CHAPTER 77: DETAIN CARLA

"I didn’t do anything wrong! It was all Carla’s idea. She wanted to humiliate you because of how she had to apologize to you before everyone on the stage," Beatrice said.

Carla’s eyes widened.

It was true; it was all her idea, and she was the one who involved Emma and everyone else, but she never thought she would be exposed like this.

"Andrew, you have to believe me. I was just helping Carla. I didn’t mean for things to go this far. She is your sister, and I just couldn’t see her crying and in pain," Beatrice said.

Andrew’s gaze softened at her words. He took a deep breath and turned to Elara.

"Elara, don’t take it too far. I know you got blamed wrongly. Everyone here will apologize to you. End this matter now. You said you care about Grandpa. It’s his birthday. Let’s not spoil it more," Andrew said.

Elara looked at the man. At this point, even feeling disappointed was useless. He was really a hopeless man.

William looked at Elara and took a deep breath.

"The celebration is over. I don’t want to cut a cake anymore. Thank you, everyone, for coming. We are sorry for what you had to witness. Please eat before leaving," Williams said.

All the guests nodded and walked out of the main hall into the outer garden, where the main dinner preparations were underway.

Elara’s expression turned sad and pitiful.

"I didn’t mean to ruin your birthday, Grandpa. But...there’s just something I want to know," Elara said to William, who nodded, giving her a signal to continue.

Elara turned her attention to Carla and then to Andrew.

"Why? What was wrong with what I did, Carla? You stole my song and presented it as your own. I just asked for an apology. Why was it humiliating?" She asked Carla before wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"And hadn’t you done enough for that? You were the one who sent those goons to my apartment to humiliate me in a way that death would be the only option left for me, no?" Elara asked.

As soon as she said those words, everyone remaining in the room froze.

Carla looked at Elara with a horrified expression.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

She had tried to call those men last night, but hadn’t received any news about how the mission went. But since no one picked up, she thought that the men bailed at the last second.

In fact, she was even planning to go to the Black streets with Beatrice the day after tomorrow to get back the money that she invested.

Judging from what Elara was saying, it appeared the men had indeed attacked her. But how was it possible that she was standing here unscathed? What really happened?

"Elara, what are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? Plotting something small is a different thing, but this..." Andrew couldn’t believe his ears and immediately walked to Elara, holding her elbow to force her to look at him.

"You don’t believe me. It’s okay. The officer here is exactly for that," Elara said, and the officer, who had been sidelined since he arrived, nodded.

He had wanted to clarify the facts with Elara and tell her that her suspicion was correct and Carla was indeed the culprit. He needed her to verify a few things before they could issue a warrant to detain the girl.

However, Elara had told him she was quite busy and that if he wanted to close this case sooner, he should come to this address.

At first, he didn’t agree, but when Daniel got involved, he had no choice but to come here.

"Miss Elara is telling the truth. The goons who had been hospitalized have given their statements. The person who hired them was named Carla. We checked the bank account, and the transaction was made from Miss Carla’s account only," the officer said.

Andrew couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stood there for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what was going on anymore.

All his beliefs were slowly starting to shatter. His family probably wasn’t as great to Elara as he thought it was. And maybe the reason behind her demanding a divorce wasn’t just him.

Andrew looked at Carla, who shook her head.

"I am not alone in this, brother. Be—" Carla started to take Beatrice’s name, but the latter stood and hugged Carla.

"Why did you do it, Carla? I told you not to do it." Beatrice shouted before taking a deep breath.

"I will get you out. Don’t worry. But don’t take my name. One of us needs to stay out of the blame to keep Andrew’s trust. We need to help each other," Beatrice whispered in Carla’s ear.

The girl paused.

She thought about what Beatrice said and found her words reasonable.

"Did you do it or not, Carla?" Andrew asked Carla.

Elara scoffed.

"Funny enough, if it had been me, the question would be, ’Why did I do it?’ and not ’If I did it,’ and then you asked me what was wrong with how you treated me," Elara said.

Andrew’s heart skipped a beat when she called him out like this.

He opened his mouth to retort, but before he could say anything, George looked at the officer.

"Since you already know the perpetrator, what are you waiting for? Detain her," George ordered.

Carla’s eyes widened. Though she agreed with Beatrice’s words, she felt scared.

How would she survive in that cold and hard place? No.

"You can’t take me away. Do you not know who we are?" Carla said, forgetting who the person before her was.

"I know who you are," George said with a bored expression.

Carla shook her head in denial and walked to him.

"How can you change parties like this? We invited you here so you could help me. Why are you taking this bitch’s side? What has she offered you to stand with her? Is it—" Carla opened her mouth, but before she could complete her sentence, Elara grabbed her hand, forcefully turned the girl, and slapped her hard on the face.

But it wasn’t enough.

"How!" Slap!

"Dare!" Slap!

"You!" Slap!

"Just because I never said anything, do you think you can keep ruining my reputation? I don’t have a loose character like your brother, whose first reaction when his secretary is in trouble is to hug her and place her head on his chest, but when it comes to his wife, he makes her kneel!" Elara raised her voice before slapping Carla again.

George winced inwardly.

Though he wasn’t well-versed in Elara’s mafia involvement, he was well aware of how hard she had once trained herself. And her slap, the one that sounded so loud, must’ve hurt like hell.

"Brother! It hurts!" Carla hid her face with her hands, running behind Andrew to save herself from Elara’s wrath.

Elara looked at the man, who had gone silent with mockery.

"Officer, take her away," Elara roared.

William, who had been silent since earlier, took a deep breath.

"Wait. Elara," he called her out.

Elara closed her eyes briefly. This was the exact moment she was waiting for, the exact moment that she planned all this for.

No matter how much the old man had said he would support her, when it came to choosing between her and his family, he would always choose the well-being of his family.

She turned to the man with a smile.

"I know what you are going to say. I’ll save you the trouble," Elara smiled before nodding at George to tell him not to intervene.

George nodded, already satisfied with what he had witnessed so far.

"I am ready to drop the charges," Elara said.

Carla’s eyes sparkled, and Andrew heaved a sigh of relief.

But William? He knew the girl wanted something in return.

"What do you want in return?" he asked.

Andrew shook his head.

"Grandpa, what are you talking about? Don’t you know Elara is a sweet woman? Why would she need something to help Carla? She is family," Andrew said, thinking he was helping Elara, and this way she would stop thinking that he never took her side.

But to his surprise, Elara just scoffed at him before focusing her attention on William.