7 Chapter Seven -

"My husband is an innocent man. We both are just your ordinary 'Half Spanish and Half Italian' couple who met in the most clichés ways. My husband is actually such a teddy bear behind a cold façade, so I am telling you that he can't even harm a fly. You have brought in the wrong guy!" the 'supposed' Sid's Mrs's now wailed, holding a handkerchief up to her nose. She had been crying, demanding and shrieking ever since Sana let her inside the office.

Clutching onto my arm, she insisted that I looked like someone soft enough to understand her dilemma, help her tell the police that her husband was innocent. I felt so crushed. Such an amount of faith put in such a notorious criminal. Sid had been even more monstrous and disastrous than I had imagined. Pity.

Now sitting in Maggie's office, I watched with teary eyes as Sid's Mrs's was desperately trying to prove her husband's innocence whilst sitting across the desk from Maggie and I. my heart felt like sinking with despair, thinking how much of a deceiving man Sid had been. It had to be deception because we were sure that the mens' department had caught the correct man; his level of darkness and insanity could not be faked.

Part of me felt like aching with the need to throw a solid punch at Sid's face. That psychopath…he had a family, a partner, yet he was stalking me. Disgusting! Such men were at the top of my 'most despised' list.

Cherisher of a deep sense of loyalty and empathy, I had always harboured a deep hatred for those men who lacked a sense of loyalty, trust and had no respect for their families. While many people blamed the house-wrecker, the second woman, I was the one who blamed both the man and woman.

It's you who chooses to deceive your family…no one can make you do that.

My heart actually panged for the women who were directly or indirectly rejected and betrayed by men. I had been there…I knew that intense pain because I had felt it when Jamie chose Helen over me. There was a sense of not being good enough, being unwanted. This poor woman…I didn't want her to go through all those emotions. She seemed so loyal and protective of her husband. How could Sid break her trust like that? How could he be so cold towards such warm emotion> and was he actually planning to do the same to me…stalk me and show immense obsession until I, too, became insanely loyal and passionate?

The minds of psychopaths were just so baffling. I wonder what made them act this cunning and manipulative? This woman truly seemed her husband was wronged. What could have Sid fed her mind to strengthen her trust? How was he able to manipulate her this deeply? And would he manage to do the same to me?

Ached and sympathetic, I watched as the woman now pulled out a stack of pictures from her black bag and placed them on the desk.

"Here," a fond look gleamed in her. "This is the place we met alongside our parents." She pointed at the first picture. I frowned. The picture looked like a boxing area. Intense flashlights seemed to be blurring the picture. Did she meet Sid there?

"He was the top boxer of that night, and my father was sponsoring him. If not paid, my husband wouldn't even think of holding up his fists against anyone. He is just that kind of guy…"

"I see," Maggie just nodded, taking notes.

"Oh, and this…this is the living room of our warm house," she showed us another picture. "We live near the suburbs with our two kids; Samara and Lucia…" she gave us a bittersweet smile, folding her hands together and placing them on the desk. All of our gazes were fixated on her pictures.

Her living room seemed so homey, sweet and…familiar; a cute sofa set, a fireplace and some random toys lying on the floor. I remember when I was little, I lived with parents and my father's side of the family in one huge house. Back then, we were such a close-netted family. Distance and time had really changed our priorities now.

Anyhow, looking at her house pictures seriously made me reminisce the old times and feel so sympathetic…Sid had a family, children who looked up to him and had their childhood memories dependent on his presence. How could he be so careless about that burden? Didn't family and bonds mean nothing to him? In fact, how could any human switch that emotional side of their soul? I felt so ached by this dark side of humans; I knew that every person had a bad wolf hidden in his soul, tamed by his soul…yet it was hard seeing some souls openly harbour untamed beasts; really to destroy and ruin.

Slightly sniffling at how her living room harboured signs of that bittersweet warmth, I frowned as I noticed something in the picture; a red poster sticking against the glass of the living room's window (which was situated right next to the fireplace) just like my old home. I was six when we left that place, so memories were distorted, yet I clearly remember getting scolded for ruining the living room window by pasting stickers on it with glue. The red sticker seemed to stand out in my memories. What an uncanny coincidence!

"Here is a picture of my youngest daughter's study room. Sid loves reading her books in this room and helping her to complete her maths homework. My husband hates maths, yet he really tries for the sake of our princess. Tell me how such a man can even think of harming a fly," She showed us the next picture, interrupting my train of thoughts.

Eyeing the next picture immediately turned my veins cold. Shoot! This was my elder sister's old study room. I knew it! The posters, the table…what on earth? How could it be?

Looking up, I could see her now eyeing me with a subtle strange gleam? She had morphed her expressions to look like she was grieving, feeling nostalgic, but I could sense her strange aura. Her fingers had started sneakily tapping on one side of the picture…the side where my sister had hung 'Study Time! Do Not Speak!' sign over her study table, and I was quick to realise that this was a threat…

What on earth!

Who was this woman? And how, on earth, had she managed to get such old pictures? When little, mobile phones were new and dad didn't like taking pictures, so we had hardly taken any pictures of our old home. Any pictures taken were safely hidden in the dark corners of my family safe…no one could get these pictures…unless someone had gotten near my family.

Shoot! Sid!

This was a setup! Sid was behind it all. This woman had clearly been sent by him, to threaten me, show me how much leverage he had over me and the police. Sid had the upper hand, always. I felt like trembling in fear.

Should I tell Maggie? Get this woman caught? No, not while Sid found my family this approachable. I had to stay quiet for my family's safety.

Feeling whimpers escape from my soul, I winced as Maggie rubbed my shoulders.

"Shhh. It's alright. This woman has a beautiful family and the police promise to fully safeguard their safety," she consoled. She was misinterpreting my emotion, believing that my tears were full of empathy and sympathy. No, they were of fear and anxiety. I had to stay quiet and wait for what next the malicious woman, before me, had planned. Part of me desperately wanted to confess about the mental torture I was going through, but I couldn't. I was trapped.

Simply nodding, I eyed the woman, showing her that I had listened and was waiting for her next step. She was quick to catch on.

"You are such a wonderful soul," she acted, sniffling dramatically, "Your heart is so generous. You understand what I feel. Do you believe in my husband's innocence now?"

"Yes," I had no choice but to say this. My soul felt anguished. Maggie gave me a surprised look.

"Umm…so, will you let my husband go now?" the woman then turned towards Maggie with such earnestly that I found it so difficult to believe that she was truly faking these emotions. The level of acting, here…

"I am sorry, but unless we get solid evidence that your husband is innocent, we have to keep him in custody. You can be regular on this matter. I promise you that the police will look after your family until then." She warmly cupped her hands, making me mentally gag. Weren't detectives supposed to be super observant? How was Maggie missing all the suppressed emotions here?

"No, I am telling you my husband is innocent! He had done nothing wrong!" the woman stood up, throwing a tantrum. "He won't even hurt a fly. You have the wrong guy! This girl-" she pointed towards me. "-she believes me. She knows my husband is a loving father…men with daughters don't do crimes!"

"Mrs…"

"No!" The woman rejected. "I am not leaving his place without my husband! Only one person in this entire police office is sympathetic to my situation. She believes me, why don't you folks?!" Why was this woman continuously dragging me into this? Telling the police that I found her innocent. She was continuously lying, but why? Why was she establishing that I was sympathetic towards her…that she would only listen to me?

"Mrs. Zhao," Maggie held the bridge of her nose in frustration. "We understand that this is an extremely stressful situation. We fully understand your emotions, but this will get us nowhere. Why don't you go home? I promise the police will do whatever they can to quell your worries…"

"I am not going anywhere without Sid." The woman stayed adamant.

Huffing, Maggie then turned towards me. "Grace, maybe you can convince this woman to go home and rest. She is clearly only trusting you here."

"I-I…"

"Yes, I am trusting only Grace here, because you folks are heartless!" the woman screamed. "If you want me escorted out of this place, I will go with Grace. She understands. She is the only one who will fight for my husband." What! So this was the ploy. By declaring me on her side, the woman wanted to lure me out of the police station. So cunning. I could refuse, say no…but what would happen if I didn't obey?

Gulping fearfully, I nervously gave in. "Mrs. Zhao, it's best if you go home now. Your kids-" My heart ached at this. Did she even have kids? "-They must be waiting for you. Why don't I escort you to your car parked outside?"

"O-okay," she responded in a small voice. Disgusting

"Glad that settles it," Maggie got up, folding her hands. "Grace, why don't you take Sana along while you escort Mrs. Zhao back to her car. Once you come back, there will be some files I want you to read."

Nodding, I was slightly trembling as I got up. This was it. Once I got out of this station, who knows what this woman had in store for me, what Sid had in store for me. There had to be a reason in luring me out of the police station. Sid had a plan, as suspected.

Numbly walking out of the police station, with Sana in tow and Mrs. Zhao in front of me, I felt like crying in terror, clawing the deep walls of this vicious traps and clapping in mock-applaud.

Well played, Sid. He had managed to outsmart the police, once again. And this time, I was about the deadly price of him always having the upper-hand.

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