Chapter 69

Blake’s POV

Audrey tumbled down the stairs before I could react. Her slight frame hit each step with sickening thuds that echoed through the marble halls, finally coming to rest in a crumpled heap at the bottom.

In that split second, it felt as if I didn’t know how to breathe. Without conscious thought, my body was already moving toward her, driven by an instinct I couldn’t understand.

But just as I had descended two steps, a voice came from behind me.

“Blake darling…” Laurel slumped to the ground, clutching her neck, her voice filled with misery. “It hurts… I can’t breathe…”

I froze mid–stride, torn between the woman lying at the bottom of the stairs and the one currently on the ground, one hand pressed dramatically to her neck. The sound of Laurel’s labored breathing filled the silence.

“I can’t breathe… Blake… please…”

Her cancer. As I thought this, my eyes drifted to where Audrey lay. She was already pushing herself up, using the banister for support.

The weight of my promise from five years ago pressed down on me like a physical thing,

I let out a sign, turned back, catching her just as her knees buckled. “Laurel? Are you alright?”

Her skin felt cold and clammy as I lifted her into my arms. She curled into me immediately, her body trembling. ‘It hurts… everything hurts…”

I didn’t respond but stared at Audrey downstairs. The sight of her managing on her own helped ease the knot of guilt in my chest. She was fine. She had to

be.

Audrey’s POV

The world tilted and spun as I struggled to push myself up from the floor. Each movement sent waves of agony through my body.

Compared to the physical pain, the grief welling up in my heart at this moment swept over me like a tidal wave. Here I was, having just tumbled down an entire flight of stairs, while Laurel played the victim in Blake’s arms.

banister tighter, forcing my trembling legs to hold my weight. A small, bitter laugh escaped

drifted down. “Don’t worry about me… check

fine, don’t

have easily broken every bone in my body – the fact that I was even conscious was nothing short of miraculous. The height of those stairs… I should

push her…” Her voice cracked, the picture of regret. “She was choking me… I couldn’t

so easily. I watched as Blake pulled her closer, his protective instincts fully engaged by her masterful

murmured. “It wasn’t

quavered. ‘I need to hear it from Miss Sinclair herself… I need to know

fury in my chest. After pushing me down a flight of stairs,

Blake’s voice carried that familiar edge of command. “Come up here and tell Laurel you

I forced myself to stand straighter, ignoring the

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Chapter 69

met their eyes – Blake’s cold stare

down these stairs. If I hadn’t been lucky, I’d be dead right now.” My voice came out steady. She hasn’t shown an ounce of remorse, and

knew it… she

eyes darted to Laurel’s increasingly pallid face. Within seconds, his phone

“She’s unwell, and you attacked her first. She just defended herself. That makes you even.

I’d foolishly allowed myself to feel it all turned to ash in my mouth. A

grabbed her.” I said calmly. “She saw me desperate to find Snow, then deliberately said

hardened. ‘But it was barely a touch, and you know

with his. “Look at her neck. Show me these terrible marks I supposedly

flew to her throat. But Blake had already seen. His grip

in his expression

despite the pain. “But she made sure I hit every step on the way down. You want me

I walked towards to the door. There was no point staying here to watch their romantic performance – not

froze me mid–step, accompanied by

Michael stood in the doorway, a cat carrier dangling from his

the stairs and the tableau

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