Seeing he had no intention of listening, Ingrid didn’t seem to care in the slightest Her tone was cool and casual. “Laney’s known about your affair with Jeannette for a while now.”
At those words, Eddy snapped his head around to look at her His usually indifferent eyes now held a dangerous glint “Are you lying to me?”
“She reacted differently than you expected, didn’t she? You thought she’d scream at you for betraying her, break down in tears, file for divorce? Ingrid let out a short laugh. “She’s planning to walk away without a word”
“She told me herself”
“I heard from Loraine about what happened when that unknown group tried to abduct Laney–and because you shut down the entire city, they couldn’t get her out and had to let her go. No one knows why the cameras didn’t catch her leaving, but here’s what is certain: Laney was alone in the master bedroom upstairs. She must have climbed down using the bedsheets and escaped from the old Simmons house herself.” Ingrid met Eddy’s increasingly frigid gaze. “She got out on her own.”
“She wants to disappear quietly, so you’ll never find her again.” The corner of Ingrid’s mouth curled in a mocking smile.
If she couldn’t be happy, then no one else deserved to be either.
Eddy remembered Healy and Terrell’s checkups at the hospital. He’d arrived soon after and overheard Blanche and Fernando talking–apparently she’d be leaving in a few days.
Striding down the stairs, flashes of Blanche’s odd behavior from the past few days raced through his mind, piecing together like shards of broken glass.
He walked into the kitchen, slipped his arm around her waist, and pulled her close in a tight embrace. His restless breath mingled with hers, his heart pounding like a roller coaster gone off the rails. In a low, desperate voice, he called out, “Honey”
“Kiss! Kiss!”
Their friends nearby burst out in laughter and cheers, egging the couple on as if the two were inseparable.
Eddy’s gaze was almost fearful as he fixed his eyes on Blanche’s tired, delicate face, searching for any hint of a crack in her composure.
1/2
SIPPIS
If she’d found out about him and Jeannette and didn’t lash out, didn’t break down, but just wanted to leave–everything pointed to one possibility.
She didn’t love him anymore.
Like she always did when she was shy, Blanche buried her face in Eddy’s chest. Her voice, coy and sweet, was barely audible. “Tell them to stop.”
“Still shy after all these years of marriage, Blanche?” someone teased.
“Eddy risked his life looking for you–went down a sheer cliff for you. The least your can do is give him a little reward, right?”
A chill crept down Eddy’s back; cold sweat dampened his palms. He pressed his face against Blanche’s, his lips brushing closer to hers. “Please, honey… don’t leave me.”
She hadn’t kissed him first in ages. The last two times he’d asked, she’d dodged and turned away, and now his heart twisted painfully in his chest.
Just the thought of Blanche leaving him, of her falling out of love, was enough to drag him back to that freezing cliffside, searching for her among the twisted wreck of the plane, every moment agony.
His whole world was coming apart.
Blanche froze at the sadness in Eddy’s voice.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Ingrid’s smug, triumphant smile.
She’d told Eddy everything.
Now Eddy knew she’d disappeared and he’d locked down Novandria for her. If he found out she planned to leave after learning the truth–who knew what he’d do?
Even if the Director–General came for her, there was no guarantee she’d get out
safely.
She couldn’t pull away now. She couldn’t let him suspect anything.
So Blanche wrapped her arms around Eddy’s neck, forcing herself to ignore the images of him and Jeannette that flooded her mind. Swallowing back her nausea, she rose up on tiptoe and kissed him.
