Frozen Hearts

By- An Unknown Foreign Beauty

Chapter 23- Ice cold

"Anna…"

Elsa whispered still unable to believe her own eyes. Hans stood in the place where he was, his hands desperately clutching the ice railing behind him, wishing the whole thing was a dream. But the woman in blue skirt and black tee standing before him was unmistakably Anna Kingsley, the girl he assumed dead many months ago.

"Elsa…" He tried to hold her hand tightly for support, but he felt Elsa's grip loosening around his arms as she took a step toward her sister.

He couldn't even stop her.

How could he when the proof of his sin was standing in front of him in flesh and blood? Her blue eyes were burning with the fire of hatred and revenge. He wanted to hide, but his feet remained planted firmly to the floor, his whole body paralyzed with shock.

Elsa took a cautious step near her sister and looked into her eyes. She was shaking so hard that she feared that she would break at any moment, but strangely she kept her expression calm. She traced Anna's rounded face, her button nose, and the warm tears on her cheeks. Anna was also holding Elsa's hands, her fingers tracing her face, pressing them hard against her cheeks as if trying to remember the warmth they held. And it reminded that her sister was real. She was not just a fever dream that haunted her nights, not a memory that made her cry.

"Where have you been?"Elsa demanded, crying and hugging her fiercely. "Why did you leave without telling me where you were going? I could kill you for making me to think-"

Anna stiffened in her embrace. Elsa was afraid that Anna would cry and run just like she did four months ago, but she didn't. Instead she gripped her arms, and moved back, looking straightly to the man behind her. Elsa followed her gaze, and her eyes met Hans standing right behind her. His face was as white as paper, his eyes were widened with shock. An unknown fear crept up in her mind when she looked back at her sister, and saw the burning hatred in her eyes.

"Anna…" Elsa's word almost came into a whisper as she saw the way Hans cringed under Anna's burning glare. Clouds of fear began covering her mind, "Is he…." She looked back at Anna, and saw a drop of tear shining at the corner of her eyes.

"I didn't leave you, Elsa." Anna bit out furiously, her eyes not leaving Hans', "He had me kidnapped right after I got out of the car and swam back to the shore, and tossed onto one of his private jets, and dumped me in here, naked and alone. I was supposed to freeze to death-"

But Elsa wasn't listening, because her head was still reeling, and it wasn't just because of the excess of surprises but from the weight of the truth. That meant Hans lied to her about everything. About his relationship with Anna, about her death, about why he wanted to marry her, about his intention…She closed her eyes, two tears rolled down to her cheeks…she couldn't still believe it.

Pain and disbelief streaked through her, and when she looked into his eyes, those sad green desperate eyes, she hoped it was a mistake. But the girl standing in front of her was unmistakably her sister Anna with those deep blue eyes, button nose, and freckles. How could she lie to her about him? She was torn.

"Don't say that to me," she said, wildly shaking her head clinging to the last straw of hope. "Don't-he wouldn't- Anna, there had been a mistake of course…."

Anna's jaw clamped down, and she quickly grabbed Elsa's hand and placed it on her neck where a long angry scar running down from below her earlobe to her collarbone. "This is a souvenir of one of his attempts to kill me. He plotted the whole accident. Even he murdered Sofia to procure a body in my place."

He certainly knew how to keep his secrets.

A scream rose up in Elsa's throat, and she pressed her knuckles against her mouth, trying to stop it. Even then she felt as if she was going to vomit. "Oh, my God," she panted, looking at the vicious scar violating the beauty of her little sister. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

"Elsa," Anna said, clutching her arm to steady her. "You have to be strong. We have to be strong."

Elsa sank to the floor and put her head against her knees, her arms clutched around her stomach, rocking helplessly to and fro. A strange pain was building inside her stomach."Oh, my God." she kept saying over and over at the thought of Anna's torn, battered flesh. "Oh, my God."

"Elsa…" Anna sank beside her sister, and wrapped her arms around her shaking shoulders. Her eyes were fixed straightly on the man who caused her sister so much pain. Hans visibly cringed under her glare. Those eyes, those beautiful eyes were full of hate for him. Then his eyes moved to the girl shaking and crying on the floor.

What had he done? My God! What had he done? For a momentary happiness and money he destroyed two lives, destroyed their trusts. He played with their hearts, but what did he gain in the result?

Hate….There was no mercy in those eyes, no hint of the timid girls he once took advantage of. He gripped the ice railing behind him so tight, that his knuckles turned white. His hands went numb from the coldness of the ice he was holding. He wanted to run but his feet felt like lost their ability too. He looked back into Elsa's eyes for some hope.

But there was no hope.

Forcing herself to take long, steadying breaths, Elsa finally brought herself under control. All the doubts, all the warnings, all the hints, crystallized in her mind focusing on the proof of Anna's battered flesh and an icy cold stole through her, numbing her to everything. Even the pain. Hans had been her love and her lover; she had lain in the arms of a man who knew what he had done to her baby sister.

Elsa shuddered to that thought, and the need to vomit was almost overwhelming.

"Elsa…" Anna offered her hand to her sister, and Elsa gratefully accepted it. She steadied herself on her feet, and turned her gaze to the man who broke her heart. My God! She hated him so much. She freed her hand from Anna's grip and walked near him. Anna tried to follow, but she raised her hand and stopped her. When Anna talked about calling the police, Elsa disagreed immediately.

"Let me deal with him." She said. She had to deal with this alone. It was her mistake, and she needed to pay for it.

Anna threw an angry look at Hans, and her mind was full of hate for the man once she loved. God! She had never hated someone so much in her life. If not Elsa stopped her now, she would murder him in the spot.

As Elsa walked towards Hans, Hans couldn't stop himself from indulging in that last; tormenting sweet hope that everything was going to be alright. The frail hope made his heart accelerate as she stopped near him. But the hope soon died when he looked into her eyes- those sad, cold eyes.

"Elsa…" He took a step towards her, and a few steps brought him almost to within an arm's reach of her. "I can explain…"

But Elsa flinched, and staggered back. "Stay away from me." Her voice was full of disdain. Her tone made Hans' heart twist in pain, but he stopped and stepped back, "Fine."

Then they stood there for a moment gazing at each other. He could feel the heat of the fire of hatred in her eyes. It burned him, it pained him, and it broke him. Hans wanted to run away and hide, but there was no place to hide. His mask had slipped, and he was standing here, completely naked.

Elsa waited, searching that hard, sardonic face for some sign that he felt something, anything, for her, for her sister, for everything he did. Inside her mind, she desperately wanted this turn out to be a great mistake. Displaying a calm she didn't at all feel, Elsa nodded and said, "Is that what you are afraid of, Hans?"

Hans lowered his head. His chin almost touched his chest. The burden of guilt was so heavy that he couldn't bear it anymore. He gazed at Anna who was watching him with so much hate in her eyes, and then at Elsa and her hopeful eyes.

"Yes." He nodded, finally. It was like he handed his bloodied heart to her hand.

That did it—that single truth sent her from the depths of humiliated despair to a fury that was almost uncontainable. "Murderer!" she yelled. Turning on her heel, she started to walk out on him, then she stopped and turned back.

Hans was shocked to see the anger in her eyes when she stepped closer. Alarm bells were clinging madly in his head, telling him to retreat. But he didn't. "Elsa…" He whispered painfully, when he saw so much hatred for him in those eyes which were always full of love for him.

"Don't say my name with your filthy mouth." Elsa cried. She slapped him so hard his head jerked sideways, and then she took an automatic step back from the rage in his face and held her ground, her chest heaving with fury. "You are a heartless, evil monster, and I cannot believe I let you touch me! I feel filthy and defiled—" A muscle began to tick in the side of his jaw, but Elsa wasn't finished and she was too infuriated to care that he looked so sad. "I committed a sin when I let you have sex with me, but I can pray for forgiveness for that. But, I will never be able to forgive my stupidity for trusting you and loving you!"

Her chest was rising and falling so hard that she could hardly breathe, and her legs felt so weak. The pain inside her was too much to bear. She turned away and ran.

"Elsa…" Anna tried to follow her, but she didn't stop. She pushed through the crowd of surprised guests and made her way towards the gate. She looked back and found Anna calling after her. She couldn't go back to her. She could not. She destroyed her sister's life. She destroyed her own life. She had to run. She had to hide. She quickly made her way along the curved staircase leading outside.

It was freezing cold out there. Snow gathered over the ice staircase. The pain inside her stomach was getting stronger and stronger. Her eyes were blurred with tears. She could see almost nothing. Her knees were buckling under the weight of her misery.

And then she slipped.

"Elsa…" Anna cried as she found her sister lying on her stomach below the ice stairs. A small flow of blood was running down from her legs, pooling over the white snow beneath her. She turned her over and cradled her head in her arms. Her eyes were closed, her face was abnormally pale. "Elsa, please…." She whispered, resting her hand on her cheek.

"Let me help…" Anna's head snapped with a voice speaking beside her. It was Hans. He was kneeling beside Elsa; his eyes were full of concern. "Let me…" He said gently, taking one of Elsa's limp hands in his.

"Don't dare to touch my sister…" She said viciously, quickly brushing his hand from Elsa's body. Putting her hand over his chest, she shoved him so hard that he fell backwards. There was so much hate in her voice that Hans cringed.

"Fine." Hans knew nothing could melt this broken woman's heart, so he stepped back. Meanwhile rest of the guests was gathering around the fallen woman. He stepped back from the crowd and let them to help Elsa. Eugene was helping Anna to carry Elsa to the nearest sofa, and Rapunzel was calling for an ambulance. He caught Anna's eyes once, but there was no mercy for him. She threw him a hateful glare before rushing back to her sister's side. As they carried Elsa, all he could see her limp body, and her pale face. His heart twisted in a weird way as he saw the blood dripping from her legs as they carried her. His heart broke with each labored breath she took.

He wanted to go near her, to hold her close, to ease her pain that was torturing her. But his mask had been slipped, his role had been changed. He didn't belong to the side of angels anymore.

He was a devil. He was a pariah.

He was a villain.

He had no place in her life anymore.

The air was cold outside, sending chills to his bones. He turned up his coat collar against the wind, and made his way towards the gate. He needed to go, he needed to run, he needed to hide. The burden of guilt was so much that he couldn't bear it anymore.

But he was stopped by police waiting in the garage. "Mr. Westergard," A middle aged policeman asked flashing his ID.

"Are you Mr. Hans Westergard?" The policeman asked.

No, it didn't happen, Hans thought, but he kept his expression calm. He wanted to run, but he knew it would make the situation worse."Yes," He looked at the policeman who was twice bigger than him, "But why?"

"We've an arrest warrant for you." The police replied seeing the alarmed expression in the other man's face, "For the murder of Sofia Westergard and attempted murder of Anna Kingsley."

"But…" Before Hans could even protest the handcuffs locked around his wrists, and the last thing he knew that he was led towards the police car outside.

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