Chapter 131
Chapter 131:
Eliza buried her face in her hands. She had failed again. She had tried to be noble and only managed to sound indifferent.
In the hallway, Augustina pulled out her phone and dialed.
“She’s confused, Dallas,” she said, her voice tight. “She thinks you want to leave p>
“Does she love me, Auggie?” Dallas’s voice came through the line, raspy and weak.
Augustina hesitated. She glanced back at the closed door.
“She didn’t say yes,” she admitted honestly. “She said she doesn’t want to be a burden. She thinks it might be better if you were free p>
𝘋𝗈𝘄𝘯𝗹𝗈𝘢𝘥𝘢𝗯𝗹𝘦 𝗣D𝗙𝘴 о𝗇
A long silence followed. Heavy and still.
“Then I’ll make the decision for her,” Dallas said. His tone was dark, possessive, and final.
Dallas hung up the phone. He stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the city — a circuit board of lights stretching to the horizon.
“She wants to let me go,” he muttered.
He pressed a hand to his chest. It hurt to breathe. The pneumonia was a dull, persistent ache, but the pain in his heart was sharp and jagged.
“Weston,” he called out. His voice was a gravelly rasp.
Weston appeared instantly. “Sir p>
“Prepare the discharge papers for Eliza,” Dallas ordered. “Have the car ready in an hour p>
“Is she going back to the Hydes?” Weston asked carefully.
Dallas turned. His eyes were dark, burning with a feverish intensity. “No,” he said. “She’s coming here. This place is a fortress p>
“Sir p>
“If she won’t choose to love me,” Dallas said, his voice dropping to a raw whisper more unsettling than a shout, “then I will keep her safe until she remembers how p>
He walked to his closet to get dressed, his movements stiff with pain and resolve. I won’t lose her. Not to Hyde, not to her own misplaced nobility. I bought her life back from the Hudson. It’s mine to protect — even from herself.
At the hospital, the door opened again. Eliza looked up, hoping.
It was Anson.
He walked in carrying a bouquet of lilies. “I spoke to the doctors. You can be discharged tomorrow p>
“I’m not going to your house, Anson,” she said, her voice flat with exhaustion. She turned her head away.
“You have nowhere else to go,” Anson said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box, snapping it open.
A massive diamond ring sat inside. Gaudy. Cold.
“Marry me,” Anson said. “Properly this time. I helped save you. We are family. We belong together p>
He pressed on when she didn’t react. “Dallas is reckless. He got himself sick and then vanished. He doesn’t protect you — he creates chaos around you p>
Eliza looked at the ring. It represented safety. It represented the past. It represented a cage she had spent her entire life trying to escape.
“No,” she said.
Anson looked stunned. “Why p>
“Because he jumped, Anson,” she said, meeting his eyes. “You didn’t p>
She drew a breath. “And because I love him. Even if he hates me. Even if he never wants to see me again — I love him p>