A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 887

In the past, Starla had absolutely refused to listen to a single word of explanation from Fairfax. Now, she was doing the exact same thing to Herbert regarding Brinley.

Thinking about how fractured Starla and Herbert's relationship had become, a dark thrill of satisfaction surged through Fairfax.

*Let them fight,* he thought. They were never meant to be together anyway.

"The situation right now is critically unstable. She has to stay in Yoran," Herbert stated flatly.

"Hah!"

"If you insist on dragging her to Cyrus Sea, you're practically handing her a death sentence!" Herbert's voice was sharp as cracked ice.

But Fairfax didn't believe a word of it.

"As long as she's willing..." Fairfax trailed off. He didn't need to finish the sentence. If Starla agreed to go to Cyrus Sea, he would mobilize every resource he had to smuggle her out of Yoran immediately.

Fairfax's sheer stubbornness made Herbert's blood boil.

"You've already put her through hell once. Are you really trying to ruin her again?"

Herbert hadn't wanted to waste his breath arguing with Fairfax, but Starla's current mindset had him deeply panicked. She was a hair's breadth away from bolting out of Yoran.

"I would never hurt her!" Fairfax roared.

"Constantly whispering in her ear, urging her to leave Yoran—that is pushing her into a dead end!"

Herbert absolutely refused to believe that Fairfax wasn't fueling Starla's desperate urge to flee. Regret tasted like ash in Herbert's mouth. He should have put a bullet in Fairfax back in Marina City. Even though Starla was thoroughly disillusioned with her ex-husband, he was clearly still getting inside her head.

"Me? Pushing her to a dead end?" Fairfax laughed bitterly. "Who the hell is the one shattering her heart into pieces this time?!"

Clearly, in Amos's eyes, Starla returning to Yoran had been a catastrophic mistake. Going back was inherently a dead end.

Fairfax was already agitated, and Amos's assessment only fueled the fire. He took a vicious drag of his cigarette.

"Herbert claims that woman wasn't what I thought. He says she wasn't his 'true love.' If she wasn't, then why the hell is he moving heaven and earth for her sister?"

He had to admit, he never expected Harriet Seabrook to be so deeply connected, or for Brinley to have this hidden layer of protection.

"Bullshit. There's no way she isn't his 'true love'," Amos declared without hesitation.

Aside from lingering romantic devotion, neither of them could fathom why Herbert would act as a human shield for Brinley. If it was purely business... well, Herbert was a mercenary at heart. But even that didn't fully track.

"There is one thing that doesn't make sense, though," Amos mused. "Why wouldn't Yardley side with his own sister this time? I refuse to believe he doesn't know exactly what went down between his sister and Brinley back in Marina City."