in blood.

Henry audibly gasped as he stared down at my blood-soaked hands.

“Erin… you’re not well. We need to get you to a doctor,” he said, his words trembling.

“No…” I said firmly, wiping my hands on my pants. “I need to prove my innocence first.”

…

Gavin’s POV

Gavin watched as Erin and Henry took off. A lot of his men and some innocent people have been injured due to that hailstorm. But once Erin had left, the hale finally stopped and he was able to take those injured to the hospital.

“Are you just going to let her go? She probably went back to her home. You can still get her!” Seth said quickly.

“I have other things to do,” Gavin muttered. “Like going to Susanna’s home telling her parents that their daughter isn’t returning.”

On that note, Gavin went straight to Susanna’s home. He would have to deal with Erin at a later time. Susanna was currently at the morgue being examined, that was going to be Gavin’s next stop. But he was hoping he would be able to bring her family along with him so they could say goodbye properly.

He’s sure they have probably seen the news by then.

Once he got to her home, he was surprised to see that her house was completely vacant. They left the door open only a crack and it seems that almost everything was taken out of the home.

Gavin stood in the empty living room with such confusion he wasn’t sure what to think.

“They aren’t here…” his wolf pointed out. “What does that mean? They moved? When?”

Gavin didn’t have an answer. He went to the back of the house to Susanna’s room and saw that her things were still very much there.

So, it doesn’t look like she went anywhere. But her family left?

He stood in her room for a moment longer until his eyes found something on her vanity. He was getting a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He approached it slowly and held it in his hands.

“Is that…?” His wolf began.

“Yes…” Gavin answered his wolf’s unspoken question. “It’s Susanna’s diary.”