Chapter 6
Dominic did not wait for Eleanor to recover from her shock. He turned his back on his wife and stepped directly up to the hanging ropes that suspended Clara above the wet stone floor. With practiced, efficient movements, he reached up to the iron cleat where the heavy hemp line was secured. Eleanor pushed herself away from the glass doors, her face twisted in a mixture of fury and desperate betrayal. "You can't do this, Dominic! She's a nobody! She'll ruin us!" Eleanor screamed over the noise of the rain, abandoning all pretense of aristocratic calm. Dominic ignored her entirely, his jaw clenched as he untied the knot that had kept the young maid bound in the freezing downpour. The thick rope uncoiled with a heavy thud against the balcony tiles. Clara’s legs buckled the second the tension released, and she would have collapsed onto the hard stone if Dominic hadn't caught her by the shoulders. He supported her weight effortlessly, guiding her down until she was sitting safely against the warm brick wall beside the doorway. Clara’s breath came in ragged gasps, her trembling hands instinctively wrapping around her raw, bleeding wrists. Dominic reached into the interior pocket of his dark suit and pulled out a clean linen handkerchief, handing it down to the shivering girl without a word. Clara took it with shaking fingers, pressing the soft fabric against her torn skin. Eleanor stood a few feet away, her chest heaving as she realized her carefully constructed web of lies had completely unraveled. "You planned this," Eleanor whispered, her voice laced with venom as she stared at her husband. "You used her to trap me." Dominic stood up slowly, towering over his wife with an expression of profound disappointment. "I used the truth to test your loyalty, Eleanor, and you chose greed and cruelty every single time," Dominic replied quietly. He looked down at Clara, who was slowly regaining her strength under the shelter of the doorway. The rain continued to fall, washing away the dirt and blood from the balcony floor, but it could not wash away the ugliness that had been exposed between them. Dominic gestured for one of the security guards waiting inside the manor to step out onto the terrace. A heavy-set man in a dark uniform emerged from the shadows, casting a sympathetic glance toward Clara before turning his stoic gaze upon the mistress of the house.
