Chapter 25
“Lynne… is the reason you don’t want to see me because of what happened with Gentry?“%
Balfour’s words came out awkward and raw, as if dragged from somewhere deep.%
“You have to believe me, I had no choice. It was Saul–and the Tobin family–they forced me-”
“Balfour, you give yourself way too much credit, don’t you?“%
Whitfield stepped out from behind Lynne, smoothly taking the bag from her hand.%
“Lynne never counted on you. She never expected you to stand up for her, not once.“/
Lynne’s eyes flickered to Whitfield’s face, and suddenly her heart was pounding.%
Balfour saw the change in her, and his tightly bitten lip began to bleed. His whole body trembled, barely held together by rage.”
He glared at Whitfield, hatred written plain on his face. “Damn it, this is all your fault!“%
He lunged, fist raised, but Lynne immediately moved between them, blocking his path.
“Balfour, are you out of your mind?”
“The Tobins have enough on their plate. If you have any sense left, you should start thinking about your own future for once.”
Without another glance at Balfour, Lynne grabbed Whitfield’s arm, leading him inside.
She didn’t even notice the smug, taunting look Whitfield shot back over his shoulder.
He was absolutely reveling in it.”
Inside the Tobin mansion, chaos reigned.
Saul, red–faced with fury, slammed his fist hard into Balfour’s cheek.
Blood spattered from Balfour’s mouth.
“All these years, I asked you to track down Whitfield, and you never found a damn thing. I gave you everything–food, clothes, a place at the top of the Tobin family–and this is how you repay me!”
Balfour wiped the blood from his mouth and glanced at his mother across the room, her face frozen in panic.
He gave a bitter, mocking laugh. “I was nothing but your guard dog. You pointed, I bit. If you couldn’t find Whitfield yourself, what made you think I’d be able to?“%
Saul was so furious, sweat beaded across his brow. He raised his foot to kick Balfour, but before he could, a sharp pain stabbed through his chest. He clutched at his heart, face contorted.”
Balfour’s mother rushed over to check on Saul, but Balfour didn’t look back. He grabbed his coat and walked straight out the door.”
Meanwhile, Cynthia, still reeling from what Lynne had told her, desperately wanted to confront Balfour herself.”
She needed to know–had Lynne really sent him to help her back then?”
ཆ ༄༅ ཚ ཚཥྞཾ ཉ༴ མཻ རཱཾ ན ན ཏྱཾ རྗ ༤ ཇ ཞ ༤ ཚ ༴
She hadn’t gone far when she spotted Balfour leaving Tobin Mansion, his face swollen and bruised.>>
She hurried toward him, but just as she was closing the distance, a car suddenly sped up and barreled straight at them.
There was a sickening crash–Balfour and Cynthia were both thrown aside, blood spraying from their mouths.”
The car sped away without even slowing.
It was a week later before Lynne heard about the accident.%
Balfour had been injured, but Cynthia had shoved him aside at the last second, taking the worst of the impact herself.
The police had already caught the driver.
It turned out to be Uncle Brown, Cynthia’s uncle, who’d just been released from prison.
He’d snapped–Cynthia hadn’t kept her promises to him, his wife was threatening divorce, and he wasn’t even allowed to see his own chald anymore S
He couldn’t take it, and all that anger exploded onto Cynthia and Balfour.
Balfours injuries weren’t life–threatening, but he hadn’t woken up since. Even in his coma, he kept calling Lynne’s name.
His mother called Lynne in tears, begging her to come see him, just once
Lynne refused, blunt and cold!
The very next moment, the ever gentle Mrs Balfour erupted into a fit of rage, unleashing a torrent of filthy insults down the phone.!!
Chapter 25
On the other end, Lynne listened to the hysterical trade, the words flung at her like mud.
She gave a cold, mocking laugh. In this moment, there wasn’t a trace left of that polite, demure woman she’d once been in the Tobin household.
