- Chapter 9
- The calendar had been torn down to its last page. Eleanor Knight’s fingers trembled slightly as she crumpled the thin sheet in her fist.
- Her phone buzzed abruptly. A photo from Isabella Whitlock seared into her vision—the antique pocket watch her grandmother had left her, the lid engraved with the character “Yu.”
- “Darling, I’m bored with this trinket. Come get it yourself if you want it.” The attached address led to the riverside on the outskirts of the city.
- The engine roared as Eleanor ran three red lights, tires screeching against the bridge’s edge, sparks flying.
- Isabella leaned against the railing, the pocket watch dangling from her fingers. “Guess who Sebastian will choose?”
- The river reflected a blinding glare. Eleanor lunged for the watch, but Isabella twisted away.
- “Stop pretending to be noble!” Isabella shrieked suddenly, flinging the watch toward the river’s center. A silver arc sliced through the air.
- Slap! The sharp sound startled sparrows from the trees.
- A screech of brakes shattered the silence. The moment Isabella spotted the black Maybach, she shoved Eleanor over the railing!
- Icy water flooded Eleanor’s nostrils as she saw Isabella leap in after her.
- The riverbed yawned like a gaping maw. She dove desperately, fingers finally closing around cold metal in the silt. Just as her lungs burned for air, someone seized her ankle in a death grip.
- A splash—someone else plunged into the water.
- Through the wavering currents, she saw Sebastian Sinclair arrow toward the flailing figure with single-minded focus.
- Before her oxygen ran out, Eleanor broke the surface on her own.
- Wet hair clung to her face. She watched the scene on the bridge—Sebastian pressing his lips to Isabella’s, his elegant fingers cradling her cheeks.
- “Eleanor?” He finally looked up, his suit dripping. “You can swim…”
- “I’m fine.” She wrung out her sleeve, the watch leaving a deep red imprint in her palm.
- Isabella let out a perfectly timed whimper. “Sebastian… I’m so cold…”
- “Take her first.” Eleanor turned away, her wedding ring clinking softly against the railing.
- The butler stood at the mansion’s entrance, holding a velvet box. “The master insisted on accompanying you—”
- The wheels of her suitcase scraped over marble as Eleanor tossed a stack of documents on the table. “Tell him to read the last page.”
- Under the moonlight, the sharp clink of her wedding ring hitting the trash bin startled a nightingale into flight. Her sports car shredded the shadows of plane tree leaves, the speedometer needle pinned at 120 mph.
In the rearview mirror, the lights of the Sinclair estate grew smaller. On the passenger seat, the pocket watch dripped water, the engraved “Yu” glinting faintly in the moonlight.
