Elyse's eyes were glinting with madness. No matter how much her father was saying, she wouldn't listen. "Don't test my patience. Tie her up."
Left with no choice, Michael quickly tied Amelie up and cuffed her hands. "Done? Let's go, then." Then, he tried to take Bria and leave her behind.
Elyse moved away. "Done? No, this is far from done. Someone must die tonight."
Now, even Michael thought she had gone mad. "Enough is enough!" All I want is money, not murder.
"Let her go. I'll do as you ask," said Amelie.
Elyse looked at her like a crazed maniac, and she cackled. "You think I want to kill you? No, no. I tied you up because I want you to see your family die in front of you." As soon as she said that, she held Bria over the cliff once more.
The little girl made a muffled noise but couldn't say a word.
Amelie felt her heart getting torn to shreds. She tried to jump to her daughter's defense but ended up falling to the ground due to her bindings.
"Are you mad?!" Michael took the girl at the last moment and shot Elyse a glare. "She is Leo's daughter. He'll come after you if you kill her!"
"Fine. I'll kill the old man, then," Elyse said. She wouldn't stop until she killed Amelie's loved one. Then, she pushed Steven out into the open. "You've made me suffer for so long. So, it's your turn to suffer now."
Steven's hands were tied behind his back as well. Elyse picked up a bat and swung it down on his legs. A dull thud echoed across the air, and the old man fell to his knees, his face scraping across a stone, drawing blood.
"Dad!" Amelie screamed.
Steven got back up with difficulty, all the while not letting out a grunt. He shook his head, telling Amelie that he was fine.
Elyse stomped on his back, forcing him to go back down and roaring with laughter. "I heard that your father spoils you a lot. I even saw him taking you on his back when you were a young teenager, walking from one end of the village to the other. He wouldn't even let you tire yourself out. He loves you so much! Honestly, every time I saw how happy you were, I really wanted to tear your happiness apart. I want you to know what it feels like to be abandoned." Elyse narrowed her eyes. Her gaze filled with bliss, yet her voice was cold.
"I remember you now!" Amelie shouted, remembering a memory from her past. "You're that girl!"
That explains why she looked so familiar when I first saw her. Elyse used to live in Quinn Town. She was merely 11 years old back then, and she beguiled her aunt into cheating on her uncle. Then, Elyse led her uncle to the spot where her aunt was meeting up with her lover, leading to a… tragedy. That girl was dark, cruel, and smelled like death. Even in the face of her aunt's bleeding corpse, she smiled.
However, she changed. When Elyse was with Leo, she was cheerful, happy, and beautiful. No longer was she the girl of death, so Amelie didn't suspect her to be that girl.
Knowing what Amelie was thinking, Elyse nodded. "Yep. That b*tch kept coming down on me, snitching on me to Grandma. And her b*stard of a husband wouldn't stop leering at me. I hated them, so I wanted them dead. As for you, Amelie, you're not as kind as you think you are. You're the real devil here. You wouldn't stop showing off how happy you were back in Quinn Town. I know you were mocking me because I was unloved. After that, you even tried to take Leo away from me. You will pay for that."
It was an unreasonable reasoning, yet Elyse fully believed she was the victim here.
Amelie said nothing for fear of angering her further.
Michael couldn't take it anymore. "Elyse, please! We have to go now. Leo will soon know of his daughter's disappearance. If he gets here, we're done for."
"Oh, shut it." Elyse looked confident as she said, "Bria's in Halport. Only Amelie knows she's gone. There's no way anyone could have called him. And I've kept my eye on her all the way. She didn't have any chance to call Leo, either." She slowly pulled out a knife and scraped it against Steven's neck. "Not every day I get to see this, and I'm going to savor it. I won't let him die a quick death. It won't be interesting otherwise. How should I make it more exciting, then? Oh, I know. I will cut off his flesh inch by inch. A painful death is an entertaining death, after all."
Beads of blood trickled from Steven's neck before falling to the grass. She scraped some of it up and rubbed it between her fingers. Then, she smiled at Amelie as if asking for Amelie's thoughts on her idea.
"You're a monster, Elyse!" Amelie growled, her eyes flaring with anger. She then looked at her father in worry.
Steven shook his head and made muffled noises, telling Amelie he was fine.
"You witch!" Bria had bitten through the tape and shouted, "Let Grandpa go!"
"Shut it, or you are next!" roared Elyse. She then swung her knife once more, going for Steven's back this time.
Amelie closed her eyes. She couldn't save her father when she was in a bind. So, she leaned back and pressed her hands against a sharp rock. Despite it scraping her skin, she kept cutting the rope with it. However, she heard a scream just then. When she opened her eyes, she saw her daughter being tossed into the air.
"You bit me, you little b*stard!" Elyse shouted, swinging her wrist around. A crimson mark was imprinted on her wrist—it was Bria's bite mark!
Amelie was surprised that Bria would bite Elyse just to save Steven. Livid, Elyse darted over and held the little girl up by her collar before slapping her twice. Even though Bria's cheeks were swelling up, she still gritted her teeth and glared at Elyse.
Elyse's anger stoked further, and she thrust her knife toward Bria. "I'll kill you!"
Right then, Amelie's bindings broke. Just in time! She ran toward her daughter and kicked Elyse's knife away. Beset by pain, Elyse turned around, and Amelie slammed her foot into her face. Backed with her fury, the kick sent Elyse tumbling down to the ground, and her back pricked by the blades of grass behind her. She screamed in pain.
Amelie stepped on her chest. Elyse's face was swollen like a balloon, her hair unkempt. Fear filled her eyes as she held Amelie's leg. "Please don't hurt me!"
Amelie would have let her go in the past, but Elyse had crossed a line she never should.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: When I Was a Wallflower (Leo and Amelie)