Chapter Seven
Author: Manesa
last update2025-07-09 19:38:35

Eli!!!, – why isn’t my toilet washed and why are you still holding that damn key. Selva asked, walking into the kitchen and snatching the key from his hands. 

“Didn’t you play when you were little?” Now you are actually acting dramas and creating scenarios in your head?”

“I am so sorry, the toilet totally slipped my mind, – I just thought you would be hungry, so I decided to prepare lunch now. I also wanted Elara to have something to eat when she gets home, – please can I have the key back.” Eli responded, dropping the bowl he had just sieved down, stretching his hands to retrieve his key from Selva’s hands.

“Don’t you dare touch me with those filthy hands, and I need you to stay 5 meters away from me. – Hope you watched those hands properly before thinking of touching our meal. Selva spoke, taking further steps away from Eli.

“That key really shouldn’t be in your hands, Mrs Morreau.” Eli said, his voice cold making Selva to flinch in fear involuntarily. “It’s too disgusting, and a proper lady shouldn’t be holding on to garbage like that. When I am done here, I will dispose of the key properly, away from your lovely eyes.” Eli continued, his tone going back to its usual submissive and obedient self.

“Yes, Yes, you are definitely right, — for once, I can agree with you on something.” Selva responded, her normal cocky and arrogant face shining as she threw the key on the ground.

“Hope you don’t mind that I threw it on the ground, but you should know your dirty self, shouldn’t come close to my esteemed self.” Selva added.

“Too bad your daughter loves coming in contact with me.” Eli muttered under his breath as he went down on his knees to pick the key Selva had just thrown.

Selva stared smugly at Eli’s bent head, when she heard the words Eli had spoken.

“What did you say?”

Eli froze, not daring to repeat what he had just said, it hadn’t been his intention for Selva to hear him, so when she had asked him to repeat his statement ,he froze, thinking of a lie he could come up with that would pacify her. He knew if he were to repeat what  he had said, Selva would find something to complain about to Elara, and that was going to break Elara’s heart, something he didn’t want to see happening.

“I thought so, I knew there was no way in your right senses, you would be able to talk to me from below. Selva spoke, pleased that Eli did not have the courage to repeat his words. 

Seeing no further way to bully Eli, she stomped her feet and left the kitchen in anger, not forgetting to remind him about the toilet he still had to wash.

Eli stared at Selva’s retreating figure, breathing out in relief, he brought out the key he had placed in his pocket, hoping and wishing that it would lead it out of this miserable life as he stared at it, but he immediately moved the thought out of his mind, who was he kidding, he had been poor and an orphan for the most part of his life, why did he think a key and a letter was going to suddenly change his life.

“Where are you going?” Selva turned her head from the series she was watching to face Eli that was about stepping out the house.

“Going to look for some manual jobs, I can take on. I don’t feel comfortable sitting around while Elara isn’t around.” Eli, responded, saying half the truth, he really didn’t want to be home doing nothing while Elara was probably out, discussing business ideas with her grandma, but he wasn’t going to look for manual jobs, he was planning to go to his fosters homes and see if he could find any information about the key that sat in his pocket. He had tried it on all his belongings that he had brought with him, also on the household materials and appliances while Selva hadn’t been paying attention, but it didn’t seem to fit.

“Are you done with the meal you were to prepare?” Selva asked, not willing to let Eli out of her sight.

“Yes Selva.” Eli responded, already unbolting the door.

“Did you remember to wash my toilet?” Selva asked again, turning her attention back to her Tv.

“Yes,--- I would be back late incase Elara asks for me when she comes home.” Eli responded, leaving immediately before Selva could think of more tasks to give him.

Eli’s first stop was the home he had been moved to in his teenage years, but after thorough search and hostile reception from his foster parents and siblings, he decided to leave. 

Not having much hope, he decides to pay the parents he thought were his birth parents all his life of growing up, till he had turned sixteen a visit.

“Eli!!!. – we didn’t think we would see you again.” Evelyn Hart, Eli’s foster Mom, squealed from the doorway as she stared at Eli, trying hard to conceal her shock as she stared at the son she thought she had lost forever. 

“Come in, – come in.” “Why are you breathing so much?” Evelyn asked, ushering Eli in.

Eli had also answered the surname Hart, till he found out that Evelyn and Franklin Hart were not his real parents, so he had decided to stick with his own surname, not after some interrogations from him.

“Where have you been , where did you run off to?, – don’t you know you made mommy worry” Evelyn inquired, looking at Eli as she checked his body for injuries.

“I couldn’t accept the fact that I was an orphan, so I had gone in search for my real parents, somehow I ended up in an orphanage, and I got adopted again, I am sorry for making you worry, but I just couldn’t gather enough courage to face you people after I had run away and I thought it would be best if I didn’t come back.” Eli replied, looking at the one woman that hadn’t treated him cruelly as tears pulled in his eyes.

“Eli…, you would always be my son, and this home is always open to you, – your father isn’t home now, but I am certain he would be excited to see you again.” Evelyn responded, pulling him in for a hug, she didn’t question why he had shown up today after all these years, she was merely happy to see him.

“Would you mind if  I stayed for a while?” Eli asked, stepping fully into the house, the floorboard squeaking under his feet. His mind raced as he thought of how he would tell his Mom that he was married and that he was here because of a key he had picked on the road.

Continue to read this book for free
Scan the code to download the app

Latest Chapter

  • Chapter Fifty-Eight

    The days that followed blurred into one another. Eli moved from one Aurelius branch to the next — New York, then Dubai, then Boston — shaking hands, listening, promising stability he wasn’t sure he still believed in. Each office carried the same nervous energy: board members whispering about market shifts, mid-level managers trying to sound loyal, and the occasional journalist lingering outside the lobbies, waiting for a quote he’d never give.By the time he returned to his suite at the Aurelius headquarters tower, because he was still haunted by Elara’s ghost anytime he went home, the fatigue had eaten deep into his bones. He loosened his tie, checked his phone, and sank into the couch. The skyline stretched beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. For a few quiet minutes, he allowed himself to breathe.Then came the knock. Two short, one long — deliberate.When he opened the door, the hotel concierge stood there holding a black envelope sealed with a silver insignia.“Delivered for yo

  • Chapter Fifty- seven

    The hotel room was quiet when Eli walked in, a deliberate kind of quiet, one that threatened to swallow him. He dropped his bag on the couch and loosened the collar of his shirt, the faint hum of the air conditioner filling the emptiness. The city lights glimmered through the window — small, distant fires flickering beneath a fading sky.He took one last look at the letter still folded in his hand. The paper had grown warm from being pressed in his pocket, like it had absorbed the heat of his thoughts. He didn’t open it again. He already knew every word by heart.When his phone vibrated, the sound felt intrusive — sharp against the stillness that his brain had gotten used to.He checked the screen. Karim.Eli exhaled quietly and answered. “Talk to me.”Karim’s voice came low but urgent, static crackling faintly behind him. “Eli, I just got an update from the guy I assigned to track Elara. You might want to sit for this.”Eli moved to the desk, leaning against it. “Go on.”“They thi

  • Chapter Fifty - six

    The flight to Japan was long and silent. Eli spent most of it reading his father’s old notes on the tablet, trying to make sense of the fragmented philosophies Leonhart had left behind — pages about consciousness, legacy, and something he kept calling continuity through code.By the time he reached Kyoto, the sun had started to set, casting a golden haze across the city. The coordinates Selene sent led him away from the crowds, up narrow roads that curved into the hills. When he arrived, the address didn’t look like any of the other Aurelius estates he’d seen.A single gate stood before him — smooth black metal, no guards, no cameras, nothing. Just an emblem etched at its center: two thin circles intersecting inside a larger ring.He paused, scanning the area. No movement. No sign of life. Then his watch vibrated — a faint pulse that matched the glow on the gate.Without him doing anything, it opened.Eli frowned slightly, stepping forward. The air around the place felt charged, as if

  • Chapter Fifty -five

    “I have no idea who Elara is, but judging from your tone and the fact that you came looking for me, despite the grudge and hatred you feel towards me, she must be someone important.” Victor chuckled from where he sat, throwing his head back with every bout of laughter that escaped his throat.“What makes you think I will tell you anything even if I knew where she wasThe sound of his laughter echoed across the small, sterile chamber — a perfect square of metal and glass that seemed to hum with quiet energy. The air was clean, the lighting precise — An environment designed to strip emotion from a person. But it only made Victor look more alive.He sat across from Eli, hands cuffed to the sleek metal table, yet still somehow managing to look like the one in control. His dark hair was slicked back, his eyes gleaming with amusement.Eli didn’t flinc

  • Chapter Fifty -five

    “I have no idea who Elara is, but judging from your tone and the fact that you came looking for me, despite the grudge and hatred you feel towards me, she must be someone important.” Victor chuckled from where he sat, throwing his head back with every bout of laughter that escaped his throat.“What makes you think I will tell you anything even if I knew where she was The sound of his laughter echoed across the small, sterile chamber — a perfect square of metal and glass that seemed to hum with quiet energy. The air was clean, the lighting precise — An environment designed to strip emotion from a person. But it only made Victor look more alive.He sat across from Eli, hands cuffed to the sleek metal table, yet still somehow managing to look like the one in control. His dark hair was slicked back, his eyes gleaming with amusement.Eli didn’t flinch. His tone stayed calm. “You’ll tell me because you know what I can do. You know what happens when I stop playing fair.”Victor tilted his

  • Chapter Fifty - four

    “I am sorry we haven’t found her, Eli, we are not relenting in our search, but there’s a high probability that we might not find her alive.” The detective Eli had hired to assist in the search of Elara sat some distance away from where Eli sat.Eli didn’t react at first — didn’t blink, didn’t breathe. It was as if the world around him slowed to a crawl..Then, his fingers tightened, digging into his flesh, He took his time feeling the pain on his palm..“What did you just say?” His voice was low, strained — like speaking had become too difficult for him.The detective shifted uneasily in his seat, his eyes flicking toward the open window as if searching for escape. “Eli, we’ve done everything. The city’s been combed over. Traffic grids, phone records, witnesses — nothing. People don’t just vanish unless—”Eli’s chair scraped harshly against the floor as he stood up. The sound cut through the room. “Don’t finish that sentence.”His tone wasn’t loud, but it carried a sharpness that made

More Chapter
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on MegaNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
Scan code to read on App