Chapter 512: Fleeing at the Last Minute
Claire Sinclair was suddenly at a loss for words. She could feel the girl’s despair—a lifeless resignation, a surrender to her reality.
No wonder she wanted to live last night, but suddenly didn’t today.
’If I were in her shoes, I might also lose all hope for the future after having my beliefs shattered by someone.’
Ivy Tanner sighed softly, her tone still tinged with a smile. "Claire Sinclair, if it were you, what would you do?"
"Who else around you can you trust?" Claire Sinclair countered.
Ivy Tanner thought for a long time before shaking her head. "Besides Ethan Kingsley, no one treats me like a human being. Anyone I could have trusted has already been eliminated by them."
"So that’s why you came to me?"
Ivy Tanner smiled. "I’ve seen a lot of reports about you online, including the novel you were writing. Even though you stopped updating it, I can tell it’s the story of you and Young Master Quincy."
Claire Sinclair raised an eyebrow slightly. "And?"
"From your writing, and from the fact that Young Master Quincy chose you, I could tell you’re an upright person. I was just taking a gamble. Turns out, I won. You really did come looking for me."
"And yet you got cold feet at the last minute," Claire Sinclair pointed out.
Ivy Tanner was silent for a moment, then gave a helpless laugh. "Ethan Kingsley won’t help me, and you’ll always be an outsider. There’s no point in me coming to you."
"At the very least, I can publicize the truth about your domestic abuse and let the whole world keep an eye on the people who are hurting you. They would have to restrain themselves a little."
"Based on my understanding of them, if you expose my abuse, you’ll probably be able to write a new article in just a few days. I’ve even thought of the headlines for you: ’The Tanner Family’s Third Daughter Dies in an Accidental Fall From a Building,’ or ’...Drowns After Accidentally Falling Into a River’... Maybe I’ll be hit by a car, or even raped and murdered. Whatever the easiest way to kill me is, that’s how I’ll die."
Claire Sinclair unknowingly clenched her fists, demanding angrily, "If you’ve thought everything through so clearly, then why did you come looking for me?"
"I’m completely lost. Can you please show me a way forward?" This time, Ivy Tanner’s voice was finally a plea for help.
Claire Sinclair’s heart ached. It’s hard to see clearly when you’re in the thick of it; she couldn’t possibly understand one hundred percent of the girl’s suffering, but she could feel her helplessness.
After some thought, she finally replied, "While you’re still by Ethan Kingsley’s side, find a chance to lay your cards on the table. Tell him you’ve been feigning madness. Since he isn’t letting people hurt you, it proves he still has some feelings for you. I don’t think he’ll continue to stand by and do nothing."
Ivy Tanner pondered this for a long time. "If I go back to normal in front of him, I’ll become a stumbling block for his election campaign. He might be the first one to try and get rid of me. If not him, then his new fiancée, Corinne Linden."
Claire Sinclair frowned. "He wouldn’t be that ruthless, would he?"
Ivy Tanner smiled. "He drove his own two brothers to their deaths. What makes you think he’d spare me?"
Claire Sinclair: "..."
’It seems my understanding of Ethan Kingsley is far too shallow.’
Ivy Tanner let out a long breath, her voice filled with a world-weary tone as she slowly recounted the past. "Ethan Kingsley’s eldest brother committed suicide by jumping from a building. His wife followed him in death, leaving behind their one-year-old child who was sent abroad and has never returned. His second brother was imprisoned for smuggling, and his wife, three months pregnant at the time, was forced to remarry. I thought you would have known about these things."
Claire Sinclair said, "I have no interest in his past."
Now, she hadn’t just lost any good impression she had of the man; she was even beginning to feel a sense of malice toward him.
’I can’t believe he’s this kind of person. Vicious and scummy... He’s utterly depraved.’