Seven Years a Shadow: The Stand-In's Escape novel Chapter 33

Benson frowned as he stared at Eliza, who was barely clinging to life. Without even taking off his coat, he jumped into the pool.

He glanced at Eliza, made sure she wouldn't drown immediately, then turned to pull Isolde to safety.

"Benson, I knew you'd save me."

Listening to Isolde's relieved sobs, Eliza closed her eyes, resigned.

She was so naive. How could Benson possibly save her?

When Eliza was finally sent back to her room, she was burning with fever.

After taking a few pills prescribed by the doctor, she fell into a deep, restless sleep.

Eliza tossed and turned, plagued by nightmares.

In her dream, Benson, covered in blood, glared at her. "You did this to me, Eliza. You caused me to lose my eyesight. I'll make you pay for this."

"It wasn't me."

Eliza jolted awake, covered in cold sweat and gasping for air.

Two years ago, while Benson was driving her through a tunnel, the brakes had suddenly failed.

A car came barreling through the one-way tunnel, recklessly crashing into theirs.

In that moment of impact, she had passed out.

When she opened her eyes again, it was half a month later.

Since Benson got together with Isolde, he kept bringing up that incident. "Is it possible that it was related to Isolde?" Eliza wondered.

Then her heart raced. She fumbled for her phone and dialed. "Simon, could you look into the car accident from two years ago? I have a feeling it wasn't an accident."

After hanging up, she tried to calm herself. Suddenly, footsteps echoed outside her door.

Isolde entered, holding a steaming bowl of soup. "Benson heard you were feeling unwell yesterday, so he asked me to make this nourishing soup for you. Why don't you give it a try?"

Isolde raised the spoon to Eliza's lips.

Her chest heaved, breaths quickening as if something was churning inside her, suffocating her.

Desperately, she shoved her fingers down her throat, forcing herself to vomit the soup, which mixed with stomach acid all over the place.

She kept scraping at her throat blindly. She wouldn't allow a trace of Lucky's taste to linger in her stomach.

Watching Eliza struggle, Isolde grabbed her hair and roughly yanked her toward the ground.

She pressed Eliza's face down onto the shards of broken porcelain.

Glancing at Eliza's bloodied face, Isolde leaned in close to her ear and taunted, "Look at you now. Even a dog is better off than you, and yet you think you can protect one?"

Eliza lay on the ground, heartbroken, her fingers digging into her palms. It was her fault—she couldn't save Lucky. She felt like she deserved to die for it.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed at the door. It was Benson.

Eliza practically leaped up from the floor, like she'd found a lifeline, and rushed to Benson. She dropped to her knees in front of him, her voice choked with emotion. "Isolde killed Lucky. You know Lucky is my everything. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have made it these past two years."