Ms Wilson's Replacement

49: The definition of a broken man

He finally steps away from the door and moves towards her bedside and this causes her heart to beat uneasily.

He remains silent and stares at her observing her face, his eyes moving from hers to her lips and chin and then back, perhaps wondering how he couldn't tell the difference all those four weeks she pretended to be Anna.

His gaze burns her skin and the pain behind his eyes, as well as the hatred, makes her want to run and hide away from him but she is handcuffed to the bed and unable to move which makes it even worse.

"Where is Anna?"

Her eyes are fuzzy and dull, "Did Jumai not tell you what I told her?"

"When I ask you a question, you goddamn answer it!" He thunders, his grey eyes glowing with much fury and hate and she almost runs off the bed in fear.

She has never seen this side of him before and it is frightening and dreadful and she knows she's unprotected and weak around him, especially in cuffs. She swallows hard and looks down, trying to stop the tears that threaten to spill out as a result of his hard word.

"I don't know where Anna is, Eli."

He stormed towards her bed and she shifts uncomfortable, trying to get away from him, even though it was impossible to, "And why should I believe anything you say? You are a liar, you've been lying to me pretending to be Anna when in fact you were a fraud."

"I did what I did because I had no choice, it was either that or I get thrown to prison by your fiancée for something else. Anna dragged me into this life even though I didn't want to be a part of it." She can't stop the tears anymore and they come pouring.

"Enough with your lies!" He glares at her murderously and she knows it's taking all the strength he has to not reach out and strangle her on the bed this instant. He turns away from her and ran a shaky hand through his hair, he is heartbroken and in pain and she is responsible for what he's going through.

Eli was never a man driven by his anger or resentment and since she'd gotten to know him, he was always in charge of his emotions and reaction and to see this much change meant something was broken— a lot of things were. His heart, his trust, his joy, his being; all these have been broken. He is the definition of a broken man.

"Eli, I am sorry." She whimpers and her eyes shutter, "I really am, you didn't deserve what Anna and I did to you and your mother was right all along. Anna never loved you, if she did she wouldn't have left and made me her replacement."

He turns to her, the emotions under much control now than a few moments ago, "All the charges against you will be dropped and you will get to walk out of this hospital and never show your face to my family ever again if you can tell me where Anna is."

A terror-filled sob escapes her lips and more tears stream down her face blurring her vision as a result. Her freedom is now hanging on the information she will give and that is terrible because she does not know anything about Anna's whereabouts. "I don't know where Anna is because she never told me where she was going."

"You're clearly not ready to tell me the whole truth so I'll leave you here, maybe Anna will come and save you." He turned around begins to head out and she knows she will never get the chance again.

"She told me she was going on a business trip and she felt you wouldn't let her go if you knew about it. That was why she put herself through the trouble of getting a replacement." She speaks up quickly, halting him on his steps.

If this is going to get her out of these damned cuffs, then she is going to sing the truth she knows at the top of her lung.

"She was supposed to return and make the switch last week at the railway road, but she never turned up and I got a call from her before the wedding, she said she would be present for the wedding hence I had to leave. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to because she threatened to hurt and kill those I cared about."