Page 128 of The Quiet Wife
“I know. And I’m sorry to resort to it. It seemed like the only circumstance under which you would consider letting me go.”
His gaze was long and level. “I’m a man. It’s what men do.”
“Mr Bibby included? Does he have a string of mistresses across Liverpool?”
He just shrugged.
It was like a game. Who would back down first, and she feared he wasn’t moving. Aunt Agatha’s words rang in her ears about Frederick’s father, which was the last card she could play. It looked as though she might need it.
“Are you finished?” He moved as though he would stand up to leave.
“Well.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin once more, blood pumping in her ears. “I could always throw in the fact that your father didn’t leave the family to find work. He was a common criminal who was in fact deported. Would Bibby want the son of a thief at the helm of his company?”
Something ignited in his eyes. Naked, burning fury. She was immediately terrified she had gone too far.
He pushed back the chair. “How dare you,” he said, in a low voice. “How dare you come to me and make such demands? Spout such vile lies. How dare youthreatenme? Howdareyou? In my ownhome?” his voice grew louder and louder as he moved closer until he towered over her.
“You are mywife,” he bellowed. “You willbehavelike my wife.”
She flinched and closed her eyes but opened them again, refusing to cower.
He jabbed a finger near her nose. “You willnotgo to the press, and you will mostcertainlynot go to Bibby. Do you understand? I will lock you in your room and chain you to the bed if that is what it takes, but you willnotleave this house, and you will speak tono-one.”
“I’m afraid I shall.” She was shaking under his onslaught but held firm.
He raised his hand. She screamed as she flinched and backed away.
He grabbed her arms and shook her violently. “You will speak tono-oneof this. Do you understand?”
She screamed again, tilting her face away from his, trying to twist from his ferocious grip, but he was too strong.
“I will speak to whom I like,” she managed.
He released one arm and grabbed her by the throat.
His grip was tight. Fierce.
She couldn’t breathe.
She clawed at his hand, desperately trying to draw in air. There was something terrifying in his eyes as he brushed aside her other arm and laid both hands on her neck.
Of all his reactions, she neverreallythought he might kill her, but now it seemed he would. Her head pounded, her eyes hurt, and she simply couldn’t breathe. He really was going to kill her. She was going to die without ever seeing Jemie again. Without seeing her beloved children.
She twisted and tried to kick him, landing a blow on his shin. She grabbed at his face and clawed at it.
The door flew open.
It was Lizzie, with three footmen and the butler. Her eyes fluttered closed as Lizzie shrieked and launched herself at Frederick. The men grabbed his arms and tried to pull him off. They were shouting and berating him, but Frederick hung on tight. The determination in his eyes told her all she needed to know: that he was a monster capable of worse than she’d imagined.
She was losing all sense of her surroundings as her vision blurred and her head felt as though it might explode. She heard rather than saw William and Freddie shouting, and then she was free.
Edith and Lizzie held her up as she struggled to drag air into her lungs. Her legs gave way, but they held her firm. She coughed and wheezed as she tried to breathe, but even doubled over she saw Freddie land a fist on Frederick’s face again, then Alastair twisted her husband’s arm up his back, crashing his face onto his desk as he held the back of his head.
They only let him go when Frances was safely moved away from him. He staggered to his feet and stared at the people ranged in front of him, sweeping his hair back off his bruised and scratched face,panting. He swiped at the blood that trickled from his nose with the back of his hand.
“Did you tell him, love?” Lizzie asked loudly.
Frances nodded.
