10
“Silas, I can’t believe you! Elena didn’t want to expose you, but now? Forget it, you don’t deserve any protection!”
With Everett’s cue, I played the video that Brielle had sent me.
In the footage, Silas got a call from Nadia and dropped everything, racing out of the lab. The flammable chemicals that should’ve been in the fridge were left exposed to an unextinguished alcohol lamp, and that’s what sparked the fire.
Because of the poor ventilation, a secondary explosion happened while I was trying to save the samples.
Silas, who had lived through two lifetimes, finally realized the fire was his fault after watching the video.
He stood there, stunned, then erupted into a panic as the crowd condemned him.
“No way! This can’t be happening! Where did you even get that video? How do you have surveillance footage?!”
As he rushed toward me, I leaned in, speaking low so only he could hear. “All these photos and videos are thanks to Brielle. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the evidence to take you down today.”
When he heard Brielle’s name, his face went pale, and he stumbled back.
After the crowd pulled him away, he finally seemed to snap back to reality, shoving past people and bolting from the press conference without looking back.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out where he was headed, and soon enough, I got a call from the police.
When I arrived at the station, Brielle was sitting across from Silas, crying her eyes out.
The officers filled me in. After realizing Brielle had betrayed him, Silas stormed over to her house, demanding answers. But when she tried to talk her way out of it, he lost it and hit her.
Once he was in cuffs, he kept shouting insults at Brielle.
I leaned closer to her and whispered, “Look, he might have hit you, but he’ll only be locked up for a few days. Silas is a loose cannon. If you want to get away from him, you need to shift his anger elsewhere. Tell him the truth, and you’ll cut ties for good. Then Nadia won’t have anything to hold over you anymore.”
Brielle listened, her nerves palpable as she swallowed hard.
She wasn’t naive, and she had her own cards to play besides just Silas‘ secrets.
