Chapter 85: The Truth behind The Betrayal
Without delaying any further, Eric dragged Blake right out of the room. Naturally, the girls moved aside and immediately followed closely behind. Once they were outside in the quiet hospital corridor, Eric threw Blake onto an empty chair directly in line with the ICU door. He then sat down right next to Blake and gripped his shoulder, squeezing it tightly.
"Ow... don’t be so rough, man," Blake groaned.
"So here’s the deal—I don’t give a damn about you or what you did to me back then. Right now, all I care about is this: you better go report to the hospital administration and change Melissa’s emergency contact to your own number. Since you’re her boyfriend, you’re the one who needs to take responsibility for her, so keep me out of it. Got it?" Eric said, his voice calm, cold, and utterly firm.
Hearing Eric’s words, Blake snapped his head around to look at Eric’s face. He looked completely bewildered, utterly failing to understand what Eric was talking about.
"Hold on a second. Are you saying Melissa listed your number as her emergency contact?" Blake asked in shock.
"Yeah. That’s why you, as her boyfriend, should be the emergency contact, not me," Eric answered, calm and cold.
Blake stared into Eric’s eyes, and his expression instantly twisted like he wanted to laugh, until finally, "Hahaha," he actually burst out laughing. It left Eric completely confused. Once Blake finished laughing, he looked at Eric with a smirk.
"You really have been an idiot since day one, haven’t you? You seriously haven’t changed at all, even if you look handsome and sharp now... what makes you think Melissa and I are dating? Because of that video of us being intimate?" Blake asked, smiling.
"Well... what else would it be?" Eric asked, puzzled.
"Hahaha... you’re unbelievable. Fine... since you’ve already been kicked out anyway, I’ll tell you what the deal is between Melissa and me. Let go of my shoulder first, then I’ll talk. You want to know what actually happened, don’t you?" Blake replied.
Hearing Blake’s response, Eric let go of his shoulder. Blake immediately rolled his shoulder out, and his face suddenly turned serious.
"Melissa and I... we’re step-siblings. Melissa’s mom and my dad got married back when Melissa was 17 and I was 15... so even though she and I aren’t related by blood, I look at her as my older sister. There’s no way I’d mess around with her, let alone date her," Blake explained, staring at the chairs across the hallway.
"Wait... but weren’t you the guy in that video? And didn’t you visit her apartment all the time?" Eric asked, completely caught off guard.
"You still don’t get it, do you? All of that was staged and edited. None of it was real. It’s just that the honorable Mr. Martin Watts and his high-society family are a bunch of complete fools, so they kicked you out," Blake answered.
Eric gasped in sheer disbelief, never imagining that he had been cast out all because of a drama that never actually happened. Even though his blood was starting to boil, he forced himself to stay calm. He pulled out his smartphone and texted Chloe, who read it immediately; a moment later, she stepped away from Eric and the other girls to make a phone call. Eric then turned his attention back to Blake.
"So... that video was just a joke to you guys? Do you have any idea what the consequences were for me?" Eric asked, furious.
"Sorry, man. Initially, we just wanted to make you a scapegoat so we could pull you out of the situation, but unfortunately... you ended up getting kicked out on the spot like that... that’s why Melissa called you back then, remember? And since you were hot-headed, she deliberately riled you up so you would leave the city. And hey... I was just helping out, so don’t get mad at me, it was all Melissa’s idea," Blake said.
"Seriously? Why on earth would she go that far?" Eric asked.
"Because... how should I put this... I need you to chill out when you hear it," Blake replied, turning to look at Eric.
"Just tell me... it’s fine," Eric answered, bracing himself.
Blake looked at Eric, also noticing the five girls gathered closely right behind Eric, crowding together to listen while shooting absolute death glares at him. Blake let out a sigh and began to explain.
Melissa had been plotting to destroy Eric’s family for seven or eight months, starting the exact moment she discovered Jason was sleeping with Vivian, especially since both her mother and father knew about it but did nothing and just stayed silent.
She didn’t get angry or immediately confront Jason. Instead, she quietly gathered evidence so Jason would be completely cornered when she finally called it off at their wedding reception.
But three months before the wedding, Melissa’s plan suddenly shifted. She decided to take the fall herself and frame Eric instead, aiming to make him leave with her. Her reason was simple: during her time as Jason’s girlfriend while living in his family home, she saw exactly how Jason treated Eric, acting nice to his face but constantly stabbing him in the back.
It was the same story with Vivian. Jason hadn’t gotten close to Vivian because he loved her, but because Vivian loved Eric, and Jason refused to let Eric have anything good in his life.
Melissa couldn’t stand seeing Eric treated that way, especially with his entire family knowing about Vivian’s secret fling with Jason and actively supporting it. That was why Melissa created that video with Blake acting as her stunt double, framing Eric for everything.
Aside from targeting Jason, she also wanted to test the true colors of Eric’s father, Martin Watts, and his mother, Vanessa Brown, because it was glaringly obvious they favored Jason and Ruby over Eric. And just as Melissa predicted, the moment that video started circulating, they kicked Eric out without even questioning whether it was true or not.
Once Blake finished explaining everything, he turned to see Emma, Priya, Monica, Heidi, and Laura crowded behind Eric. They looked absolutely furious, not at him or Melissa, but at Eric’s former family.
But when Blake looked back at Eric, he was shocked to see that Eric’s face was completely blank, as if the story he had just told didn’t matter to him at all. Even so, he still had to ask.
"Are you okay?" Blake asked, completely bewildered.
"Hmm... yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?" Eric countered, crossing his arms over his chest.
Emma, Priya, Monica, Heidi, and Laura immediately turned to study Eric’s face, which seemed perfectly calm. They were just as shocked to see that Eric was completely unaffected. Then, Eric spoke up.
"And then?" Eric asked casually, leaving everyone utterly confused.
"You’re seriously okay, right, man?" Blake asked once more, completely driven by curiosity.
"I’m fine. How many times do I have to explain it to you?" Eric replied.
"Don’t tell me you already knew that Vivian, the girl you thought was so pure and sweet, had been cheating on you and sleeping with Jason for over a year?" Blake asked, still trying to dig deeper because he was completely baffled by how calm Eric was.
"Hmm... that actually makes a lot of sense. There were a few times I wondered why she asked Jason for a ride during group projects, or why she suddenly couldn’t come over to my place right when Jason happened to be heading out... there were plenty of red flags I ignored because I loved her back then," Eric said casually. He spoke completely without burden, as if he were simply commenting on a sunny day.
"So... you actually had absolutely no idea about any of this before?" Blake asked.
"Hmm... you could say that. Even though I felt something in my gut, I only just found out the whole truth from you right now," Eric replied casually.
Hearing Eric’s words, a dead silence fell over the group. The girls kept scanning Eric’s face, and Blake just stared at him without blinking. It seemed like they were all waiting for some sort of crack in his expression or a sudden outburst.
"Are you really okay?" Emma asked, placing a hand on Eric’s shoulder. Her face was a picture of pure anxiety.
"Good grief. I already said I’m fine. How else am I supposed to explain it?" Eric answered, placing his hand over Emma’s on his shoulder.
"Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d be absolutely losing it, crying my eyes out, and I’d probably kill anyone who hurt me like that," Blake said, comparing Eric to how he would react.
"Ha... what’s the point? Look, let me tell you something, all of that is behind me now. Even though I only just found out today that Vivian had been cheating on me with Jason for a long time and that Jason was the one stabbing me in the back, it means absolutely nothing to me anymore. I don’t even have the energy to care about any of it. I have much more important things to worry about," Eric said casually, leaning back.
"Really? Like what, for instance?" Blake asked, completely intrigued.
Before Eric could even answer, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor. Eric turned around, and the girls did the same, while Blake craned his neck to peer down the hallway. Blake’s eyes instantly went wide and all the color drained from his face as he saw Chloe walking toward them alongside Katie, Norman, and two police officers.
Suddenly, Eric grabbed Blake’s shoulder.
"Well, there’s your example. I need a statement from you regarding your beloved older step-sister who’s lying inside, because it looks like you know exactly why and for what purpose she infiltrated my and Chloe’s company. That’s a lot more important than dealing with Jason and Vivian, got it?" Eric said, his voice dropping back into a cold, heavy tone as he stared Blake down with a chilling smile.
He then showed Blake the text message he had sent to Chloe’s smartphone, instructing her to call everyone over the moment he pinned Blake down. He had sent that text right when he uncovered the true nature of Blake and Melissa’s relationship. Blake read the entire message and glared up at Eric, who just kept right on smirking.
"You still have a big mouth and loud... looks like neither of us has changed after all," Eric said, lightly patting Blake’s cheek.
