Chapter 271
Chapter 271
Everyone was focused on the fire in the main house. No one noticed someone quietly slipping into the car.
Winter started the engine. Just before she shut the door, General leaped onto the driver’s seat, then climbed over into the passenger seat and sat there straight and proud.
The moment the car pulled out, the sound of the engine disappeared beneath the chaos of people shouting and fighting the fire.
Winter tightened her grip on the steering wheel. The guard post was just ahead. Once she got past it, no one would be able to stop her.
But the guards at the post recognized her through the windshield at once and rushed forward to block the car.
“General p>
As the car slowed, Winter shoved the door open. General shot out like lightning and lunged at them, barking furiously.
“Woof! Woof! Woof p>
Using the opening General created for her, Winter slammed her foot down on the gas. The car tore past the guard post like an arrow loosed from a bow.
She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw General still buying her time. They knew who he was. They wouldn’t hurt him. Thinking that, she forced herself to look away.
Soon the guard post was far behind her. Up ahead, after the turn, was the tree-lined road leading out of
Blackwood Manor.
Then suddenly, her hands tightened on the wheel.
Five cars were parked across the other end of the road.
They had blocked off her way completely.
Five minutes earlier, when Winter had started the car and driven off, she hadn’t noticed the pair of dark eyes watching the direction she left from beside the window on the first floor of the main house.
When General had run up barking at Chris, he had brushed against Chris’s pant leg.
Chris had slid his fingers into the dog’s fur and felt the dampness still there.
As the fire grew, the temperature inside the house had risen with it. By the time General ran from the second floor to the first, his wet fur should have been nearly dry.
If someone had enough time and presence of mind to wet the dog’s fur, but had somehow failed to escape the fire herself, then there was only one explanation.
She had escaped another way.
On the tree-lined road, Winter stared at the bodyguards by those cars, and her heart sank.
They were Chris’s men. They had come from the other road to cut her off.
A black Bentley sped up behind her.
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Was there really no way out?
She didn’t want to be locked up at Blackwood Manor for another two weeks.
Her speed didn’t drop at all. Gritting her teeth, Winter made up her mind to ram straight through.
But just then, several beams of headlights flashed in from both sides. The glare hit her so hard she instinctively slammed on the brakes.
Her body lurched forward with the force.
When she looked up, she saw the door of one of the cars with its lights on swing open. Sean stepped out, wearing a dark gray overcoat.
Looking at her through the windshield, he moved his lips and said, “Get out p>
Winter shoved open the car door.
At the same time, the driver’s door of the Bentley behind her swung open. Chris stepped out. A faint trace of ash clung to his fingers.
Chris looked at Winter as she got out of the car, his gaze dark and unreadable, and started toward her.
At the same moment, Sean moved too.
Both men were the same distance from her. Sean couldn’t match Chris’s reflexes, but just as Chris was about to catch hold of her, Winter stepped forward without hesitation and walked toward Sean instead.
“William is waiting for you in the car,” Sean said, moving her behind him.
Winter froze for a second. Then she spotted a black van parked off to the side.
Was William out of his mind?
Sean looked at Chris from across the way. “I didn’t think we’d be seeing each other again this soon. I have proof that Skyla hired someone to kill Winter. Even if she hadn’t given herself away, I still would’ve found her. So how about we make a deal p>
“What kind of deal?” Chris asked. His dark eyes were unreadable, his mind replaying the image of Winter walking toward another man.
Sean’s tone remained calm and steady.
“The Zeller family will drop the matter with Skyla. In return, you leave Winter alone p>
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Florence
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.