"Someone watned to kill me?" Serena’s voice trembled as she looked up from where she crouched on the side of the road, her fingers digging into the dirt for some semblance of stability. Her body shivered uncontrollably, both from the cold and the shock of the revelation.
She shuddered to think what could have happened if Aiden had been late or if he had been with her.
"That’s our initial assessment, yes," the investigator confirmed, his tone neutral, as he crouched beside her, trying to meet her eyes. "From what we’ve gathered so far. That is most probable."
"But... why?" Serena’s asked confused.
"We don’t have all the answers yet," he admitted, his brow furrowing as he glanced over the notes in his hand. "But based on what you’ve told us, and after reviewing the timeline of events, it’s clear that whoever did this wanted to make sure you were still inside the building before they threw in the grenade. It was a crude, handmade so we have no way to find out the person from the sellers. Can you not think of a single person that might want to harm you?"
Serena swallowed hard and tried to think but could only shak her head," I don’t know officer. I... I thought that it was my family he’d contacted. They’d even paid him ransom. Could it be that this is not my family? And some other person who had a grudge against Owen.
The officer sighed and shook his head," It seems unlikely for the moment, but we can never be sure. So, we will look this up as well."
Serena nodded and carefully questioned about the two people who’d been inside. "And what about Owen and Maya?" It horrified her to think that they could have at least tried to escape if not for them being tied up...
"They’re both still in surgery," the investigator replied, "The doctors are doing everything they can. Thankfully, they were in the inner room, so despite the bomb being powerful and crude and Mr Hawk did well with the taking immediate action to handle the fire so other than a few burns and smoke inhalation, they should recover. Once they are, we will take them in for questioning.
Serena nodded and placed her head on her arms as she tried to answer the question that was plaguing her. Why did someone hate her so much that they wanted her dead. This incidence had raised a thousand questions in her mind.
As she sat there, shivering and cold, she felt a weigt being draped over her shoulders and looked up to see Aiden. He’d placed his suit jacket over shoulders. It was a simple gesture and she should have mocked him for it, she would have usually, calling him cheesy. But right now, as she clutched the lapels of his jacket, pulling them closer, even the slight smell of smoke clinging to them, made her feel like crying.
She’s almost messaged those people. At she’d sat there in the bathroom, with both the phones in her hand, she’d been tempted to tell the other party as well. That if they wanted to see her, they should come to ’this’ location. If she’d sent it then she would have definitely died...
She turned her head on her arm and stared at him, "I think I need to be dead. Its like defying fate."
Aiden opened his mouth to say something but she shook her head," It seems like it. Ideally, I should have died in that car accident which put me in a coma. And then when I woke up, the Thompsons were plannig to kill me. And then I met Owen, whom I thought would be a friend. But now... this..."
"You don’t need to be dead. You need to live. Someone does want you dead, but it is definitely not fate." Aiden murmured slowly.
"What do you mean?", she asked slowly.
"I think from the very beginning someone wanted you to die. It is why you chose to run away with Owen. You needed to escape. But then those people found you and caused the accident. Of course, after that, because of all the confusion, the Thompsons took you away to use you for gettinh ransom while the papers from the polcis station disappeared. In a way, their greed helped save your life. They hid you to exhort money."
"You mean the accident that caused everything could also have been an attempt on my life?"
"Yes. That would explain many things like the papers disappearing from the police station etc."
Serena smiled a bitter smile then," So eventually, even though the Thompsons are not my family, whoever is my family wants me dead."
Aiden stood up then and extending his hand to her," Hey! I’m your family now. And I definitely don’t want you dead. So, come on. There is no point in staying here anymore. It is time we return home."
As he held out his hand, Serena placed her hand in his. His words resonated to something deep within her, as if soothing a deep scar. Yes. He could be her family now. She didn’t know if her memory would ever recover. So maybe it was also time that she stopped looking back. All this time, she had been focused on finding her past and looking for answers. But that would need to stop now. Today was going to be a new beginning for her. One where there would be no looking back.
As the two sat in the car, leaving behind the carnage that they had witnessed, both failed to notice another car that sped down the lane and stopped outside the house. The man, still dressed in expensive suit from last night, jumped out of the car and raced towards the house that was now almost burnt down. In fact, he would have run inside, if not for the police stopping him forcefully.
The man fought against the officer and would have rushed inside if not for being told that the victims had been taken to the hospital.