Toxic - Zoe Blake Page 0,2

said, “Good morning, Hutley. Please have the driver bring round the car. Ms. Larkin wishes to be taken to her home in London,” instructed Richard calmly, as if he were ordering extra toast with his breakfast tray.

Just like that? He would let me go? It didn’t seem possible, not after the lengths to which he’d gone to entrap me.

Neither of us said a word, just stared into the void between us.

Then we heard the crunch of gravel as the car pulled up to the entrance, which was just outside to the right of the study.

Glancing over my shoulder, I backed up to the door, reaching behind me for the knob as I tried to keep my wary gaze trained on Richard, somehow feeling this was a test, a trap that would snap closed on me the moment I crossed over the threshold.

Placing his hands in his pockets, as if trying to appear nonchalant and unthreatening, Richard slowly followed me out of the study and into the enormous entrance hall.

Keeping my eyes trained on Richard and one arm stretched behind me, I stumbled my way to the front double doors. Two footmen appeared out of nowhere to swing the heavy wooden doors open. Neither expressed the slightest shock at seeing their master stalk a half-dressed woman brandishing a letter opener like a weapon out of the house, although after what they had witnessed and been paid to ignore these last few months, it was small wonder.

The driver held the back passenger side door open. Refusing to drop the letter opener, I clambered into the spacious back seat. The car door slammed shut. Then the driver hustled around to the right side and climbed in. The engine roared to life as the car pulled out of the drive.

Twisting around, I looked through the back window to see puffs of dust and little bits of gravel kicked up by the tires scatter over Richard’s polished knee-high riding boots.

The aristocratic Duke of Winterbourne stood unnaturally still as the car took me further and further away from him.

I was finally free.

Richard

Waiting till I could no longer see her pale, gamine face through the back window of the car, I crossed over to the bushes just below the study windows and retrieved my phone. Dusting off the bits of dirt and shattered glass, thankful the screen had not cracked, I brought up the contact I sought and pressed send.

Without preamble, I spoke the moment they answered the phone. “She’s heading your way. I don’t have to remind you what is at stake if you don’t obey me.” Without waiting for a reply, knowing I had made my point, I hung up.

Time for a new game.

Chapter 2

Lizzie

I didn’t stop watching out the back window till we were on the M40 out of Staffordshire. Finally, I leaned back into the plush leather cushions and stared at the passing landscape. Bright green hilltops, rolling fields of barley and oats lined with dark leafy trees, and piles of rocks and slate boundary markers passed before my sightless eyes.

I felt… numb.

You would think my mind would be a chaotic mess of memories, emotions, and recriminations. Instead, it was unfocused and almost calm.

As if I had been drained of all emotion. Leaving Richard had emptied my world of oxygen and light. I was a rag doll with no bones and a frozen gaze.

It wasn’t until we crossed into the outskirts of London hours later that I stirred once more to life. Paying close attention to every turn the driver made as he wound his way through the crowded streets. I knew this could still be a trap. Part of me expected Richard to have secretly instructed the driver to take me back to the asylum.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea he had simply let me walk out the door… not my Richard.

My Richard.

Was he still mine?

Had he ever been?

I knew I was his… mind, body, and soul… but I could not claim the same about him.

He remained as much of an enigma to me as the first moment I had met him—and something shrouded even that in mists and mystery, as if there were a dense cloud over my memories of our time together.

Outside there was a cacophony of noise as clamoring crowds of people scurried about, running in and out of featureless grey buildings. It was strange how I had gotten used to the peace of the English countryside. I had filled my days with reading, drawing, and horseback