She screamed, and just then, Ethan’s anxious voice came from the doorway.
“Anna, why are you here? Come back with me.”
He rushed over, shot a glance at Leo and me, then quickly grabbed Anna Quinn and tried to leave. I looked at the shattered vase on the floor, fury boiling inside me. “Stop! Who allowed you to walk out?”
The butler immediately stepped forward. “Miss Quinn, you’ve broken something left behind by the late Madame, the very piece the young lady cherished most.”
Anna’s face drained of color. She stammered, “I… I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know it was some dead person’s cursed relic…”
Ethan tightened his grip on her hand and said sharply, “Claire Lawson, what do you mean? Are you really trying to settle scores now?”
I replied coldly, “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”
Ethan scoffed. “I said no! I’d like to see who dares touch her.”
The butler’s hand went for his weapon, but Ethan drew his pistol faster, firing a shot straight into the man’s wrist.
The gun clattered to the floor, and now its muzzle was aimed at me.
“Claire, do you want to test me too?”
So this was what it felt like to stare down the barrel of a gun held by the man you once loved.
The butler knelt on the ground, clutching his bleeding wrist, face pale as he gasped, “Miss…”
I said nothing. And when Ethan saw that I had relented at last, he led Anna away.
Five days later, men from the west side of the city marched into the Lawson estate, carrying betrothal gifts.
But the celebration of Leo’s birthday was underway as well, and Ethan’s own wedding gifts for Anna arrived at the same time.
So no one noticed the men from the west.
Holding Leo in my arms, I stood on the staircase above the hall, walked down the crimson carpet, and stepped into the car waiting to take us west.
Before I boarded, I ordered the butler—still weak from his wounds—to send word to our crew. They were to leave the Lawson compound at once and follow me.
Meanwhile, at the birthday party, Anna, dressed in her gown, toasted with Ethan.
I never appeared, and by the time the celebration was nearly over, Ethan’s patience snapped.
He sent men to search my courtyard, but they returned quickly. “Boss, we can’t find the eldest Miss anywhere!”
Ethan’s face twisted in disbelief. “Impossible! She was supposed to be here for Leo’s birthday. How could she vanish?”
