Chapter 168
Chapter 168:
“Get out! Both of you!” He snatched a heavy crystal vase from the side table and hurled it at the wall.
It exploded near Eliza’s feet. Shards skittered across the floor in every direction.
“You are not leaving until you admit you still love me!” He moved to block the drawing room door, his breath ragged, his eyes wild. He was past reason. Dangerous.
Eliza’s hand slipped into her coat pocket. Her fingers closed around the cold metal canister Dallas had packed.
“Move, Anson,” she said, her voice steady and deliberate. “Or I will make you move p>
“Anson, stop! Think of the baby!” Claudine grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back.
𝗔d𝗱𝘪c𝘵𝗶𝗏𝗲 𝗇𝘰𝘃e𝗹𝘀 o𝗇 gа𝗹𝘯o𝗏еlѕ.𝘤𝗈𝗆
Anson looked down at her. His expression curdled into something cold and contemptuous.
“There is no baby, is there?” he said softly.
Claudine flinched. The lie collapsed behind her eyes before she could stop it.
“You liar!” he roared.
Eliza moved. While his attention snapped to Claudine, she turned, crossed the room in three quick strides, and threw the latch on the French doors. She burst out into the cold, sharp air of the garden and didn’t look back.
Eliza ran across the manicured lawn. The gravel of the driveway crunched under her boots. The cold air burned her lungs.
“Eliza! Stop!” Anson’s voice rang out behind her.
She didn’t look back. She heard the heavy thud of footsteps in pursuit.
“Don’t leave me!” Claudine screamed.
Eliza glanced over her shoulder as she reached the iron gate.
Anson had stopped. Claudine had seized his jacket, trying to drag him back. Anson spun around. His hand closed around Claudine’s throat.
“You ruined everything! You liar!” He squeezed.
Claudine gasped, clawing at his hands. Her face darkened. Her heels scraped uselessly against the gravel.
Eliza froze.
“Anson! Let her go! You’ll kill her!” she screamed from the gate.
The sound of her voice cut through him. He looked up, wild-eyed — and released Claudine.
Claudine crumpled onto the grass, coughing and sobbing, both hands pressed to her throat. Anson stared at his own hands, then up at Eliza.
“Eliza… I p>
“You’re a monster,” she said, trembling.
She shoved the pedestrian gate open and sprinted out onto the public road. She didn’t go to her car. She couldn’t. Her keys were in the bag she had dropped in the drawing room during the confrontation, and even if she’d had them, she couldn’t bear the thought of being enclosed in a metal box anywhere near him. She just needed distance from the violence. From all of it.
She ran until her legs burned, until the gates of Hyde Manor were well behind her. She reached a small park, her chest heaving, and dropped onto the nearest bench.
A sleek vintage Rolls Royce was parked awkwardly on the shoulder nearby, its hazard lights blinking patiently. An elderly woman stood beside it, speaking sharply into a phone, her posture radiating the particular impatience of someone accustomed to being kept waiting. As Eliza watched, a leather-bound tote bag slipped from the woman’s grasp, scattering a collection of antique silver lockets across the pavement.