As he pressed the play button, a masculine voice echoed in the surrounding.
"How long do you think we can extend this act?" that masculine voice asked. My stomach twisted instantly, like I had swallowed something rotten as realization hit.
It was Grandpa Albert’s voice.
Several scenarios started to cloud my senses, but before they could take over my sanity, I jerked them off my mind and kept listening to the recording.
"Not yet," Dave’s low and deliberate voice fell into my ear, making my heart beat faster than before.
"When the right opportunity comes, and we have something solid to blame her for, I will strike. And in that moment, I will immediately announce the annulment of our marriage."
I could not believe my ears. I wanted to slap myself to snap out of whatever dream I was in, but God no.
It was real, and I could not deny the reality, yet my mind suggested listening to the whole conversation.
"Exactly. We cannot afford another scandal. It will be for the best to blame her if the truth gets out." The relief in Albert’s voice made me shudder from disgust.
I still could not believe what I was hearing when he asked, "But how can we shift the blame to her?" The question also made me wonder how they will plot against me, as I was the one who caught Dave with his colleague.
Dave’s humourless chuckle echoed in the room, making my skin crawl as he replied, "It’s simple. Just like she caught me with Becka, I would twist the situation such that Elena would be caught in a similar situation."
My mind started to imagine the scenario where both of them were having this conversation. Before I caught him red-handed, Dave and Grandpa Albert were two males on whom I trusted blindly.
After my parents, especially my father, shattered that fragile trust, I had pulled away from everyone. At that time, Grandpa Albert and Dave came into my life, crashing down every wall that I had built to separate myself from everyone. But now?
Their every bitter word stabbed my heart like knives.
My chest felt hollow, and it started to get harder to breathe by every passing second. My throat went dry, yet I kept staring at the glowing phone like maybe it was lying to me.
They lied to me. They all freaking lied to my face!
And if that was not enough, Grandpa Albert’s voice fell into my ear, "But who will become our scapegoat to trap her?" My breath hitched. Though I somehow knew the answer, yet I prayed to not turn true.
"What about your secretary, Dave?" And the final blow came, shattering every last ounce of trust in me.
For a second, there was a pin drop silence in the room when Dave’s reply came, "Hmm, we could work with that. Moreover, I need someone better than that moron."
The recording ended, leaving a silence that rang louder than the sound itself.
My body froze and I could not even cry as if the tears also dried up from the revelation. My mind was spinning, running in circles, breaking itself apart.
Dave... planned this? Grandpa... agreed?
My lips trembled as I shook my head slowly. "No... no. How could they...do this to me..to us?" I stared at Josh, whose eyes had also gone red till now.
He leaned closer, his voice breaking but steady enough to cut into me, "Elena... you heard it yourself. I did not make this up. They used you, they used us like a pawn on the chessboard."
"No," I whispered again, clutching the sheet in my hands. My heart hurt so bad, it felt like it would tear apart.
I again looked at him, saying whatever came into my mind, "You do not understand. He almost died. I saw him. He’s fighting for his life. And Grandpa... he...he raised me like her own granddaughter. He would not say this."
But every word seemed as if I was convincing myself that it was not true. My mind was not ready to face this ugly truth.
Josh’s hand rested gently over mine. His touch shook me, and in reflex, I pulled it. A moment passed when I saw his face drooping, making me feel guilty.
He sighed as he again spoke, "I know you do not want to believe it, but you cannot keep closing your eyes, Elena. This family, this house... they’re poison. You will never be safe with them. They will use you until you are just a burden for them."
I wanted to scream at him. I tried to push him away and demand answers from Dave and Grandpa directly, but my voice failed me. My body betrayed me.
Instead, the tears finally slipped down.
Josh shifted closer, lowering his voice, almost pleading. "This is why I am asking you to come along with me. Though it would be tough, we would be free from those snakes. We would be free, and I would make sure they could never get to us."
His words sounded tempting, almost too tempting. To just run away and forget everything. To not feel this pain anymore.
My throat tightened as I thought about all those dinners where Grandpa smiled at me. All those moments when Dave held my hand in front of everyone. He helped me whenever I got into trouble. Got near to me.
Every memory suddenly looked staged, almost like rehearsed, like I was the only fool in a play that everyone else already knew the script to.
I wanted to laugh at the irony, but the sound stuck in my chest and came out as a choked sob instead.
Josh’s hand inched closer, almost hovering this time as if he knew I might reject it again. His eyes searched mine, desperate, almost begging me to see him as the only way out.
"Elena," he whispered, "don’t let them break you more than they already have. You are stronger than this, but you cannot fight them alone. Come with me. Just one step. Trust me."