Reasons to Doubt

Now that Tyler saw that Maevie was okay, the important point that he had ignored came up.

"How could you be so reckless? Driving while under the influence of alcohol?"

"…"

"If you are going to get that much drunk, you could've arranged a driver first. There are drivers in the villa employed for this task. You could have called your friends or assistant."

'I did call my so call friends.' Maevie thought.

But it was true that she did not call Nora or her agent who would have definitely come to her without a doubt. She was too drunk to think that night.

"There are a lot of options. But you ignored it and cause all this mess. And even landed yourself in the hospital."

Maevie did not talk back. She just bit her lower lip as she listened to her brother. It was indeed true that she did drive under the influence. Even if she was not the cause of the accident, she could have been if she had continued to drive.

"Thankfully you are not that injured. But the other party is seriously injured. Look at how your lack of conscience had caused others."

"That_"

Nora, who was listening to the brother lecturing his sister, waited for her boss to correct his brother. She thought Maevie would not wait a second to complain that she was accused wrongly. And that she was not the cause of the accident. Cry that everybody was scolding her.

That was how she had always acted. Well. At least that's how it had always been before she got into the accident.

Now, she was only listening to the scolding like a guilty puppy. Not daring to look up as she clenched the cover with her little fists. She didn't think it through before she interrupted the young master.

"Mr. Cacia. That_"

Tyler turned and met her eyes. His eyes had a glint of coldness, making her hesitant to continue. But being in the business, Nora had come across many difficult personalities to be around and had learned to control her fear. Specially with her boss being as temperamental as the rain in summer. At least Tyler Josh Cacia was not as unpredictable as Maevie Oz.

"Miss Maevie did drive under the influence. But she told me that she was out of the car when the accident happened. So…" Nora gulped down before she continued. "So. She could not possibly be the one causing the accident."

Tyler took his eyes off the assistant and met with his sisters. Maevie nodded, indicating that the assistant was speaking the truth. But he had other things to say.

"Just because you stopped the car and got out of it doesn't mean you did not cause the accident. If you did so in the middle of the road, aren't you the one at fault?"

"Big Brother. It is indeed true that I was drunk last night. But I drove at very slow speed. Must have not reach even forty. Midway, it came to my mind that I was being reckless. I clearly remember parking at the side before getting out to call a temporary driver."

Maevie held her brother's hand as if she was begging for him to believe her words.

"It was the other car. The person was driving at such a high speed and lost control when he took a turn. Then he hit my car and, it hit me. Thankfully, I was at the footpath and the impact was not that much or else… With that speed, it'd be my funeral tomorrow."

"Shut up! Don't say such unlucky words." Tyler scolded.

He already had doubts when he saw the picture of the crime scene. But when he contacted the police, even if they did not say it uprightly, they indicated that Maevie was drunk, making him think that it was her fault.

"What you just said… Is it the truth?"

Maevie nodded.

"Not one of your lies again?"

Maevie did not mind that her brother was suspecting her of lying. After all she did lie a lot of times before to make troubles for Sienne and to get herself out of troubles. Her family used to believe in her lies. But after too many times, they are now reluctant to even believe the truth.

"No. Its not a lie big brother. If you don't believe me, there must be camera at the area. You can check on it."

"…"

"…"

Tyler gave her a hard look, as if trying to read her through her mind, before he hummed as an agreement. He called his assistant.

"Get me the footage of the accident site."

"Right away Sir."

Assistant Lou went away to get his assignment done. In the meantime, the brother sister had their dinner which was brought from the Cacia Family Villa. 

"When did the doctor say you get discharge?" Tyler asked.

"I haven't asked that question yet. The doctor only told me that the muscles have been impacted and I should not do any heavy movement for at least a week or so."

"Then what about your competition?"

"That… I've decided to quit."

Maevie's declaration made Tyler pause. He placed the spoon on the plate before looking into her eyes again, as if to detect her lies.

"For real?"

"Yes. I… I'm not out for it anyway. It'd not be long before I get eliminated even if I continued. So, it's better to just quit while taking the injuries as a cover."

"Hmm"

Tyler then went back to having his dinner. There was no agreement or disagreement on his face. But his mind was filled with doubts. Maevie was the only unreasonably stubborn person he had ever met in his life.

He still blamed himself for introducing his friend, Luther, to his family at the presence of Maevie. She was only 9 back then. But she began to follow Luther everywhere that she could possibly reach. She was 21 now. And she was still following the same guy who had rejected her a hundred times.

She even got into a heavy argument on the matter of the participation in the show with his father and mother. In the end, she guilt-tripped them in to agreeing with her wish and even made his father use his influence to make her stay in the show without getting eliminated.

And now, here she was… Declaring that she would quit the show she so much wanted to participate, that she even fought with all the members of their family and even her agent opposed her for. It was expected for him to doubt her.

But he did not see a sign of her lying or any odd emotions in her eyes. Maevie was genuine this time.

'Maybe the drug party incident had made her mature.'

Just when they were about to end the conversation, Assistant Lou got the call from the person he assigned to get the footage. After a short conversation his face turned serious.

"Okay. Wait for the further instruction."

With that he hanged up the call.

"What happened?" Tyler could read from his assistant's tone that thing did not go smoothly.

"It's the footage of the accident. Our people have gone to every place that had camera where it could've captured the accident. But all of them were either off at the time and didn't capture anything."