Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 197: If He Dies

But Raina stood her ground. She turned to face Ethan Lancaster. "Where do you want me to go?"

"The bedroom."

"Where’s the bedroom?"

Ethan Lancaster grit his teeth. He walked ahead to the doorway, only to see Raina still rooted to the spot.

"My appetite isn’t as big as the Fourth Master’s. One should know when they’re full, not stuff themselves sick."

The anger Ethan Lancaster had been suppressing finally erupted. He strode toward Raina. She took a step back, but he reached out and pulled her into a fierce embrace. Raina struggled with all her might. Tightening his arms, he lifted her completely off the ground. Raina cried out, but she quickly bit her lower lip and fell silent.

"Go on, scream. Scream louder. Let him come save you."

He carried her swiftly to the master bedroom. Ethan Lancaster kicked the door open. Raina glanced into the pitch-black room, and the dark memories from three years ago came rushing back. She had thought she could face this calmly, but only now did she discover that the terror of waiting alone for death was deeply rooted in her heart. The closer she got to the room, the more profound that terror became.

Raina reached out, grabbing the doorframe, her fingers turning white from the force. "Let me go! Let me go—"

Her last words became a desperate roar. Downstairs, Ian Sinclair heard it and rose to his feet, about to head up.

A man reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t move!"

With his skills, taking down these few men wouldn’t be a problem. But if he couldn’t land a decisive blow on Ethan Lancaster, all resistance would be for naught.

Raina’s voice abruptly stopped. Ian Sinclair’s hands, which had clenched into fists, slowly relaxed.

Ethan Lancaster freed his other hand to pry Raina’s hand from the doorframe. She held on for dear life, completely disregarding the risk of injury to her fingers.

Ethan Lancaster saw her desperation and finally let go. Raina immediately swung her arm at him, but he caught her by the wrist and pinned her arm against the wall behind her.

He leaned in, his gaze fixed on her face. "Why are you afraid?"

"Isn’t the person who lived here dead? Who wouldn’t be afraid? Maybe she’s watching right now with wide-open eyes, seeing how the Fourth Master is bringing another woman into her room."

Ethan Lancaster grabbed Raina’s other hand, pinning her arms in a cross against the wall. He leaned in as if to kiss her. Raina stood perfectly still. Just as his lips were about to brush the corner of her mouth, she opened hers and bit down hard.

The pain was excruciating. Blood welled up on his lip where she had bitten him, and it swelled instantly.

Ethan Lancaster sucked in a sharp breath, his grip on her wrists tightening. A smile touched the corners of Raina’s eyes. "I was going to say you should just endure it, treat it like a dog bite. But on second thought, dogs are far better than you. At least they’re loyal."

His expression tightened. He pressed his forehead against Raina’s, giving her no room to struggle. "It wasn’t just me. Do you have any idea what your parents and grandmother have gone through these past three years? The suicide note you left behind tortured your mother until she was half-dead. She turned to Buddhism and even went to Mount Orman alone, kowtowing every three steps and burning incense, all just to pray for you to come back."

As Ethan Lancaster spoke, his warm breath washed over Raina’s face, but the smile lingering on her lips only grew colder. "Fourth Master, if you ever see her family, perhaps you could pass on a message for me."

"What do you want to say?"

"I imagine Mrs. Lancaster would want to say how tragic it is. She’s lying dead in her coffin, yet now so many people are jumping out to claim they love her. So sincere, so passionate, so... fake!"

Ethan Lancaster went completely still, his body recoiling slightly. Seeing her chance, Raina pressed her advantage, bringing her lips to his ear. "If I were Mrs. Lancaster, I’d just die all over again."

"You—" The corner of Ethan Lancaster’s mouth trembled uncontrollably.

"Dying a second time isn’t what’s truly scary. Being relentlessly hounded by a twisted person like you, *that’s* what’s scary. Here, let me give her some ideas. I think she should take a bottle of sleeping pills, then slit her arteries, and then hang herself. Now *that’s* how you make sure there’s no way out."

It was unclear if he was more shocked or genuinely terrified, but Ethan Lancaster took a large step back, his body hitting the wall. His face was a deathly pale as he stared at Raina.

"Don’t you dare."

"Of course I wouldn’t dare. I’m not her. I, for one, would like to keep living."

A pained expression crossed Ethan Lancaster’s face. He now had a vulnerability, and Raina had it squeezed firmly in her hand.

He lowered his gaze. The light from the hallway rested on his shoulders, casting his black clothes in an even deeper shadow. "Leave."

Raina shifted. "I’m taking him with me."

"Go."

At his word, she hurried away, her pace quickening with every step, afraid Ethan Lancaster would change his mind.

Once downstairs, Raina hurried over to Seth Sinclair. "He agreed to let him go."

Seth Sinclair gave Raina a skeptical look. She reached out to help Ian Sinclair up, but one of the men beside him clamped a hand on Ian’s shoulder, holding him in place.

Ethan Lancaster came down the stairs and stopped at the landing. "Let them go."

Raina quickly helped Ian Sinclair up by his arm. He looked severely injured; every step was an ordeal, as if he were walking on broken glass.

Ethan Lancaster walked toward the pair, unable to resist a final, cutting remark. "Do you know why I’m letting you go?"

Ian Sinclair, naturally, didn’t deign to reply. Ethan Lancaster continued, speaking to himself as much as anyone, "She traded herself for your safety."

Even a fool could understand the implication.

’So that’s why Miles Hawthorne put Ian Sinclair with me,’ Raina realized in that moment. ’On the surface, he’s my lover, but in reality, he has no romantic feelings for me whatsoever. That’s why words like that don’t affect him in the slightest.’

’If Miles Hawthorne had been here today, the situation would have definitely spiraled out of control again.’

Ian Sinclair slung an arm over Raina’s shoulders. "Let’s go."

Ethan Lancaster was also heading for the door. He seemed anxious to check if the crushed gardenias could still be saved. With Seth Sinclair at his side, the two quickly reached the entrance hall.

Ian Sinclair’s condition was so obviously poor that no one was paying him any special attention.

Her grip on his arm was gently shaken off. She glanced at Ian Sinclair, just a fleeting look. She couldn’t believe it. He was like a completely different person. It was as if his grave injuries and near-death state were all an act. There was a bronze statuette on display in the entrance hall, one about as thick and long as a child’s arm.

The statuette was holding a sharp sword. Raina watched as Ian Sinclair snatched up the bronze figure, lunged forward, and brought it crashing down toward Ethan Lancaster.

Ethan Lancaster was caught completely off guard by the close-range attack. Raina nearly screamed a warning, but the words died in her throat, swallowed back down.

’I know better than anyone,’ she thought with chilling clarity. ’If Ethan Lancaster dies, I can finally have the simple, uncomplicated life I’ve always wanted.’