"WHAT!?" Patience exclaimed. It was now she realized, looking past Julius to see Grey's unconscious body, dead?

She ran to her husband straight away, dropped to her knees, and held on to his unconscious body, screaming in tears.

The others followed behind her. Anthony and Annabelle were the last two to join them.

 

"What's going on here?" With his heart pumping fast and eyes skating all over the place, Anthony asked himself, confused by what he was looking at. He never knew he could see such faces on the Maples.

Suddenly, three out of the remaining members of the family walked in. There was Paul Penn, Candice, Julius and the twin's father, their mother Elizabeth Penn, and finally Genevieve Maple, Annabelle's mother.

They were given the gist of what was happening and while Genevieve and Elizabeth both became very emotional and fell to their knees around their parents, Paul remained stoic, quietly observing what was going down while tightening the grip of his suitcase, suspiciously.

Outside the mansion, police sirens were approaching fast and soon enough Patience stopped crying, having nothing but rage left in her heart and expression.

"WHO DID THIS?!" She yells in a thunderous voice.

Anthony looked around, shocked by everything happening in front of his eyes, and without any warning, Annabelle abandoned him too, running to comfort her mother.

One finger is all it took to destroy Anthony’s entire world and the one doing the pointing was Julius.

"I'll never mistake that bizarre silver hair color anywhere. The person who pushed Grandfather was none other than Anthony Star!" Julius said and they all glared at Anthony while at the same time rushing in were the police.

"There he is officers!" Julius said and all the officers rushed Anthony, aggressively grabbing and putting him to the floor. 

"Let go of me!" Anthony screamed, trying to force himself free but the Police hit him continuously with their batons and pushed him against the floor to stop him.

"In case you're wondering what the police are doing here, I'm the one who called them. I also called an ambulance and they should be here very soon" Julius said as they all watched Anthony being manhandled by the Police and none of them had a shred of remorse for him.

"Hey, what do you think you're—" Annabelle was just about to speak up for her husband but then her mother held on to her, implying that she doesn't do anything that goes against the general opinion of the family.

"Ahh!" Anthony was grunting in pain, the biggest officer in there had his heavy knee on his spine, trying to break it under his weight. The Officer was smiling from seeing Anthony in pain but even though he was struggling Anthony was also glaring straight at Julius.

The torment continued up to when handcuffs were being locked around his wrist and Anthony's expression quickly changed to that of someone who had gained understanding.

He was getting pulled out of the mansion when he spoke up "Wait a minute, I haven't done anything wrong. Julius is lying to all of you!"

"Why don't you shut the hell up you scumbag!" The same officer who had tried to break his spine slapped him by the back of the head and then shouted at him.

"Officer Wa-" Anthony was just about to call the officer's name when…

"WAIT!" Suddenly Patience spoke out and everyone stopped, wondering why she exclaimed.

She gently rested Grey's body on the floor, leaving his body under the care of his two daughters and granddaughter then got up and started to walk towards Anthony.

"Grandmother, please you have to believe me.  I didn’t do an—"

*SLAP*

Like an unexpected strike of lightning, Patience slapped Anthony across the face with so much force that it echoed through the entire mansion.

"??" Anthony was so shocked that his jaw dropped. The slap had caused a cut on his lower lip.

Even though he had received an uncountable number of insults and threats from Patience, this was the first time she had ever gotten physical and he remained starstruck until the Officer pulled on him.

His eyes unconsciously went above Patience's head and the shock he had dwindled immediately.

He had thought that the grief she was feeling after being lied to by Julius was what made her slap him but that initial thought he had as a means of rationalizing the slap just changed.

"You know the truth too?" Anthony mumbled with widened eyes and Patience smirked.

She said "This will teach you to know your place, dog!" then he was taken away.

He was put into the back of the police car with the officer making sure that he didn't guide his head so that it bumps into the frame of the door. He obtains a bruise there too.

While the police cars were beginning to drive away, Annabelle was finally able to break free from her mother’s grip, wanting to run towards Anthony and the police when...

"Don't you dare think about stepping a single foot from there!" Patience spoke out in a thunderous voice, stopping Annabelle in her tracks and Annabelle then turned around.

"But Grandmother, you know— you all know that Anthony isn't capable of something like this. It must be a mistake!"

"Listen to your Grandmother honey, you know you can't do anything to offend her. We know nothing about the man you decided to marry so it isn't hard to believe that he could do this. If your cousin said he did then he did" Genevieve said with her eyes almost as red as her perfectly applied lipstick

"But mother!"

While Annabelle and her mother argued, Patience walked up to Annabelle, stopped, then out of nowhere slapped her across the face too.

Next, she leaned towards a shocked Annabelle’s ear and whispered "I told you that there'll be consequences for disobeying me earlier didn't I? So, don't think about moving from here or disobeying me ever again, else I'll make sure Anthony disappears from the world, permanently, understand?" Patience threatened then walked back to Grey.

None of them expressed any sympathy for Annabelle, not even her mother who looked more desperate for her own mother's validation than wanting to help her daughter who was about to cry.

Meanwhile, Anthony was taken to the Polaris City Police Headquarters for processing and then thrown into a holding cell where all he could do was think about how he got here.

“Those bastards framed me. First, they falsely accused me of r*pe, and now this?! How low will they go?” He got mad, fists clenched, and punched the wall.

“Fuck trying to spare them, I'll have my revenge on everyone single one of them once I get out of here, that I promise—'

Just then he heard the cell door being unlocked and then the voice of the Officer who dragged him here from the Maple family mansion speaking to him on his release