CHAPTER 45: HEADLINES

"What nonsense is this?" Eliza scoffed, and scrolled down to see more articles saying basically the same thing.

"Money truly is the root of evil. She became a trillionaire, and then chose murder."

"Jealous because of her barrenness, Eliza Crest commits murder of an unborn child."

She read more headlines like that, but none of the articles were explaining the details. They were all just pushing out the provocative headline as rage bait.

"What’s going on? How on earth did they come to this conclusion?" She asked as she typed on the tablet trying to get more information.

"The PR team is trying to handle it, but more articles just keep popping up. Most are vague. Just throwing accusations, so no one even truly knows how the so called crime occured. There are a lot of speculations going around, and so many calls to the office. The board has called an emergency meeting, so..."

"Have they gone mad?" Eliza snapped, interrupting Michaela as she tapped on an interview video that just went live.

It was Linda, her sister in-law that she hadn’t seen when she was at her parent’s home, who was supposed to be grieving her miscarriage. Eliza’s mom was seated beside her, holding her hands while they both answered questions.

"Who is it?’ Alrik asked as he stepped closer and sighed when he saw the live video.

Michaela stepped a bit closer to also see the tablet screen better, and her eyes widened. "The views are increasing so fast."

"Of course it is. The Crest name has become very popular after my company’s event success. They’re deliberately mentioning my wife’s name to get people interested. It’s a classic tactic." Alrik said with a sneer.

Eliza increased the volume on the tab so they could all hear what was going on.

"Mrs Linda, we understand you’ve faced severe trauma this past few hours, and we’re happy you chose to share your story with us so justice would not be hindered." The interviewer said, and Eliza’s mother dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief as she replied first.

"It’s such a shame that this was done by the daughter I worked hard to raise. I could never imagine she would be this spiteful to her own family. I can’t believe she..." She paused to sob, and then sniffed before she continued. "Ever since she met that man, she has been behaving strangely. We tried to help her see reason, but she was blinded by his wealth, and he always covered up for her.

Eliza shook her head as she heard those words. They hadn’t even known Alrik was wealthy till recently, so why was her mother speaking like Alrik had always been rich? Now she was trying to paint Eliza like a delinquent, and a gold digger.

"It just happened so fast. I found out recently that I was several weeks pregnant. Eliza was so angry, and I don’t even know why. We invited her over to dinner to celebrate, and she hated the fact that I got what she can never have. She was so jealous because she’s been trying to have a child for years and it never worked. Her infertility is not my fault. I tried, I really tried to be nice to her. Why would she repay me with this evil? Oh, my baby. My poor baby is gone." Linda began to wail as she finished speaking.

"We’re so sorry for your loss, Linda. Mrs Janet, could you explain to us how exactly it happened? So far, you seem to be concealing that fact. Are you still trying to protect your daughter despite her crime?" The interviewer asked, and Janet sighed while she stroked Linda’s hair, who was still weeping.

"It will come out eventually during the investigation, so I guess there’s no need to hide it anymore. She... She pushed poor Linda down the stairs."

The interviewer gasped, and Janet sobbed into her handkerchief.

"How horrible."

"Yes. It was a horrible sight. And then she laughed and left with her husband like nothing happened while Poor Linda was bleeding. And I lost my grandchild in such a horrible way."

"And is there proof of this? This occurred at your home, so surely there must be CCTV footage available." The interviewer said, and Janet began another round of sobs.

They paused and waited until she calmed down, and then she replied.

"That’s what makes this all so heartbreaking. It’s why we opted to come forward to the public before reporting it. They hired thugs to erase all the footage, so there would be no evidence of the crime. We only have video of her driving into the compound with her husband, and leaving soon after. She didn’t even eat dinner with the family." She paused and dabbed her eyes.

"But just being seen driving in proves nothing, and that’s why they didn’t erase that footage. They could claim she only came there to visit or some other bogus reason. We only have a short clip that Linda managed to record while she was being threatened. But unfortunately, Eliza tossed her phone away before she would record more. It took a while for a technician to salvage this recording from her damaged phone."

She took out her phone and played the recording. It was Eliza’s voice.

"I will really push you down those stairs. And I promise you, there will be no repercussions. You’re the one who will have to live through the pain of the tumble. Let’s go, Alrik."

Eliza gasped because she remembered saying those words at her parent’s house, but she had said them to Natalia, not Linda. And the words had been taken completely out of context. She only said this while warning Natalia to stay away from Alrik. How on earth did they come up with a plan this diabolical out of spite? Using Linda’s miscarriage to their advantage, and trying to slander her.

"What do we do, Ma’am? The situation is getting out of hand." Michaela asked with fear in her eyes.

Deep down, she didn’t know what to believe. Could her boss really be a murderer? And was she still safe at work? Those were the thoughts floating through her head.