Chapter 336 Don't Push Your Luck
Lilian froze.
"Will you confess on your own, or shall I bring her here to confront you?" Darwin continued.
"You really don't trust me?" Tears welled in Lilian's eyes.
"Why should I?" Darwin said through clenched teeth. "Lilian, if you hadn't saved my life, I would have cut you to pieces by now!"
His words felt like a physical blow to Lilian's heart. She stared at Darwin in disbelief. He had pursued her first; his downfall at Anniston's hands had left him in a vegetative state. Did he expect her to spend her best years in miserable loyalty to a man who might not wake up?
She had just made the choice any normal person would make!
As for him...
What pretense of profound love was this?
If he truly loved her, he would have moved heaven and earth to bring her back from Europe the moment he woke up!
Just like that time with Fiona when he so boldly claimed her as his own.
But he hadn't!
Instead, he had flown Fiona's flag, finding someone else to take her place.
And what happened? As the understudy continued playing the part, Darwin found himself genuinely falling for her! In doing so, he ignored Fiona completely!
"Of course, I was in touch with Hathaway, Darwin. I met Hathaway at a dinner party long before your engagement! What does that prove? What does knowing Hathaway have to do with what happened with Fiona?" Lilian was livid. "If anyone’s to blame for what happened to Fiona, it's you! Only you!"
Lilian seemed to have gone completely mad.
Pointing at Darwin, she unleashed a torrent of curses. "If you had been committed and faithful, Fiona wouldn't have been driven to her death! She had a fiery spirit. Do you think she died without detesting you?!"
Darwin turned pale.
He fixed his gaze firmly on Lilian.
And Lilian let herself go completely. "Didn't you say you owed me your life? I'm calling in that debt now! Once it’s been repaid, we'll be done for good, fair and square!"
"What debt are you talking about?!"
At that moment, a cold and commanding voice echoed from the doorway.
Darwin froze.
Lilian's eyes shone with spite. "Chelsea!"
Fiona walked in with her arms crossed and a chill demeanor, unfazed.
"I've read all about your little scandals on the way here, Miss Robbins," she said in an even tone. "It’s interesting how you manage to look so pristine in public, but so sullied in the shadows."
"I should have known you were the one behind this!" Lilian hissed, then with a scoff, she attempted to sow discord. "You do realize I'm Darwin's first love, right? Is that why you're so bitter and intent on having Darwin destroy me?"
"No!" Darwin interjected forcefully.
Fiona remained silent.
Earlier that morning, she had breakfast with Charles and Chicago, and as she reached for her phone to deal with some business, notifications about Lilian popped up.
She had been shocked after watching that surveillance footage.
She had always known that Lilian wasn't as innocent as she seemed, but she never imagined that Lilian would have the audacity to deceive Darwin about this.
Shortly after checking the trending topics, Stuart rushed over to speak to Fiona. Darwin had gone to the Klein Mansion in a fury and had been inside for over ten minutes.
"Could his embarrassment and rage have driven him to kill her? Is he dismembering the body now?" Stuart often pictured Darwin in the worst possible scenarios.
For a while, Stuart was convinced of something truly macabre he'd heard about Darwin - that he had a twisted taste for the flesh of children and had been procuring seemingly innocent youngsters from the black market.
It was just a rumor, of course.
But Stuart had his suspicions.
He would often tell Janna how fortunate it was that the young master and miss hadn’t been born under Darwin's care. Otherwise, they might have ended up in his wicked broth.
So, imagining Darwin carving up Lilian didn't seem all that far-fetched to Stuart.
Meanwhile, Chelsea wasted no time hurrying to the Klein Mansion.
She wanted Lilian to suffer, but not at Darwin's hands.
After all, she owed Darwin her life.
She couldn't let this go and risk being condemned by others or, worse, dwell on it herself and spiral into a dilemma.
Arms crossed, she approached Lilian with deliberate steps.
Darwin became visibly tense when he saw her close in and attempted to pull Chelsea back away from Lilian.
But before Darwin could react...
"Smack!" "Smack!" Two resounding slaps echoed through the room.
Chelsea's hands came down hard on Lilian.
Lilian was caught off-guard and stumbled back onto the bed.
She was stunned for a moment, then exploded in fury.
"Chelsea! Why did you hit me?"
Scrambling to her feet, she aimed to retaliate.
But Darwin swiftly wrapped his arms around Chelsea, yanking her behind him protectively.
"Don’t you dare touch her!" he warned with fierce intensity.
"Darwin! Snap out of it. Look at her! She’s Chelsea, not Fiona! She's been stirring up trouble with baseless accusations, trying to turn our relationship against each other!" Lilian shrieked like a madwoman.
"Your relationship? What relationship could you possibly have?" Chelsea retorted with a sneer. "Don’t tell me you've fooled yourself into thinking there's love between you and Darwin, Lilian."
Lilian's cheeks twitched with rage.
"Why did I hit you? How dare you even ask me that? You wanted me dead. Forget the slaps – if I skinned you alive right now, you'd have to take it!" Chelsea scoffed.
"I saved Darwin's life. I'm his savior. Would you dare harm me?" Lilian gloated, pride etched on her face.
"That might be your only lifeline," Chelsea replied coolly.
Then, she heard Darwin say, "You may have saved my life, but you’ve done nothing for her. Why shouldn’t she?"
Chelsea looked at Darwin, startled.
Hmm...
It seemed that the lie Lilian had concocted weighed heavily on him – so much so that he seemed ready to let Chelsea carve up Lilian herself.
"Darwin... What are you saying?" Lilian's voice was laced with disbelief.
"Do whatever you want," Darwin said, glancing at Fiona, his bloodshot eyes filled with weariness and self-mockery. "I won't intervene."
Fiona looked at him, her gaze intense. This was exactly what she had wanted initially. So why did she feel no joy hearing these words from Darwin now?
Furrowing her brows, she turned her attention back to Lilian. "Didn't you just say you wanted to settle things with him and then be done with it?"
Fiona's voice had a sneer when she spoke. "Go ahead, tell me what he owes you... Just a friendly heads-up. Don’t get ahead of yourself, and keep it realistic." "