Chapter 106
Chapter 106:
The upscale shopping district hummed with afternoon foot traffic. Eliza parked near a small, manicured park and helped Victoria out of the car.
“I’ll sit here for a moment,” Victoria said, gesturing toward a bench beside a fountain. “You go get the medicine p>
“I’ll get us some water first,” Eliza said.
She headed toward a vendor cart a few hundred feet away. The sun was bright — blindingly so.
Two figures stepped into her path, blocking the sidewalk. High heels. Designer bags. The cloying drift of overly sweet perfume.
Claudine and Celeste Chapman.
“Look who it is,” Claudine sneered. “The stray cat p>
𝖴𝗽𝖽𝖺𝘁еѕ е𝘃𝖾𝗋𝘆 𝗐𝗲𝖾𝗄 𝘰ո ѕ.𝘤o𝘮
Eliza sighed. “Claudine. I’m busy.” She moved to step around them.
Celeste grabbed her arm, nails pressing into the skin. “Not so fast. We heard you’re sleeping at Hyde Manor p>
“Trying to crawl back into Anson’s bed?” Claudine’s face twisted with jealousy. “I knew you were a slut p>
“I am caring for Victoria. Anson is nothing to me,” Eliza said, yanking her arm free.
“Liar!” Claudine’s composure cracked. People were beginning to stare. “He talks about you in his sleep — every night! ‘Eliza, Eliza p>
“That sounds like your problem, not mine,” Eliza said flatly.
Claudine’s expression went blank with rage. Humiliated. Exposed.
She swung her hand.
Crack.
The sound was sickeningly sharp. An open-handed slap landed across Eliza’s face. Her cheek burned instantly, and her head snapped to the side.
Eliza stumbled back, her hand flying to her face. She tasted copper.
“Stay away from him!” Claudine shrieked. “Or next time it won’t be a hand p>
Eliza looked at her steadily. Her eyes were watering from the pain, but her voice didn’t waver.
“You are pathetic,” she said.
“Eliza?” Victoria’s voice carried from the bench — she had heard the commotion.
Claudine froze at the sight of her. She seized Celeste’s arm. “Let’s go.” They scurried away, clicking down the pavement like rats in couture.
Eliza drew a slow breath. Her face throbbed with a hot, pulsing ache. She caught her reflection in a shop window: a bright red handprint was forming on her left cheek, angry and undeniable.
She bought the water. She returned to Victoria.
“What happened to your face?” Victoria asked, shocked.
“I walked into a branch,” Eliza said.
Victoria’s gaze sharpened, her eyes moving from the perfectly formed handprint on Eliza’s cheek to the placid, branchless trees nearby. She said nothing — but a flicker of knowing disapproval crossed her face before she smoothed it away.
Inside, Eliza was furious. A cold, quiet rage had settled in her gut.
And she had a party tonight.
The Sterling Estate blazed like a beacon against the night sky. Cars lined the long driveway — Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces.
Eliza sat in the passenger seat of Dallas’s car. The glam team had done their best. Layers of concealer and foundation covered her left cheek, but if you looked closely — really closely — the texture was different from the skin around it.
She was wearing the blue dress. Backless, shimmering like liquid water.
Dallas parked and came around to open her door. His eyes swept over her slowly.