A Second Chance At Forever novel (Eleanor and Bernard) novel Chapter 1424

Bernard gave a slight nod.

Gregory was nothing more than a lowly thug, a street rat who lacked any sophistication. How could a rat like him ever hope to stand against the towering might of Yates?

Even if Gregory had rallied many of his kind to form the Darkness gang, it would take a long time to amass the kind of power needed to take down Yates.

"Gregory never got his chance for revenge, though. He was taken out by his own second-in-command before he could make his move."

Yates got the picture, but he hadn't realized that he had been living inside Gregory's plot all along.

Gregory had offed Samantha early, so Yates never suspected a corpse he didn't recognize.

Then, all the evidence of the gang assault on Pauline was cleverly redirected to point at the Hardys' other enemies.

Meanwhile, Gregory had been using the turmoil as a smokescreen, looking to expand the Darkness, to eventually harness its power to exact his revenge.

It was a clever plan, indeed. A shame Gregory didn't live long enough to see it through, taken out by his own brother in arms. In a way, it was instant karma.

The thought of Gregory's demise brought a bitter sense of relief to Yates.

But how much better off was he, really?

This was all tied to him. It was his doing...

If he hadn't killed Timothy, Samantha wouldn't have had the chance to frame him, Gregory wouldn't have directed his fury at Pauline, wouldn't have unleashed his rage on her in such a vile way.

The image of Pauline, violated and broken, made Yates stagger backward, his aged body almost collapsing against the control panel.

"No...It can't be!" Yates refused to believe that he was the cause and Pauline was the outcome.

If that were true, what face would he have left to live on?

"You didn't kill Timothy, so how could you have caused Pauline's death?"

The cause and effect were his own making; Pauline was just an innocent carrying his cross.

But who could say for certain whether it was some divine punishment for Pauline's infidelity?

"I..." The realization was almost too much for Yates to bear.

Decades of cold-heartedness were suddenly flooded with guilt.

"Timothy tried to kill me first. I just..." If it hadn't been for Timothy's bullet, which nearly ended him, Yates wouldn't have struck back.

Eleanor, who had been quietly listening, cut in sharply at this point.

"If you hadn't meddled in Pauline and Timothy's relationship, why would Timothy have wanted you dead?"

Yates lifted his bloodshot eyes to the woman standing serenely behind the bulletproof glass.

"It was Timothy who was jealous of me at every turn, who took advantage of his childhood bond to steal Pauline away before I could! If he hadn't been so underhanded from the start, I wouldn't have been worried about Pauline being with him. I had to take her back!"

"Right?!" Eleanor, faced with a man suddenly confronted with the truth but too distraught to accept it, didn't know whether to feel pity or contempt.

Like Bernard, she lapsed into silence, watching as Yates justified himself and regained his composure.

"Who told you all this?"

Finally getting to the heart of the matter, Bernard’s worn patience began to edge with calculation once more.

"And who is the founder of the Siren Organization?"

Bernard glanced coolly at Yates, his tone chilly. "Samantha’s nephew, Xavier."

Xavier...Samantha...

Just as Yates' expression grew somber, Bernard’s voice, cold and emotionless, echoed again.

"Xavier's father was also involved in that incident."

The word 'rape' was something Bernard didn't want Eleanor to hear, so he left it unsaid. But those few words were enough to ignite the raging inferno within Yates' soul.

"Where is he?!"