A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 1030

Fairfax was suddenly at a loss for words.

He crossed the room in three strides, hauled her up from the sofa, and pulled her tightly against his chest. "No one is ever going to use you as a bargaining chip again."

"Ha!"

Starla let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

Anyone else in the world could make that promise, but coming from Fairfax Yelchin?

"You're exactly the same as them," she said, her voice laced with absolute venom.

To her, there was zero difference between Fairfax, Yardley, and Herbert. They were all cut from the same ruthless, manipulative cloth.

Fairfax's jaw tightened. He pulled her closer, his grip almost bruising.

He knew she was right. In her eyes, he was just as monstrous as the rest of them. He had no moral high ground to stand on.

He took a slow, ragged breath. "Brinley is dead. Can you finally let it go?"

He was begging her to drop the past.

He had personally orchestrated the end of the woman who had tormented her, hoping it would wipe the slate clean. He wanted a future with Starla.

No, not just a possibility of a future. No matter how much she hated him right now, he was never, ever letting her go.

Starla's eyes flashed with a dark, bitter light.

*Brinley is dead.*

Yes, the woman was dead. But the trauma, the psychological torture, and the physical scars Brinley had left behind? Those were permanently etched into Starla's soul. You don't just 'let go' of a lifetime of pain because the person who caused it stops breathing.

"Please," Fairfax whispered, his voice cracking slightly. "Forget about it. Just... forget her. Don't write me off completely because of what she did. Give me one more chance."

He was rushing it. He was pushing too hard.

Asking for a second chance right now was insane, and he knew Starla would never agree to it. But he was desperate. He needed some kind of reassurance that she would stay.

He knew she had been planning her escape from Sylvan Vale. Every single day, he lived in terror that he would turn around and she would be gone again.

She had begged him not to go to Brinley. If he had chosen to stay at Petal Villa just once—if he had put Starla first just a single time—maybe they would still have something left to salvage.

But he didn't. Every single time Brinley called, Fairfax dropped everything and ran to her.

Did he think about 'second chances' when he was walking out the door?

And now he wanted grace?

"I was wrong," Fairfax said, his voice raw. "I made a mistake. I was totally blind to who she really was!"

"And if she had been a good person, would that have made it acceptable for you to destroy me for her?" Starla fired back.

*Blind to who she was?* What a convenient excuse.

"Are you regretting that you didn't see her true colors? Or are you just regretting that choosing her meant you lost me?"

Fairfax was struck entirely speechless.