Chapter 769 It's None of My Business
"Alright, I'm outta here, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Caleb, Aunt Bonnie. Thanks for the grub and the good times. It's freezing out, so y'all should head back inside."
"Got it." They all watched him leave, then happily shuffled back indoors.
An hour later, Abella was done with her bath and was chatting with Phillipe on WhatsApp when she heard a frantic knock on the door.
"Ms. Medici, you awake? Mrs. Bonnie Harris needs to see you."
Abella opened the door and heard the whisper, "Mrs. Bonnie Harris ain't lookin' too good. Seems like it’s got something to do with Ms. Lola Medici getting spooked."
"What happened to her?"
"I heard Ms. Lola Medici bolted outta the basement, scared outta her mind, lost a shoe, and looked like a ghost. Don’t know the deets, just what the other servants are saying."
Abella knew there were folks locked up in the basement, and someone probably freaked her out. She followed the servant to the study.
In the study, Bonnie, looking all cold and serious, was staring down at someone in the corner.
Lola was curled up, shaking like a leaf.
Abella shut the door and looked at Bonnie. "Aunt Bonnie, what’s going on?"
Bonnie’s face was all serious. She stared at Lola for a bit before saying, "That guy’s dead."
Abella was a bit taken aback.
Two days ago, someone had put a hefty price on her head on the dark web.
Bonnie had tracked the IP, nabbed the guy, and tossed him in the basement, giving him a good beating.
The guy wouldn’t spill who hired him until Abella showed up and offered to fake his death and give him a new identity if he talked.
He seemed to be considering it, so Abella gave him two days to decide. But now, on the last day, he was dead.
"How’d he die?" Abella asked, "When did it happen?"
"Half an hour ago, he suffocated," Bonnie said, then looked at Lola with a complicated expression. "Lola saw him last."
"It’s not my fault. The servant said he wanted to see me. When I got there, he said I wasn’t the one he wanted. But he said he’d made up his mind and wouldn’t talk, no matter who came. Said it was better to end it himself than suffer in our hands. After a bit, he just went quiet. When I looked again, he wasn’t moving. I don’t know what happened." Lola was so scared she was babbling. "He was already terrifying, covered in blood, and the basement was so creepy and horrifying."
It was really too scary!
Abella saw her hugging her knees, sitting on the ground, shaking uncontrollably, and sobbing. She seemed genuinely freaked out.
"What did the servant say?" Abella asked Bonnie again.
Bonnie replied, "The servant said the guy wanted to see Ms. Medici. She thought he meant Lola, so she brought Lola over. She didn’t stick around to see what happened next, just waited outside. After a bit, she saw Lola running out of the basement. When I went to check, the guy was already dead."
"It’s really not my fault." Lola’s tears were streaming down her face. "I don’t even know the guy. He said he was looking for another Ms. Medici, probably Abella. The servant brought the wrong person. As for the truth he mentioned and how he died, I have no clue. Aunt Bonnie, you gotta believe me. How could I possibly kill someone!"
Lola was a mess, crying her eyes out, looking totally wrecked.
Bonnie’s face was a mix of emotions. Logically, Lola didn’t have the guts to kill anyone. But the fact that the guy wanted to see Abella meant he was ready to spill the beans and let her help him start fresh.
Did he freak out after seeing Lola? Change his mind?
But if someone killed him...
The most likely suspect would be the sobbing Lola right in front of them.
"I’m heading to the basement." Abella left the study to check the body. Besides the old bruises from the beating, there were no new injuries.
After a bit, she came back to the study.
Even though it was warm inside, the study felt chilly with the dark night outside and the wind rattling the windows.
"Find anything?" Bonnie asked right away.
"No signs of a struggle or poison. His hands and feet were tied, just like before, but he did die from suffocation."
Lola started crying again, scared out of her mind. "It’s really not my fault. He said he wanted to end it himself. Could he have suffocated himself?"
Abella explained, "You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath without some external force."
At the last moment, survival instincts kick in. When someone holds their breath to the limit, the brainstem and autonomic nerves take over. Even if you want to hold your breath, your body will naturally release it to prevent death.
In simple terms, holding your breath too long makes your brain lack oxygen, causing muscle relaxation and naturally releasing the breath, not causing death.
"Could he have had some illness and just died suddenly?" Lola guessed.
"I checked. He died from mechanical asphyxia, meaning he was smothered."
Lola’s face went even paler. "It wasn’t me. I was so freaked out seeing him covered in blood that I couldn’t even move, let alone get close to him and smother him."
Abella’s expression was complicated. Logically, Lola didn’t have the guts or strength to kill an adult man, especially a killer. If the guy wanted to resist, even with his hands and feet tied, it would be easy to deal with a weak Lola.
But if it wasn’t her, could there be a traitor in the house? Or did someone sneak into the manor without being noticed?
Abella quickly dismissed that idea.
Because Lola was there too. If someone had snuck in to kill the guy, Lola wouldn’t have been spared.
Plus, Lola was still alive and crying here.
And if someone wanted to kill him, he should have struggled and resisted, but there were no signs of a struggle.
If he wanted to die, why would he want to see Abella? It seemed like he wanted to tell her the truth, not die.
What was going on?
Abella fell into deep thought.
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