Chapter 19
Chapter 19:
He took another step. The pier creaked beneath him. “Come back to the guest house,” he whispered. “I’ll call off the engagement. I’ll end things with Claudine. We can go back to the way things were p>
Eliza looked at his outstretched hand. It was the same hand that had placed a diamond ring on Claudine Chapman’s finger while she watched. The same hand that had signed the orders restricting her allowance. She felt nothing — no longing, no nostalgia. The haze that had covered Anson for years, the belief that he was her tragic, star-crossed love, evaporated completely. All she saw was a man in muddy shoes who didn’t know how to accept no for an answer.
“You are delusional,” she said coldly.
Anson’s face hardened. His jaw clenched. “Don’t make me force you to see reason, Eliza,” he growled.
He lunged forward.
Eliza reacted on instinct. She yanked her hand back as Anson’s fingers brushed her wrist.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed.
Anson didn’t stop. He stepped closer, invading her space, pressing the air out of the atmosphere between them. He smelled of sweat, expensive cologne, and desperation.
“What did you give him, Eliza?” Anson asked. His voice dropped to a low, dirty whisper that made her skin crawl.
Eliza blinked at the sudden shift. “What p>
W𝗲 𝗎𝗽d𝘢𝘁𝘦 𝘦𝘃e𝘳𝘺 we𝖾𝗄 𝗈𝗇 𝘨а𝘭𝗻о𝗏е𝘭ѕ.cо𝘮
“Dallas Koch doesn’t do charity,” Anson spat. “He doesn’t marry orphans for love. Did you sell him your body? Or just your pride p>
The accusation landed like a fist to the stomach. It knocked the wind out of her.
“He is my husband,” Eliza stammered, backing up until her calves struck the wooden bench at the end of the pier. “Not my pimp p>
“Husband?” Anson scoffed, looking at her with a pity that felt more like contempt. “He’s using you. He wants access to the Solomon trust. Your father’s patents were just the key. He needs your signature to unlock assets your father hid offshore. That’s the only reason he pulled you out of the gutter p>
Eliza’s mind raced. A hidden trust? Her father’s lawyers had said everything was gone — liquidated to pay creditors. But her father had always been secretive. What if Anson was telling the truth? A seed of doubt, cold and sharp, took root in her chest. Why had Dallas married her? Why the roses? Why the kindness? Was it all a long con for some fortune she didn’t even know she possessed?
“You’re a gold digger, Eliza,” Anson continued, watching the hesitation move across her face. “Climbing the Koch ladder. I thought you were innocent. I thought you were pure. But you’re just expensive p>
“At least he pays for what he values!” Eliza shouted, the words tearing from her throat. “You just stole from me! You stole my home, my life, my dignity p>
Anson’s face twisted with rage. The vein in his forehead bulged. He grabbed her by the shoulders, his fingers digging hard into her flesh through her sweater.
“You belong to the Hyde family!” he yelled, shaking her. “You belong to me p>
Eliza’s head snapped back. The world spun — water, trees, Anson’s distorted face wheeling around her.