His Pride & Her Prejudice (in the 21st Century)-unedited.

Chapter Eighteen

This can't be real. Ella kept repeating it to herself as if saying it enough would make it true.

Before she knew it, she was back home. Despite her Aunt and Uncle's insistence, she had rushed home in a rented car in record time.

Her travel was interrupted by bathroom breaks and the continued litany of texts from Mary, Kitty and Jane. At one point, they had video-called her. Three flushed faces, varying from intense worry to nervous anticipation, confronted her.

"Father is trying to persuade the shop to drop the charges," Mary told her with a solemnity of  vicar. "He's not having much success."

"Tell her the good news first." Kitty tugged on Mary's tank top in exasperation.

"Oh, you two. Quiet!" Jane sounded exasperated when Mary opened her mouth to snap at her younger sister. "Ella, Lydia has been granted bail. She is coming home soon. Rest assured, she will be grounded for a long time."

It's a bit late for that. Ella bit back her words and put on a brave face. "Great."

"We will have a criminal in the house," Kitty boasted. She was so alarmingly reminiscent of Lydia at that moment.

Ella threw her older sister a silent plea. Her nerves were fried. She was dying to know Wickham's underhandedness in this fiasco. How could he do this to her? He had thrown whatever they had shared for stealing money through her sister. And her naive sister, who was almost a decade younger than her. It was not done.

Jane still had not told her the nitty gritty of what had exactly happened. Only Lydia had been arrested, and she had claimed at the police station that Wickham had planned the whole thing.

Her poor father! How must this be affecting his blood pressure? Ella wanted to hug him and assure him everything would be alright.

Her mind turned to William. What would he think of her sudden disappearance with only a hasty text: family emergency. Have to go back.

Her mind had become like a swiss cheese. Nothing had stuck to it when she had learned of Lydia's scandal—now, sitting in her parents' driveway, she regretted telling him anything. The insinuation that her departure was due to her family's antics would strengthen Williams' worst fears. He had been right about her family. Hadn't he warned about her about Wickham? And what had she done? Her ego had prevented her from revealing what a two-faced man George was to her sisters and everyone else.

She wondered how long it would take for Lucases, Zilcoskys and others to gloat at their misfortune. The gossipers would alone be in a frenzied fluttered for months. It was not their opinions; Ella cared, but only one person: William.

The Darcys were posh sort of people. As down-to-earth as they had been, she couldn't see them accepting her when they discovered her sibling and she had been consorting with their enemy.

A bile rose to her throat at the thought of Lydia and Wickham. Wasn't the latter involved with Shah's daughter, Zora? How on earth had Lydia gotten involved with the scoundrel? Her stomach lurched at the thought of Lydia and Wickham when only months ago, she had been willing to make their relationship more sexual.

The worst part was Ella had herself to blame for this mess. Lydia had never known about the two of them. And what Ella had unearthed about Wickham, he was a scumbag underneath his false bravado and charming smile. He seduced women with his poor-me tale and manipulated them for whatever he wanted out of them. She knew this. Her stomach turned when she remembered the condom Lydia had in her pillowcase.

Gross! Ella shuddered. 

Her phone vibrated. She glanced at it and saw a notification. She groaned. It was a voice note from Collin. Not wanting, she pressed the play button.