Chapter Four
>THE WITTY SETUP
...The Vitale Mansion
Muse was silently sitting on the floor of her bedroom with papers scattered across the cold surface.
Her laptop was sitting afore her and the light of the screen glowed on her face.
She was going through the countless files and documents that she had compiled over the past one week.
She had sacrificed a lot for it, pulling through missed meals and sleepless nights to achieve her goals.
This sacrifice had left dark circles and heavy bags under her eyes.
But she did not care.
She only cared about gathering enough evidence just to expose Colleen's plans.
All plans to find her family had been washed out of her head and all she saw was Colleen.
She needed to expose that bitch and clear her name. It was more important now.
Her fingers shook with intensity as she furiously pressed keys on the keyboard.
She had gathered every shred of information that she could, wanting to be able to paint a clear picture of Colleen's manipulation and deceit even when she knew that it might not be enough.
Her family would never believe her without undeniable proof.
The sound of loud screams and cries erupted in the Vitale mansion.
She stood to her feet, wondering what was going on. She slid out of her room and went down the stairs.
Everyone was gathered in the living room. Her mother was pacing the length and breadth, her face pale with worry. "We have to do something!" She wailed with teary eyes.
"Calm down mother," Lucas pacified her as he held her trembling form.
"What is it?" Muse asked them in confusion. "What is going on?" Michael turned to look at me.
"Colleen has been kidnapped!" he told her.
Her heart skipped a beat and she squinted her eyes in disbelief.
"What? How? Why? Where?" Muse demanded in a loud voice.
"She went with Reed on a date. She never got there."
"What?" she gasped.
The idea that Colleen had been kidnapped caused joy to course through Muse.
The thought that Colleen might never return appeased Muse's inner anger.
But in as much as she wanted for that to happen, she agreed that no human deserved to be kidnapped, twice too.
She did not wish her evil.
Michael clenched his fists. "Mother has just received a ransom call and the perpetrators are demanding a large sum of money in exchange for her safety," he explained.
Muse's mind raced as she wondered what would happen then. "Can you not track her location?"
"We will find out."
"Let us contact the police," Muse suggested.
"No," Michael said grimly. "They have told us to stay still and do nothing, satisfy their demands and they would release her."
Her mother's voice shook as she asked. "Hope you had nothing to do with this Muse?"
Muse's throat tightened at the blatant accusation. "I had nothing to do with this! How can you say such a thing!"
"Your mental instability can make you do anything at this point," she continued.
Muse scoffed in scorn.
"What an odd thing to say!"
Her mother glared at her. "Do not speak unless you have something useful to say!"
The hours that followed that moment were tense and filled with fear.
The case was reported to the Police who asked them to wait for at least forty eight hours before making a report.
Her mother tried to pull her strings.
She failed.
However, Reed came over with the police.
Mrs Vitale was grateful and the entire family worked closely with the authorities who eventually tracked down the kidnappers and rescued Colleen from their base.
When the news reached the Vitale mansion, everyone sighed in relief.
Mrs Vitale began to prepare to go to the station and claim Colleen.
Muse was in her room when the sound of the police sirens filled the air.
She thought that Colleen was back.
As she prepared to go down, shutting her laptop, the doors to her bedroom burst open and three uniformed men alongside her brother, Lucas came into her bedroom.
She stood up with confusion etched onto her face. "What is going on Lucas?"
"The police will tell you," was the only thing he said, coldly.
The uniformed officers stormed towards her and the lead officer held a warrant in her face. "Muse Vitale, you are under arrest for kidnapping, extortion and conspiracy."
Her heart stopped functioning for two or three nanosecond. "What?"
"Is this a mistake?" Muse asked with a scoff, bewildered. The officer shook his head.
"We have evidence that it was you who hired the kidnappers."
Muse shook her head frantically. "I did not do anything! I have been home this whole time!"
"We have witness statements from the kidnappers and also financial records that prove otherwise. Your phone and laptop will be confiscated to find more," he explained.
The officer began to read her Miranda rights as he handcuffed her. Muse could not speak and legs felt like petroleum jelly.
"You have to listen to me. I am innocent! Someone set me up!" she began to scream as they led her toward the entrance.
Her mother stood there with an utterly disappointed expression.
"You have brought shame to this family for the last time."
Muse remembered her promise to her mother.
Her voice cracked as she spoke with teary eyes. "Mother, please believe me. I did not do this."
"Do not call me mother. I will no longer have an evil person like you for a daughter."
Tears streamed down Muse's face as her heart tightened with the intensity of her pain. "Mother, please, do not do this. I am really innocent!"
"Muse, you are no longer my daughter. I disown you."
The weight of her mother's words crushed her into smithereens.
This was the woman who had once claimed to love her. She was now abandoning her without hesitation because of a stranger.
She should have found her real family.
She was numb, all of the strength drained out of her as she was pushed roughly into the police car.
As the automobile drove away, she pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the window, her heart shattered.
Over the next few hours, more evidence was found, the once that Muse was sure Colleen must have planted in her laptop.
At that point, she was convinced that Colleen had even planned all of this.
The case was ruled against her and she was taken to the mental prison after the lawyer had mentioned that she was not mentally stable.
The mental prison was a suffocating place with damp walls and a miserly mattress.
Muse was cooped up there, crying her eyes out everyday.
The days turned into nights and not a single soul came to visit her.
She was completely cut off from the world.
Her existence was barely acknowledged, her meals shoved in through the slot in the door.
The only sounds she listened to were the distant screams of other mentally unstable inmates.
Muse replayed every event over and over, trying to make sense of where everything had gone so wrong.
It caused her to spiral into despair and hopelessness.
Colleen had taken everything from her.
Reed had betrayed her.
And now, even her beloved family had abandoned her.
Hot tears streamed down her face as she whispered into the darkness of the cell.
"Why is all of this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?"
The weight of her loneliness and betrayal was more suffocating than even the tiny cell.
But she somehow clung to the faint hope that she would find a way out of this nightmare.
But, truth be told, she was broken and alone.
She had been left to rot in a place that hope did not exist.