Carlton ✔

39| The Crumbling Faith

What was I going to do? Where was I going to go? I was feeling so lost and empty. Nothing to feel or think about.

I felt a warm touch on my fisted fingers.

"Carlton," Breanna said in the lowest whisper, "You need to rest."

Normally, I would've melted at that. But now? When I looked at her, I began questioning her motives too.

Everything was going wrong. And it was my fault because I assumed the wrong things and acted out of pure belief that my assumptions were correct. And my best friend grazed death because of that.

What if the person I had been so blind for, is the one to stab me in the back when time comes?

Yeah...what if the problem wasn't the world? What if it was me?

Hate and deception replaced the love and innocence in Breanna's eyes so quickly, I didn't even spot the change.

"You okay?" She seemed concerned but I couldn't tell if it was genuine any more. She guided me inside my room, making me sit on the bed as she tended to my undone bandages.

"Do you love me?"

She pulled back a bit, her eyebrows arching downwards. "Of course I do."

"You said that to Raymond too."

She let out a long sigh, as if saying 'I've been waiting for you to ask'. "I did. But then he left me stranded in the middle of the night."

"But he came back," I fought, attempting to get something out of her. A slip of secured information, a sudden change in personality, anything. I would hold on to it and press her till she tells me what the fuck she wanted from me, other than my money.

"How can I feel the same for him after the betrayal?"

I tried to soften up a bit. Because girls liked that. I guess? "He did all of this for you. He put my life in danger to get Augustus to leave you and focus on going after me. He still likes you a lot."

Out of the blue, she actually shook her head in denial. "You really believe that? Carlton Hargrave if you haven't already noticed, Raymond only does what he does, for himself."

Okay this was it. The part where she tells me something of value. My back straightened. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know? Ray's his dad was mysteriously killed too. Ray worked for Augustus even though he knew Augustus was the murderer. And the moment he thought he had enough evidence against him, he left."

She fell into deep thought for a while. When her eyes met mine again, it seemed like something had clicked in her mind. "He was waiting for the right time. He used me to get all the way here. And now, nobody even suspects that he has anything to do with this!"

"I'll stop you right there." I lifted my arms up to show my noticeable confusion. "How do you know all of this?"

She smiled slyly, but it wasn't out of joy. "I'm a journalist by blood. It's what I did for a living."

I was flattered beyond measure. I realised my problem right in that fraction of the second - I wasn't doing my research right. I looked in all the wrong places. I had a lot to learn from Breanna Riley. However, something still bugged me. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

She inhaled forebodingly. "When I saw in his eyes, I saw respect for you guys for the first time in my life. Raymond has never been one to commit to friendships, but for a moment, I genuinely believed that he had started to feel the team spirit."

Was she joking? She was joking, right?

"But apparently he still does things only if he finds an advantage in them," she concluded.

And she's telling me this, now?! All I could do was sit and rub my temple with visible vexation. "So this guy had a footage of the murderer all along and you're telling me now?!"

"I didn't know!" She fought back, distressed. "I didn't know about the footage. I suspected him but I didn't know! I promise!"

I gave her an apprehensive glare, questioning her stance and her character. Shrugging her hand off, I got up from the bed. I didn't know if I should believe her.

My mind and my heart were in a battle again, warring for a closure that made sense. And all I could be certain about was that the whole burden was now on me, and everyone else was running free.

Had they all betrayed me together? Did Ace and Raymond use me for revenge? Did Breanna use me for refuge? Did Caden use me to save Alexandra? Did Damien use me...for whatever reason that I don't know yet?

I felt Breanna caressing her fingers on my back, her warm breaths hitting the back of my neck. "I know that you have lost faith in me because of what I just said. But I myself figured it out all of it just recently. Before this, I trusted Ray blindly."

Just like I'm trusting you blindly, Bree?

"It was my mistake," she squeezed my hand gently, "I should've known. But everything I do now, I do for you. I hope you can find it in you to trust me again."

Saying that, she strolled out of my room. She had seen in my eyes, my trust stripping away from her. But instead of fighting for it, she left me to deal with it alone?

She still loved him, didn't she?

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Wow, this story is overwhelming me too now XD

Please let me know if there's something you're unable to follow? It'll help me clear it up in the next chapter!

A new project is in the works ^^ will post it very soon! I miss writing Carlton already lmao T.T

Love, K!