A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 18

Fairfax couldn't bear the look in her eyes. Before he could say anything, his phone chimed with a new message. He glanced at the screen, and his expression changed dramatically.

Almost immediately, Darleen called again.

“Fairfax, if you don’t come now, something terrible is going to happen!” she shrieked.

In the background, he could hear Brinley’s frantic cries. “Let me go! I have to find Faraday! My Faraday will protect me!”

“Do you hear that?” Darleen pleaded. “She’s having another episode.”

“I’ll be right there,” he said into the phone before hanging up.

He turned back to Starla, whose cold detachment made his heart clench. He suppressed a rising tide of emotion and stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Starla.”

She brushed his hands away and turned her back to him without a word. Her silence was a clear message: whether he went to Brinley or not, it no longer concerned her.

“I’ll be right back.”

Not waiting for a response, Fairfax turned and left.

As his footsteps faded down the hall, Starla felt her heart drift further and further away from him.

The moment he was gone, her own phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, she took several deep breaths to compose herself before answering. “Bro.”

“Garret will be in Marina City tomorrow morning. He’ll take care of you. Whatever you need done, have him do it.”

Garret? Her brother’s personal assistant? She remembered meeting him once, a dangerous-looking man with tattooed arms.

She murmured an affirmation, and the voice on the phone continued, “Garret is bringing two international lawyers with him. I imagine you have some trash you’d like to take out in Marina City.”

Even through the phone, her brother’s voice carried an aura of arrogant, dangerous power.

“Yes,” she agreed. There was indeed a lot of trash in Marina City that needed to be disposed of. Garret, the man who shared her brother’s lethal intensity, was coming. The winds of chaos were about to sweep through Marina City.

“And she was so self-righteous about it, too.”

“I’ve never met anyone so shameless in my life!” Tanya fumed.

Lusting after her own brother-in-law was twisted enough, but at least before it was a secret. Now she was flaunting her depravity and demanding apologies? It was disgusting.

“So, you went over there and hit her again?”

Starla nodded. “Of course. They wanted me to bow my head. So I did.”

Tanya was momentarily speechless. While the thought was satisfying, it was also terrifying. “Sweetie, I told you, Brinley’s mother, Harriet, is fiercely protective. I’m really worried about you. If you’re set on going after them, maybe I can help you do something… discreetly.”

She knew she couldn’t talk Starla out of it, but a direct confrontation was too risky.

“I’m afraid if you push them too far, they’ll retaliate. You could lose more than just the Draken Haven project. Your jewelry design studios, your art galleries… they could all be targeted.”