A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 1089

Hearing her spell out the fundamental difference between their situations, a bitter smile tugged at Herbert's lips.

Women... you truly couldn't afford to hurt them. Once you did, they would keep a running tally of your sins forever. It was a hurdle that seemed impossible to cross.

"It won't happen again," he promised.

He would never hurt her again. His entire goal this time was to pull her entirely out of the toxic swamp of their past and sever her ties to all those conflicting interests. With those out of the picture, why would he ever harm her?

Reading his thoughts, Starla let out a soft laugh. "Who knows what you'll decide you want next."

What he wanted next?

"I won't," Herbert said, his voice firm and unwavering. No matter what happened, he was never letting her go.

Starla, of course, didn't believe a single word. No matter how resolute he sounded right now, it meant nothing to her.

Herbert reached out and gently stroked her hair. "The town is crawling with my men. Don't even think about running, okay?"

Hearing that his men were everywhere, she looked up at him. He truly had anticipated her every move.

"You're still injured. If you try to run now, you're the one who'll suffer for it," he added. "Even if you want to fight me on this, at least wait until you're fully healed. Deal?"

Not only was she physically wounded, but it was freezing outside. Making a run for it would be pure agony. And realistically, she wouldn't get far.

"As you can see, my leg is injured. How could I possibly run?"

He had even shot her in the leg—was that part of his plan to keep her from escaping too? He had orchestrated every single detail with terrifying precision. He was a deeply frightening man.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Starla instinctively flinched away. But a second later, he gently took her face in his hands, tilted it back toward him, and planted the kiss anyway.

"You're crossing the line!" she snapped.

"You just need to slowly get used to being with me like this."

The man behind the gold-rimmed glasses looked cultured and refined, but his presence made Starla's blood run cold.

"You've been enjoying it all week. Why the sudden change of heart?"

Her appetite had been great. Now, she suddenly hated it? It didn't take a genius to figure out it was because she had just realized he was the one making it.

Starla stared at him with freezing detachment, offering no explanation.

"You're not going to like the local food here," Herbert said softly. "I just want you to get better quickly."

She was injured; she needed good food to recover.

"Hypocrite," she spat.

His claim that he "just wanted her to get better" made her physically nauseous.

Hearing the word "hypocrite," Herbert's chest tightened painfully. Suddenly, he understood exactly why she had grown so incredibly distant from Fairfax.

In her eyes, Fairfax was nothing but a massive hypocrite. And now, she had tossed Herbert right into the exact same category. To her, everything they did was sickeningly fake.