Chapter 111
Emily Windsor's POV
"Shut your mouth! What gives you the right to judge me?" Anna screeched like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Lawrence loves me! If it weren't for you—you homewrecker—he would've married me ages ago!"
"Married you?" I laughed like I'd just heard the funniest joke in the world. "Anna, after following him around like a lost puppy all this time, you still don't get it? In his eyes, you're no different from me, from all those other women out there—just toys he uses to pass the time when he's bored. You think destroying me will make him notice you? No. He'll just see you as a nuisance and toss you aside like garbage."
My words were a blade, slicing straight through to her deepest fear. Anna's face turned deathly pale.
"You're lying!"
"Am I?" I held her gaze, enunciating each word carefully. "Anna, let's make a deal."
She eyed me warily. "What deal?"
"Help me escape, and I promise I'll disappear from Lawrence's world forever." I stared into her eyes with feigned earnestness. "Don't you want to be the only one in his sight? I'll give you that. Once I'm gone, you'll be the sole lady of this manor."
Anna scrutinized me skeptically, clearly unconvinced. "You expect me to believe you'd just walk away? Give up being Mrs. Lowe without a fight?"
"Mrs. Lowe?" I let out a self-mocking laugh, allowing genuine sorrow and hatred to flicker in my eyes. "That title is soaked in blood—I find it filthy. Anna, the man I love is Luke, not Lawrence the murderer. Every single second I spend here is torture. I just want to get away from him—as far as humanly possible."
My half-truths finally seemed to shake her resolve.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because I despise him with every fiber of my being. And because you know better than anyone what kind of monster he really is." My expression turned grimly resolute. "Help me and we both win. Don't help me, and I'll tell Lawrence everything that happened here today. Care to guess how he'll deal with a woman who dared mess with his property on his own turf?"
Anna's body trembled involuntarily.
The weasel-faced man beside her grew impatient. "Miss Anna, are we doing this or not? The lady's got a point—if Mr. Lowe finds out..."
"Get out!" Anna whipped around, shrieking at him. "Useless piece of trash—get the hell out!"
The man, cowed by her fury, slunk away with his camera, muttering curses under his breath.
The safe room fell silent once more. Anna untied the ropes binding my wrists and ankles but remained standing there, arms crossed, watching me coldly. "I'll give you money and arrange passage on a cargo ship to South America. You leave before dawn. For now, stay here until the drugs wear off, then get yourself out."
She turned to leave.
"Wait." I pushed myself up against the wall, struggling to stand. "You can't just walk out like this."
She glanced back impatiently. "What now?"
"Help me back." I met her eyes with clear-headed determination. "We were brought down here together. Now that the chaos has died down, how will it look if I'm still here while you waltz out unscathed? What do you think Lawrence will make of that?"
Anna's face cycled through shades of green and white as my words struck her most vulnerable nerve.
She glared at me, chest heaving violently, hatred and fear swirling in her eyes like a chaotic storm. Finally, reason won out over her pitiful pride.
Through gritted teeth, she spat a single word, "Fine."
I leaned against the wall, battling waves of dizziness from the anesthetic as I steadied myself.
My body felt as fragile as a reed snapped by a gale, but my mind remained sharp.
I instructed her, "Come help me. We need to walk out together. Remember—we were brought here together. You fought off the intruders to protect me, and we both got drugged in the process. If anyone asks, that's the story. Got it?"
Anna rolled her eyes irritably but came over and looped my arm over her shoulder.
The nauseating blend of her heavy perfume and lingering ether fumes made my stomach churn again.
I leaned most of my weight on her as we shuffled step by agonizing step out of that suffocating safe room.
The corridor had returned to relative calm, with several guards nervously patrolling back and forth.
When they spotted us supporting each other as we emerged, they froze.
"Miss Anna, Miss Windsor—are you both alright?" The head guard rushed over immediately.
Before Anna could respond, I jumped in with a voice that trembled convincingly, "There were intruders... they tried to kidnap me. Anna fought them off to save me..."
Before I could finish, the villa's front door burst open from outside.
Lawrence strode in, radiating cold fury, with bodyguards trailing behind him—all wearing grim expressions. They'd clearly rushed back at top speed after hearing about the breach.
His gaze swept across the room like a blade before landing squarely on me.
When he saw my pallid face and unsteady gait as I leaned on Anna, those beautiful eyes of his erupted like a storm.
"What the hell happened?" He closed the distance in three strides, yanking me away from Anna and pulling me tightly against his chest. As he inspected me and caught the chemical scent still clinging to my skin, his expression turned thunderous.
"What did you do to her?" Lawrence whipped around, his predatory eyes locking onto Anna. In one fluid motion, he drew a black pistol from behind his back and aimed it directly between her eyebrows without hesitation.
Anna collapsed to the floor in terror, legs giving out completely. She couldn't even form coherent words. "No... it wasn't me... Lawrence, let me explain..."
"Explain?" A cruel smile twisted Lawrence's lips. "I prefer looking at results."
His finger began slowly tightening on the trigger.
"Stop!" I grabbed his arm and shouted with every ounce of strength I possessed. "It wasn't her! It was those intruders who broke in! She was trying to save me!"
Lawrence looked down at me, his gaze sharp as a hawk's, scrutinizing every inch of my expression as if judging whether I was telling the truth.
I met his stare head-on, forcing myself to stay lucid as I repeated the fabricated story, "They wanted to grab me for the bounty money. They drugged me. Anna... she stalled for time and screamed for help—that's what scared them off..."