10
The room remained as Sebastian had left it. Evelyn’s favorite books lay oper
open on the bed, but their owner was gone!
“Evie?”
Menu
“Evie!”
Sebastian’s breath hitched; his trembling voice echoed in the
Spun around and rushed
no familiar voice answered.
empty room, but
His hand, gripping the doorframe, fell. He
up the stairs.
Study, lounge, gym, even the cramped: storage
Footian, like a
like a wounded beast, frantically circled in ever-
-shrinking spaces. Every corner was repeatedly searched by his anxious gaze; every possible hiding place was brutally ransacked. His movements grew frantic, his breathing ragged and
uneven.
Panic, like ink dropped into clear water, quickly spread through his chest, cold, viscous, heavy, nearly suffocating him.
He grabbed a nearby servant. “Where’s Evie!”
Didn’t I tell you to watch her? Where did she go?!”
Didn’t
To prevent Evelyn’s escape, Sebastian had not only locked her room, confiscated her
, but had also a
gned someone to guard her.
In Sebastian’s estimation, Evelyn, an orphan, with her only source of income cut off by him, couldn’t go anywhere else, especially with the guards.
She couldn’t even leave the villa!
Why was she gone?!
The servant, yelled at by Sebastian, turned pale, stammering,
unable to utter
coherentence.
Sebastian released the servant and started
downstairs and outside.”
Eleanor stepped in, her eyes sharp and unreadable.
Don’t bother looking; she’s gone, you’ll never find her.”
Eleanor paused; in that brief silence, the air seemed
to
freeze.
“Now that you’ve married Charlotte, take good care of her and the children; don’t think about such insignificant people anymore.”
“Gone?”
The word was absurdly laughable.
Impossible. Evelyn would only leave with him; that
at was what she had
Evelyn loved him so much lowering her standards
to wait
for him,
agreed to.
have children with another woman.
leave
If she really wanted to leave, she would have left when he’d compromised with his parents, agreeing to have children with Charlotte.
Not stayed, soft–hearted, waiting for him all these
“Did you and Dad force her to leave?”
“I’ve agreed to have children with Charlotte and married her; I’ve agreed to everything you wanted, why are you still driving her away?!”
Sebastian’s voice rose sharply, releasing the anger he’d been suppressing.
The surroundings fell silent, the only sounds his own pounding heart and rapid breathing, amplified in the absolute quiet, deafening, highlighting the maddening emptiness of the room.
In that suffocating silence, Eleanor didn’t speak, only
forward to hand Sebastian Evelyn’s farewell letter.
“We didn’t drive her away; she left of her own accord. As for,
the
you’ll
Sebastian hesitated before his gaze fell on the letter Eleanor handed him–befin
out wh
you read
his familiar hands.”
Subconsciously, Sebastian extended a finger, with a faint, self–denying hope, lightly touchi
Cold.
The chill on his fingertips was like a sharp lightning bolt, piercing through all his nerves ar
the white envelope.
and pretense.
46
< 10
His finger repeatedly retracted and extended before he finally took the letter.
“Rip.”
The edge of the envelope was slowly torn open; the sound was like a key unlocking
He wasn’t sure what waited inside–redemption or ruin.
Sebastian didn’t know.
