Chapter One; Betrayal in Blood
Chapter One
Betrayal in Blood
Elena’s POV
Blackridge Prison was not for the weak. The air inside was thick with the scent of sweat, rusty and something sour that stuck to the walls like a permanent stain.
The dull shining light bulb cast an unease shadow along the broken cement floor, the whispers of low conversations and footsteps could be heard dominating the silence.
My cell door scraped against the concrete floor as it slid open, the sound made a wicked reminder that I was still still stuck in this hell hole. I was still breathing in this suffocating box made of steel and stone.
I stepped out as the prison guard opened my cell door, my boots rubbing against the cold floor, the heavy chains tied around my wrists clicking as the guard opened them with a key.
The other inmates looked at me with an uneasy, sharp and unreadable expression. Some nodded their heads to me in acknowledgement, others looked at me and gossiping among themselves,but as usual I did what I had been doing for the last ten years since I got here, ignoring them.
My mind was already somewhere else.
A place I don’t think I could ever escape from.
I was eighteen years old when my life ended.
The first thing I remembered was the cold. It crawled into my bones, stiffening and numbing my fingers as I opened my eyes awake.
My head was banging with a very annoying headache, I could barely see from my vision being blurred due to the dull light bulb that was casting shadows through the thick curtains.
This was not how my bed looked. This was not even close to how my room looked. A strong metallic scent blocked my nostrils, something about this scent felt off.
And then It dawned on me as I turned my head and Saw it.
The red.
Dark and thick staining my hands, accumulating around my bare feet in thick and huge drops. My breath stopped for a moment, my body freezing from the sight as I traced the blood down to a lifeless body that was lying motionless on the floor.
He was covered in blood, his face and body pale, his eyes looking lifeless and blankly at the ceiling.
That was when I realized that I was even holding a knife gripped tightly to my fingers, filled with his blood. The sound of my pulse was loudly heard in my ears, my chest rising and falling at the same time with an uneven rhythm.
No. This cannot be real.My fingers trembled as I immediately dropped the knife on the concrete floor, the sound of the clanging metal cutting through the silence as it landed on the floor.
“What...what is this?” I whispered to myself, my voice breaking. I could barely remember anything as my memories were fragmented, little pieces of it slipping through me like a shattered glass.
How did I even get here? How the hell was I even holding a knife in the first place ? My heart pounded against my ribs. The whole room was spinning as I was immediately drawn under the
weight of confusion.
And then….
A loud bang that thrashed the door open with an immense force.
“It’s the police! Don’t move!”
Their red and blue blinding car lights exploded through the doorway, their boots thundering against the floor, the sharp click of guns pointing directly at my face.
“Hands where we can see them, Miss!”
I lifted my shaking hands, the blood dripping down my body in slow, planned patterns, branding me as the murderer I never was.
“Please…I…I didn’t do this,” I cried out, my throat burning, but all my words went on deaf ears, it meant nothing to them.
“On your knees! Now!”
I obeyed immediately, my body shaking as a forceful hand twisted my arms behind my back, the cold cut of metal cuffs locked around my wrists.
“Miss, you are under arrest for the murder of Lucas Vance.”
Murder.
The word hit me like a punch to the face, shattering every little thing I thought I ever knew.
The trial in court against me was fast,Too fast.The prosecutor from the other side tore me bit by
bit into tiny little pieces.
All evidence against me was damning.
The knife was covered in my fingerprints and DNA.
The hotel room had even been paid for with my credit card, and it was even booked by me.
The security camera footage showed me walking into the hotel all alone.
And then, it was time to hear my side of the story as witnesses were called to testify in my favor.
“Miss Charlotte Carter, can you please step forward to the stand.”
She was my sister, my blood, she was going to save me with her testimony and get me out of this mess.
She stood up to walk to the stand, her posture straight, her pink tailored gown elegant and untouched. Her face was the picture of sorrow, tears rolling down uncontrollably on her cheeks like an actress in a sorrowful movie.
“Elena is my sister,” she started, her voice cracked, shaking. “But I can’t lie about what I know.”
“She told me…she told me that Lucas Vance had always been sexually harassing her for months.” She wiped her eyes with a tissue, her breath stopping for a moment.
“She was afraid of him, She said that he hurt her and he does not plan on stopping and that one day, he would eventually force himself sexually on her. She could no longer endure it anymore.”
I shook my head slowly, looking at her as she blurted out those lies, No. This wasn’t happening.
“She told me she had to do something to make all these stop.”
“Lies!” I shouted on top of my voice, my voice echoing through the whole courtroom. “Charlotte, what are you even saying, it’s all lies.!”
The judge hit his gavel. “ I need order to be maintained in this court!”
I felt sick, as if the walls were suffocating me. My sister ... .my own sister…was throwing me into the fire.
The second witness called to the stand was Adrain.
My Adrian, the love of my life, even if Charlotte betrayed me I know that Adrain would always have my back, he would surely save me.
“Elena is my girlfriend,” he said, his voice steady, “But she just always had this temper. She told me she despised Lucas for what he was doing to her.”
“She pleaded with me to help her to get rid of him, it even went to the extent of her using my love for her in order to manipulate me.”
It struck me like an electric shock. “No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, Adrian, please.”
“She tried to manipulate me,” he continued, his voice breaking just enough to make all he said believable. “I never thought she would decide to do it all by herself, but I was wrong.”
I felt myself questioning every inch of my existence. As if I was being ripped apart into two.
The jury didn’t even take too long to make their decision.
“You are hereby declared guilty”
“And Sentenced to life imprisonment”.
The cell door banged shut behind me, forever sealing my fate.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months.
And then they finally decided to show their faces after what they did to me.
Charlotte and Adrian stood outside my cell door, their hands held tightly together, their sly and wicked smiles sharp as knives.
“Poor Elena,” Charlotte began. “We just thought you needed to know the truth, my dear sister.
”We framed you.” Lucas was never your victim, he was ours.”
“You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Adrian cut her short, forming a sly smirk on his face.
I gripped the iron bars tightly, my knuckles white from the force. “Why?”, tears rolling down my cheeks like a heavy tsunami.
“What did I ever do to the both of you to deserve this?”
“Oh, Elena.” Charlotte hissed mockingly. “Everything that was given to you by our later parents is now mine, it belongs to me.”
“And one more thing my love” Adrian added, wrapping his arms around Charlotte’s waist. “We’re getting married.”
They brought their faces close to each other, kissing passionately in order to add to the deep pain of betrayal I was already feeling.
They walked away, their wicked laughter echoing through the corridor,leaving me all alone to drown in the weight of their betrayal.
It had been eighteen years ago since my life ended.
But I wasn’t dead.
I was still here, breathing. As long as I was breathing, I had hope of getting out of here, And when I do...
I would burn everything they ever built with my suffering to the ground.
“Elena,” a voice pulled me back to my thoughts. I blinked to look at who it was. Mary, the only prison guard I could somehow call my friend.
She watched me carefully with her piercing green eyes. “If you ever did get out of here…what would you do with your life?”
The question loomed in the air, heavy. My breath hitching for a moment,my lips curving into the faintest smile.
“I will make them pay.”
The words tasted like fire on my tongue as it came rushing out of my mouth..
And I meant every single thing I just said.