Chapter 42 - Reason To Kill

"Wait… kill…?" Angelica muttered with a confused and anxious look on her face.

"..."

"Why kill? And didn't you say you killed him accidentally, so why do you want to kill him purposely now?!

"In my past life, after mom remarried, the house became lively, but it was only for a few days," Rudy recalled. "Since everyone was busy with their life, they didn't have time to do the family stuff."

"I already told you about mom and Joe's schedule. And as for Lucy, she spent her weekends at her friend's house, and I spent weekends at Eric's house. So sometimes, it was only mom and Paul in the house," Rudy stated.

"Wait… don't tell me…" Angelica realized where the story was going. "He did… something to your mother…?"

"He would have if I hadn't caught him," Rudy asserted with his voice full of anger. He clenched his fists and continued, "One weekend, I forgot my assignment at my house, so Eric brought me over to my house on his motorbike. And there… I saw it…"

"Saw… what…?"

"So we renovated the house and installed a backdoor since we used to go in and out at unusual times. And the backdoor was connected to the kitchen. Of course, it was locked, and I had ket with me." Rudy stated with an awkward smile. "So when Eric dropped me off, it was already middle of the night— around 2 AM."

"Why did you want the assignment at 2 AM?" Angelica asked with a baffled look on her face.

"I was a nerd in my past life, and we had exams going on at that time. So Eric and I were studying up late," Rudy responded with a soft scoff.

"Now back to the topic…" Rudy took a deep breath and continued, "So I opened the back door and went to my room to grab the assignment. Mom was supposed to have a night shift, so I didn't care to confirm it. But just as I was about to leave the house, I heard a whimper coming from mom's room."

"...!" Angelica could guess where that was going, and she knew it didn't end up well.

"At first, I thought it was a cat since Lucy had adopted an injured cat she had found. So I shrugged off that sound and met up with Eric, who was waiting for me outside." After a brief pause, Rudy said, "Then, Eric said he was thirsty, so I went back in and grabbed the water bottle from the fridge. That's when I realized something was wrong."

"What… do you mean…? Was there something in the refrigerator that gave you a clue that something was wrong?!" Angelica gasped in realization.

"Not exactly, but yes." Rudy nodded. "The fridge door was opened. It wasn't shut completely."

"How does that prove anything…?"

"Umm… did I say that Paul didn't live at our house?" Rudy asked with a confused look on his face.

Angelica shook her head and said, "No."

"Okay, so remember that." Rudy cleared his throat and said, "Think about it. Mom had the night shift, Lucy was at her friend's house, I was with Eric, and Joe was on a business trip."

Angelica pondered for a while and said, "If no one was home, how was the refrigerator door opened…"

"Exactly!"

"But maybe the last person who opened the fridge left it open?" Angelica wondered and looked at Rudy.

"..."

"The last person was you, wasn't it?" Angelica sighed.

"Yup."

"So, what did you do then?" Angelica asked curiously.

"I was sure that someone was in the house. It wasn't Lucy because I didn't see her in my room. It wasn't Joe either because I had phone-called him a few hours ago. So the only possibility was mom."

Rudy gritted his teeth and said, "I slowly made my way to mom's room and saw Paul crawling on mom's bed with a napkin in his hand."

"...he was trying to knock her unconscious?"

"It was dark, and mom was sleeping. But that was weird since mom can't sleep with all the lights off. Even when we had no electricity, mom used a battery lamp in her room to sleep," Rudy asserted.

"I tried to call Paul out since I assumed he must have wanted something, or maybe wasn't aware that Joe was on a trip and came to wake him up. But…" Rudy furrowed his brows and muttered, "I am glad I didn't."

"What did you do then…?" Angelica asked.

"I didn't call him because I didn't want to make noise that could wake mom up. So instead, I decided to approach him, but I realized Paul's intentions when I saw the napkin drenched with chloroform in his hand. It smelled so bad that I could smell it even when I was three feet away from him."

Rudy shrugged his shoulders and said, "So I grabbed his hand and punched him to stop him, but being an unathletic person, my punch didn't do anything to him. Then, he punched me on the face and broke my teeth and nose."

"...ouch…" Angelica yelped. Angelica could relate to the pain Rudy would have felt. And since she lived in Rudy's body and experienced all his pain and emotions, she imagined what it would feel like to get punched like that.

"Not going to lie, that was a critical hit. I started seeing stars, and I almost passed out," Rudy sighed in disbelief. "I was a pathetic weak-ass…"

It was as though Rudy was weak. Sure, his punch didn't have any effect on Paul at that time because Paul was a study build man who could easily handle four adults at once in hand combat.

"What happened then…?"

"Eric came to check up on me since I didn't bring the water bottle. And he saw Paul punching me," Rudy snorted and continued, "And just like a true brother, Eric grabbed Paul from his collar and dragged him out of the house."

However, Eric was the same. He was the school's sports champion and had a record in almost all combat sports.

"Yay!" Angelica jumped in joy.

"There is more." Rudy exhaled sharply and continued, "I ran after Eric, only to see him passed out on the ground."

"...!"

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Author's Note- 2 chapters for reaching power stones goal, and 1 more chapter for reading 300 golden tickets. I will post 3 or possibly 4 chapters tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Thanks, @ubixxx, and @Trolly1206, for the gift!

1000 power stones - 1 chapter.

1500 power stone- 2 chapters.