Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 53

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Randal stood there, a terrifying aura of hostility radiating from him. His dark, heavy gaze locked onto Eleanor, his voice cutting like ice. "Who told you to come here?"

Eleanor spun around, her face twisted in shock. "Randal? What are you doing here?"

A second later, the reality of the situation dawned on her, and her fury surged. "Are you out of your mind? You moved to a place like this for a woman?"

"Where I live is none of your business, Ms. Sinclair."

"I am your mother!" Eleanor shrieked, all traces of her aristocratic poise vanishing in an instant.

Randal let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh, his eyes hollow with despair. "Now you remember you're my mother? I thought your only son was Jace. If he were still alive, you wouldn't bat an eye even if I died in the gutter."

Eleanor's face turned deathly pale, a violent tremor wracking her body. "How can you say that? I carried you for nine months! Everything I said was for your own..."

"You were right about one thing, though," Randal cut her off ruthlessly, sparing a fleeting glance at Willa.

"Without the Yates family, I'm nothing. No one would ever truly care about me. So, you don't need to waste your energy worrying about who I marry. The daughter-in-law you handpicked was never meant for me anyway."

A wicked, agonizing smile crept onto his lips as he deliberately pushed her over the edge. "By the way, didn't Scarlett tell you? Your golden boy died in that car crash because of me."

"Randal... you... you won't stop until you put me in an early grave..." Eleanor pointed a violently shaking finger at him. Completely abandoning her crusade against Willa, she turned and fled in a panicked rush.

Willa stood frozen in place, afraid to make a sound, her mind reeling in utter chaos.

Randal was burning everything to the ground, destroying himself just to inflict pain on his mother.

A moment later, the overwhelming, terrifying aggression rolling off him vanished without a trace. It was as if all the life had been abruptly sucked out of him, leaving him completely hollowed out.

Willa's heart gave a violent lurch. She slowly took a step toward him, softly calling out, "Randal?"

He didn't respond. He just stood there with his head bowed, seemingly deaf to her voice, trapped in a suffocating memory he couldn't escape.

She took another two steps closer. Only then did she see how horrifyingly pale he was. A sheen of cold sweat coated his forehead, his body trembling faintly. His lips were pressed into a tight, bloodless line, as if he were using every ounce of his willpower to hold something back.