CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER HUNDRED AND TWENTY

The moon hung high in the night sky, a cold, white eye watching over the sleeping Thompson estate. The garden was now a landscape of grey shadows and rustling leaves. The wind blew through the trees, making a low, whistling sound that felt like a warning.

Ashlyn sat on the stone bench in the pavilion. She was wrapped in a thick cloak to protect herself from the chill, her hand resting protectively over her stomach. She wasn’t looking at the garden. She was looking at the moon, her face hard and pale.

She heard footsteps on the gravel path. They were fast, impatient steps.

Senna walked into the pavilion. She looked tired and annoyed. Her usual perfect appearance was a bit messy. Her hair was loose, and her dress was simple. She didn’t see the dark figure crouching in the shadows behind the stone pillar.

Senna curtsied, but it was a quick, disrespectful dip.

"Why summon me this late at night, Lady Ashlyn?" Senna asked, her voice sharp. She looked around the empty garden. "I am busy. My maid, Esme, is missing. She left this afternoon to find me new lodging in the city, and she hasn’t returned. I am worried. I don’t have time for your games."

Ashlyn turned her head slowly. She looked at Senna with eyes that burned with a cold fire.

"You don’t have time?" Ashlyn whispered. "But you had time to plan my death."

Senna frowned. "I don’t know what you are talking about."

Ashlyn stood up. She moved to the side, revealing the space behind the bench.

"Look," Ashlyn commanded.

Senna looked. Her eyes widened.

Dr. Aris was there. The physician Ashlyn had hired was tied up with thick ropes. His mouth was gagged with a cloth, but Ashlyn reached down and ripped it off. He was kneeling on the cold stone, shivering violently. His face was bruised, and he looked terrified.

Senna took a step back. Her heart skipped a beat. How did she catch him? she thought. I thought he ran away.

Ashlyn pointed a trembling finger at Senna.

"You witch!" Ashlyn screamed. Her voice echoed in the quiet night. "You knew! You knew everything!"

Ashlyn walked closer to Senna, closing the distance between them.

"You knew I hired Dr. Aris to fake the pregnancy report," Ashlyn accused. "But when he examined me privately... he found the truth. He found out I was really pregnant. He confirmed it a day ago!"

Ashlyn’s chest heaved with anger.

"And you found out," she hissed. "You threatened him into silence. You paid him to keep it a secret from me. And then... knowing there was a real baby inside me... you gave me that poison pill."

Ashlyn grabbed the front of Senna’s dress.

"That pill wasn’t a prop!" Ashlyn shouted. "It causes bleeding! It causes contractions! You gave a pregnant woman a drug to force a miscarriage!"

Ashlyn shook Senna.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Ashlyn asked, tears of rage welling in her eyes. "Are you trying to kill my son?"

Senna pushed Ashlyn’s hands away. She smoothed her dress, composing her face into a mask of shock.

"What nonsense is this?" Senna said, her voice calm. "I don’t really know this man. I haven’t met him before. You are confused, Lady Ashlyn. perhaps the grief of your ’miscarriage’ has made you see things."

Ashlyn looked down at the doctor.

"Speak!" Ashlyn ordered. "Tell her what you told me!"

Dr. Aris looked at Senna, then at Ashlyn. He saw the rage in Ashlyn’s eyes. He knew he had no protector here.

"My Lady..." Dr. Aris stammered, looking at Senna with fear. "She... she paid me. She met me outside the estate. She gave me gold."

Senna glared at him, her eyes promising pain, but the doctor continued.

"She told me not to inform you about your pregnancy," Dr. Aris cried out. "She said, ’Let her think she is lying.’ She told me to proceed as planned. She said if I told you the truth, she would have my hands broken."

The truth hung in the air between them.

Ashlyn let out a sound of pure fury. She raised her hand.

SLAP!

It was a hard, stinging blow. Senna’s head snapped to the side. Her cheek turned red instantly.

Ashlyn breathed heavily, her hand stinging from the impact.

"You used me," Ashlyn said, her voice shaking. "You used me against Marissa. You pretended to be my ally. But all the while, that drug was harming me. It was killing my child."

Ashlyn stepped closer, her face inches from Senna’s.

"Your ’two birds with one stone’ scheme," Ashlyn spat. "Kill the child and it’s mother, frame the Duchess, sow discord into the family. It is truly despicable. You are a snake."

Senna slowly turned her face back to Ashlyn. She put a hand to her cheek. Her eyes were no longer soft. They were cold and hard, like amber stones. But she kept up the act for a moment longer.

"We have no quarrel, Lady Ashlyn," Senna said, her voice trembling with fake hurt. "Yet you frame me in the Grand Duke’s absence. You bring a lying doctor to accuse me. How dare you? I am a guest here."

"Still pretending?" Ashlyn laughed, a harsh, crazy sound. "There is no one here to watch your performance, Senna. Just us."

Ashlyn raised her hand again. She wanted to hit her. She wanted to hurt her for every moment of fear she had felt in that bed, wondering if her baby was dead.

"I’ll teach you a lesson this night," Ashlyn growled. "I will beat you until you admit it!"

She swung her hand down, aiming for Senna’s face again.

But this time, the hand didn’t land.

Senna’s hand shot up. She caught Ashlyn’s wrist in mid-air. Her grip was strong, surprisingly strong for a dancer. She held Ashlyn’s hand in place and gripped it tight, her nails digging into Ashlyn’s skin.

Ashlyn gasped, trying to pull back. "Let go!"

Senna didn’t let go. She stared at Ashlyn. The mask dropped completely. Her face twisted into a sneer of pure contempt.

"You are a fool," Senna thought. "You are weak. You stumble through your schemes like a child."

Senna looked at Ashlyn’s stomach. She looked at the stone steps of the pavilion, just a few feet away. The same steps Ashlyn had pretended to fall down earlier.

A dark, quick thought came to Senna’s mind.

"If a fake pregnancy can become real," Senna thought, her mind calculating the distance and the force needed.

She looked at Ashlyn, who was struggling uselessly against her grip. Then she looked at the hard, sharp edges of the stairs.

"Then fake bleeding can become a real miscarriage."

It was the perfect solution. If Ashlyn fell now... really fell... the baby would die. Ashlyn might die. And Senna could throw herself too, claiming the victim. She could say Ashlyn attacked her. The doctor was tied up; his word meant nothing.

Senna’s eyes narrowed. She shifted her weight. She pulled Ashlyn closer, preparing to shove her backward with all her strength.

"You want a lesson?" Senna whispered. "I will give you one."

Ashlyn sensed the change. She saw the murderous intent in Senna’s eyes. She felt the shift in Senna’s stance.

Panic flooded Ashlyn. She wasn’t acting this time. She was truly terrified.

"No!" Ashlyn cried. She tried to free her hand from Senna’s grip. She clawed at Senna’s arm with her free hand. "Let me go! Help!"

Senna ignored her. She tightened her grip. She braced herself.

She was about to push. She was about to end the threat once and for all.

But before Senna could unleash her strength, a deep voice boomed through the garden, cutting through the darkness like a blade.

"What is going on here?"

Both women froze.