A Matter of Wife and Love
Chapter 296

Chapter 296 Elyse's Comeuppance

"Listen up, Elyse, and your entire family too." Leo's voice was still and unemotional. "This is the last time I'll answer a call from you. I won't ask for the money you tricked me into giving you, but you will need to suffer the consequences of your actions. The lawyer will get in touch with you soon. You can get into the details with him."

"Leo!" Elyse cried out once more as her face turned ghostly pale. She couldn't resign herself to this.

All she got in reply was a dial tone.

He ended the call!

"What happened?" Michael quickly asked when he noticed Elyse standing there motionlessly with a strange expression on her face.

The phone slipped out of Elyse's hand and clattered on the floor. Elyse looked defeated.

"What on earth is going on? Hurry up and tell me!" Michael urged when he realized that things weren't going the way he had hoped. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Michael eyed Elyse for a moment before rushing over to get the door.

A stranger was standing outside.

Michael scrutinized the man with his beady eyes and asked, "Who are you? Did you come to the wrong address?"

"I'm Mr. Alston's lawyer. I'm here to see Michael and Elyse Clayton," the man answered. "You must be Michael Clayton."

"L-Lawyer?" Michael instinctively took a step back when he heard that this man was a lawyer.

The lawyer walked into the house and saw a clueless Ellen and an ashen-faced Elyse.

He nodded and said, "I suppose Mr. Alston has told you why I'm here, Miss Clayton."

He deftly opened up his briefcase and took out a stack of paper.

"This is the evidence of your attempts to trick Mr. Alston. The truth is that Miss Ellen Clayton and Mr. Alston never had any contact before. You misled him on purpose to make him think that Ellen Clayton was Big Eyes. In the eyes of the law, this counts as fraud."

"What?"

Michael was scared out of his wits.

His beady eyes were frozen as he gaped in shock.

Ellen's eyes were flickering wildly too, and her legs went numb.

Everything has been exposed just like that? How did it get exposed? What went wrong?

Elyse and Michael stared at each other, but they couldn't figure out where they had gone wrong.

All at once, Elyse snatched the so-called evidence and flipped through everything.

It was an investigation report which clearly stated that Ellen never stopped foot inside Leo's room during his time at the hospital. She never even said a single word to him.

"That's impossible! This evidence is false!" Elyse shrieked. "My sister kept a diary which contains a clear record of every single detail of their interactions! Leo confirmed the contents of the diary himself." "Yes! That's right!" Michael backed Elyse up.

"If my Elie never stayed at the hospital in Quinn Town and never spoke to Mr. Alston, then how do you explain the diary? If you people look down on Elie because she's mentally unwell and don't want her around, then just come out and say so. How can you come up with these things to slander her? That's too reprehensible of you."

Michael looked every bit the part of an indignant man demanding justice. His beady eyes were large and round.

"Speak up, Ellen. Tell us whether or not you saw Leo." Elyse shoved Ellen forward.

Ellen pouted with an aggrieved look on her face. Her eyes were reddened as tears pooled in them.

"I was the one with Leo. I'm his Big Eyes. He likes me so much. We made a promise! How could he..." Ellen's tears streamed down her face.

She looked so pitiful that other people's hearts would ache for her.

However, the lawyer simply smirked when he saw this. He took out another set of documents. "This is the report from the mental hospital which confirms that Miss Ellen Clayton has a paranoid disorder. She took the interactions she saw between Mr. Alston and someone else and made them her own. She created a wonderful fairytale in her head with herself as the subject, and she recorded everything in her diary. Also, our investigations have proven that although Miss Ellen Clayton never spoke to Mr. Alston, she was constantly hiding in the dark and spying on him. We have found a witness who has given a statement that verifies this."

"What..."

The lawyer's evidence was irrefutable. Michael and Elyse were stunned into silence.

"Everything happened because there's something wrong with her and she misled us. We're the victims too!" Fraud was a crime that carried a serious penalty. They would have to serve a prison sentence. I'm already in serious trouble because of the fraudulent contracts. If I get taken to court over this too, I'm doomed!

Elyse knew full well that her situation would be unsalvageable if she admitted to this!

I need to turn things around! I want to continue my life of glory! I can't let this affect me!

Michael nodded in agreement. "Yes! That's right! I didn't know it wasn't true. Her diary was so detailed. I really thought... Thank goodness you brought the evidence that proved it was all a lie, or else, we'd still be kept in the dark."

He even took the lawyer's hand before continuing, "Mr. Lawyer, please talk to Mr. Alston and tell him that we were tricked too, so that's why... Here, how's this? I'll take Elie to him and make her apologize in person, so let's... put a stop to the lawsuit against us."

"Exactly. We wouldn't have done anything if we knew the contents of the diary weren't true." Elyse cupped her hands and stared apologetically at the lawyer. Her act looked quite believable.

Seeing as how the two were still trying to put on a show for him, the lawyer cleared his throat perfunctorily and said, "If you wish to prove your innocence, why not do it in court? However, let me remind you that Mr. Alston doesn't like being tricked. If you confess now, he might consider showing you leniency, but if you refuse to admit what you've done, then knowing his personality, he won't show any mercy." The lawyer nodded and left.

"That's..."

Michael and Elyse stared at each other with stupefied gazes.

"This... What..." Michael slammed his hand against his forehead and cried out, "We're doomed! We're done for! I wanted to use this to live a life of luxury, but not only have I not enjoyed any of it yet, but I'll be going to prison soon enough."

He bawled his eyes out as he slapped himself on the thigh. He was filled with regret and reluctance to accept his fate.

I had everything right here in the palm of my hand! How could it disappear just like that? How am I supposed to accept this? Elyse was frozen like a statue.

Initially, she thought that even if she lost everything, with Ellen around as her insurance, she would still be able to live comfortably. Yet, in the blink of an eye, all her hopes were dashed.

It was an exhilarating ride to go from having nothing to having everything.

Alas, going from having everything to nothing was torture.

"It's your fault! It's all your fault!" Elyse had no other outlet to vent, so she began punching and kicking Ellen.

Her pointy heels stabbed into Ellen's leg. The pain was so excruciating that Ellen shrieked in agony.

Ellen tried to move away, but Elyse held her in a death grip and refused to let go.

Elyse was taking her anger out by kicking with full force every time.

Ellen's screams became even more desperate.

The more Ellen screamed, the harder Elyse kicked. "I had everything planned! You're the one who didn't know how to make full use of the opportunity. You must've said something to Leo that gave things away and made him suspicious. That has to be why he investigated everything. Why should we keep you around, you useless creature? You might as well die on the streets somewhere!"

Ellen couldn't avoid the attacks. She could only curl herself up and shield her head with her arms as she cried out, "I didn't! I didn't give anything away! I didn't!"

"That's enough. Stop hitting her." Michael finally came back to his senses and stopped Elyse. "Didn't you hear what the lawyer said? She has a paranoid disorder and truly believes that she experienced all those things. How could she have given anything away?"

At last, Elyse stopped kicking Ellen, but her expression was still as stormy as ever. She felt like punching the wall.

"Now that it has come to be this, am I really going to go to prison?" Elyse began quivering at the thought of being locked up in a cold, terrifying prison.