After Ten Years of Revenge, He Built Time Machine Bring Me Back Chapter 06

After Ten Years of Revenge, He Built Time Machine Bring Me Back Chapter 06

Silas calmed Celia’s tantrums and sent her home, then found himself driving back to The Siren Lounge unprompted, a blank employment slip tucked in his suit pocket.

The hollow lifelessness in Elowen’s eyes earlier had gnawed at his mind, filling him with unexplainable anxiety.

He pushed open the private booth door to find her thin frame kneeling on the floor, shaking as she gathered every tiny scrap of the torn Polaroid portrait.

Silas spotted crumpled blood-soaked tissue balls tossed into the trash bin beside her feet and scoffed.

Cheap attention-seeking trick.

Elowen stood unsteadily once all fragments were collected, spinning straight into Silas’s rigid stare. She swiped the blood from her mouth fast, trying to hide the evidence.

“Fake blood, really?” Silas sneered, tossing the paper slip hard enough to slap against her cheek. “Take the paper and get out of my sight.”

Elowen folded the document carefully, a faint, genuine smile tugging her lips for the first time in years.

With this paper, she’d finally be allowed to see Lila.

She planned to hand over all her savings, explain her terminal diagnosis, and trust Lila to cope without her.

Silas would never get the chance to hurt her again after she was gone.

Elowen waited through the weekend for the foster facility to open its doors, rushing there first thing Monday morning with the signed paperwork clutched tight.

She handed the papers to the front desk worker, who frowned in confusion.

“Lila Hale? She was released to a guardian less than a month after we admitted her.”

The words crashed over Elowen like a lightning strike.

“That can’t be! Silas brought her here himself, he promised no one would take her away from me!”

Elowen lost control of her emotions, screaming and sobbing until security guards dragged her off the facility grounds.

She fought against the despair bubbling up inside, determined to sneak back inside and find answers about Lila’s whereabouts.

A familiar feminine voice cut through her panic.

“Want to know exactly where Lila’s been living all these years?”

Elowen turned stiffly to face Celia. She wore polished lambskin heels and a flowy mini dress, delicate and put-together—worlds apart from Elowen’s gaunt, ragged frame.

Celia’s words dripped with venomous malice.

“I shipped Lila off to the Juvenile Correctional Therapeutic Boarding School ages ago. She’s tough as nails; she endured three full years of standing punishments and wooden ruler beatings just waiting for you to come rescue her.”

Elowen’s blood ran ice cold. The juvenile boarding facility was far crueler than any prison cell. Lila had suffered there alone for three entire years.

Three endless years.

Celia’s voice sharpened with bitter jealousy.

“You know why Silas locked you up, don’t you? It wasn’t just to cheer me up.”

“He’s madly in love with you. Every time he hurt you, he carved a fresh cut into his own forearm as punishment for himself.”

“He sent you to prison because he was terrified he’d grow even crueler if you stayed within reach.”

Elowen shook her head wildly, mind rejecting every word.

“I don’t care about his feelings. Where’s Lila?”

She’d endured every insult and beating quietly solely to keep Lila safe. All her sacrifice had been for nothing. Lila had suffered worse torment than she ever had.

Why did all the innocent people have to suffer? What had either of them ever done wrong?

The more frantic Elowen grew, the happier Celia looked.

“Don’t rush off. I got the facility to send over recent surveillance footage of her.”

Celia pulled out her cell phone, pressing play on a security clip. The screen showed Lila standing on a high rooftop, covered in fresh bruises, tears streaming down her face. Without hesitation, the young girl threw herself forward off the ledge.

“No! LILA!”

Elowen screamed, her entire body shaking violently with agony.

Celia’s tone stayed cold and unforgiving.

“I visited her yesterday. I told her how you scrub toilets all day at the lounge, and what you’re forced to do after dark to survive. She broke down crying instantly, saying she didn’t want to be your weakness anymore. She jumped that very night.”

Every syllable stabbed Elowen straight through the heart.

The phone slipped from her numb fingers and clattered to the pavement. Elowen’s eyes blazed red with unhinged rage. She snatched a heavy stone off the sidewalk, raising it high to crash into Celia’s skull.

A pair of iron-hard hands caught her wrist mid-swing before the rock could strike.

“Are you insane?” Silas snarled, holding her locked in place.