"..." Thinking back for a few moments, Christian actually realized that he neglected his mother since their projects began, instantly making him feel bad.
Stopping resisting, Christian turned his gaze to his mother and blinked repeatedly at her pursed lips, then smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the lips "I'll always love mom, even when I'm doing other things I think of mom."
Smiling sweetly at her, Christian lay down on top of Eva, resting his head on her neck, leaving the woman with a flicker of daze.
But reacting, Eva hugged the boy even tighter and giggled happily "My boy is so adorable, hahaha!"
Sharing each other's warmth for a few moments, Eva murmurs "Sing to me, you've never sung to me..."
"What do you want me to sing to you?"
"What you sang at the event, it was very nice" Eva whispers sleepily.
Rising gently from the couch, Christian lifts his mother's head a little and sits up, letting his head rest on her thighs, then stroking her long hair and singing softly to her, while smiling softly as he watched his mother slowly fall asleep.
Caressing the sleeping woman's face, Christian whispered "Rest mom..."
...
The next day Eva woke up early on the couch, and the first thing she saw was her sleeping child sitting up, while a peaceful expression was visible on her face.
Getting up carefully so as not to wake him, Eva stretched and yawned, then turned her head and smiled softly.
Caressing the boy's soft face, Eva just looked at him for a few seconds, remembering everything that happened in the night, especially the chant "I don't know why I didn't ask him before..."
Gently picking Christian up, Eva lays him down carefully on the couch, then walking to her room and returning with a blanket, placing it carefully over Christian.
Kissing her boy's forehead, Eva yawns again and looks at the time "9 am still, Christian should wake up in an hour as usual, I'll prepare breakfast."
Grabbing the remote control, Eva turned on the TV and lowered the volume so as not to wake Christian, changing the channel directly to the morning news.
Opening the refrigerator, Eva took out 8 eggs and started cooking, while the news played in the background.
"Investigation is launched towards the hotel chain called 'Evans Hotels Group' based in california for influence peddling, bribery, tax evasion and murder threats towards competitors, all due to a large data leak and private calls within multiple forums."
"Holy shit, they sure are screwed" Eva whispered, stewing quietly.
"The leak was uploaded yesterday, and the authorities have not been slow to start the investigation, the author of these files is still unknown, but due to video recordings with the heiress of the group as the protagonist, the authenticity of the leaked files seems to be real, we will be reporting any developments on the investigation during the next few days"
"..." Not caring, Eva continued with her cooking, as the news continued to talk about different cases.
Slowly opening his eyes, Christian stared dazedly at the ceiling, then yawned and stretched.
Sitting up the couch, Christian looked around and found his mother cooking, bringing out a smile in him.
"Hi Mom!" exclaimed Christian happily, looking with a soft smile at the woman in the kitchen.
"You're up early" Smiled Eva, as she put the water on to boil.
"Mn" Christian nodded, turning his gaze to the television.
Grabbing the blanket, Christian wrapped it around his body from the cold atmosphere and just relaxed as he watched the news.
"In other news, Manhattan DA's motion on the Jossey Epstein case is denied and subsequently challenged by the judge"
"..." Squinting, Christian frowned deeply.
"For those who didn't know about this famous woman's case in 2010, it carried multiple allegations of harassment and solicitation of prostitution of minors, ending with a 20 month prison sentence to then spend her last 8 months under house arrest in her primary home"
"..."
"Along with the conviction, Jossey was determined to be added as a three plea sex offender, but the prosecutor attempted to downgrade that determination to a level one, failing in the process"
After those words, the news vaguely shifted to another topic, but Christian frowns more and more.
"Why of all people, did that bastard's existence have to come into this world?" muttering inaudibly, Christian looked at the television with disgust in his eyes "If everything goes on as normal, that bastard was never in jail, let alone stopped doing his aberrant shit.... While the government was leaving all its citizens looking stupid."
Clenching his fists, Christian bit his lips "But what can I do? Getting into that shit is beyond stupid... those people are connected, the shit would fall on me with potential danger to my family"
"But..." Clenching his fists even tighter, Christian muttered with difficulty "I really won't do anything while children suffer under the hands of those monsters?"
"I could get legal data if I infiltrate the systems, but it's no use leaking any data, Google gives silent cancellations to all these issues, I could also upload it to Tor, but they wouldn't take seriously words coming out of those shady portals."
While getting into these topics is dangerous, Christian as a normal person with a conscience and empathy, he can't swallow the information he has quietly.
Even when he found out about this topic in his past life, the fury inside him was so much that he ended up flipping over his desk where his computer was, even more was his fury when he found out that the bastard and his 'friend' 'committed suicide', taking all the names of the other bastards to hell and letting them enjoy impunity.
That's when Christian discovered the issue that angered him the most, every time a child is the victim of something inhumane, the rage inside him grew to such an extent, that many times he couldn't calm down without unleashing hours of punches to his punching bag. He himself does not know the cause of his extreme fury in these cases, since, in similar cases, for example, the murder of a woman, also caused him fury, but not to the point of feeling that his whole stomach contracted because he could not unload it as it happens in cases of children.
"Damn!" Losing his cool, Christian stood up in fury, recalling over and over again everything he read and saw about the Epstein case, while the repercussions of talking about it all went quickly through his head.
"Did something happen?" with concern, Eva approached the boy quickly.
"Mom..." Clenching his fists tightly, Christian looked with conflicted feelings at his mother.
'It doesn't matter if I hire guards, there is always the possibility that they will kill someone, a random person can walk by with a gun next to you and that's it, a car accident, fire in our house... it's impossible to 100% assure your life' Biting his lips, Christian thought of all his possibilities, but it always ended with the same result, the same one being dead or worse, his family is dead.
"Tell me what's wrong my boy, mommy hears you" Smiling softly, Eva bent down to Christian's level and whispered.
Watching his mother's loving eyes, Christian bit his lips and shook his head with a stiff smile "Nothing... everything's fine, I just stubbed my toe on the couch."
"Good..." Eva nodded hesitantly, then sniffed and opened her eyes wide "Oh no, the eggs."
With his mother running into the kitchen, Christian looked at her with complicated emotions and mumbled "I...I'm sorry...I can't talk or research on this topic"
Feeling his feet heavier, Christian shuffled over to the couch and sat down, quickly changing the channel and putting on something distracting.
Thus, in just 1 minute, Christian made the decision to remain silent, having simulated in his mind multiple alternatives, but none ended with his family's health intact.
The day went by relatively normally, Eva just rested and watched TV, Alan was on his own, and Hailie, as usual, played all day. But Christian could not manage to lead his life normally, he felt a sense of disgust towards himself, and at the same time a great impotence inside him, unable to forget this whole situation and what may now be happening on that shitty island.
...
November 12, 2011.
Looking out his window towards the sunrise, Christian sighed "I haven't slept for 2 days..."
His conscience was killing him, no matter what he tried to do, he could never forget the Epstein case, let alone manage to forget what must be happening right now while he was in the tranquility of his home.
The lack of tranquility and emotional conflicts led Christian into one of his worst states. Five days ago he stopped sleeping his 10 hours a day, while two days ago he stopped sleeping completely, while his brain kept repeating over and over again the testimonies he heard in the documentary of this case.
Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were reddened and large dark circles were visible on her face, while her skin was incredibly pale and with a sickly complexion, causing her appearance to cause concern among those close to her.
Raising his hand to his face, Christian sighed again "I don't have the energy for anything... maybe I'll just stay in bed today."
"..."
But as he looked down the street with dead eyes, a voice reached his ear "Do it..."
Opening his eyes wide, Christian turned and looked back, finding the room completely empty.
"You'll regret it..." Again the voice was heard in his ear, causing his brow to furrow "Have the hallucinations started already?"
The voice seemed to be feminine and sweet, but the creepy thing was that the voice was the same one he heard in his 'dream' "Follow.... your instinct."
Closing his eyes for a moment, Christian took a deep breath, taking it all in as his tiredness and stress playing tricks on him.
"You'll regret it... if you don't" Whispered the unfamiliar voice again.
Opening his eyes, Christian sighed and laughed wearily "I'm going crazy, my conscience is talking to me... hahaha"
"..." Tightening his hair in frustration, Christian got up and laid down on his bed and then covered his face with his sheets.
"Mom's watching you~" Murmured the voice suddenly, causing Christian to wake up with a start as he remembered the mother from his dream.
"It's you!?" Christian asked excitedly, turning his head every which way looking for the hands he somehow missed so much.
"..."
But to his frustration, only silence greeted him.
"I'm such an idiot" With a bitter smile, Christian lay back down, staring dazedly up at the ceiling.
"Mom's watching you..." Christian murmured, then brought his hand to his face and sighed "Following my instinct huh..."
"What is instinct? Is it something I should feel? My inner voice? Premotions? What my heart says? According to the official definition it is something that comes from within, something irrational that leads us to react in a certain way... my particular hatred of cases with children is part of my instinct?"
"..."
"That jealousy I feel is also my instincts? Or is it just my illusory self that disturbs my feelings?"
"..."
"What do I really want to do?" Raising his hand, Christian looked at his palm "I don't want those bastards to be free... my blood still flows with fury, somehow I feel it."
"But I also want to take care of my family... which of these two feelings are part of my instinct? My instinct for justice? My protective instinct? Do those kinds of instincts even exist?"
"Just follow your heart~" He whispered the voice again, bringing out a smile in Christian "I knew you were still there, haha."
"..."
"What are you? Why don't I feel discomfort when you say you're my mother? My mother is Eva, I love her very much"
"..."
"Won't you answer me? Do you also see me when I take a shower? You know that's kind of weird, don't you?"
"..."
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Edited By: Lord_Shiva_
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om