Page 59 of In Her Fears
“What are you talking about?”he’d asked.
“Don’t insult my intelligence,” Elias had snarled.“I’ve seen the way you look at each other.I found your messages on her phone.”
Lina had begun to cry then, silent tears that tracked down her cheeks and dripped onto the front of her summer dress.“Elias, please,” she’d whispered.“It’s not what you think.”
“Not what I think?”Elias had laughed, a harsh sound devoid of humor.“Are you going to tell me you haven’t been sleeping with my best friend for the past six months?That you haven’t been lying to my face every day?”
Eric had remained silent.Part of him had wanted to confess everything, to beg for forgiveness.But another part—the part that had loved Lina with a desperate intensity—had demanded that he stand his ground, declare that their love was real despite the circumstances of its birth.
Before he could speak, Lina had scrambled to her feet, wine sloshing from her glass onto the blanket.“I can’t do this,” she’d sobbed.“I can’t.”And then she’d fled, stumbling through the trees and back toward the house, leaving the two men alone in the clearing.
The silence that followed had been absolute.Elias had stared at Eric with a cold fury that made the blood freeze in his veins.
“She was everything to me,” Elias had said finally, his voice eerily calm.“And you took her.”
Eric had opened his mouth to respond, but Elias had already turned away, stalking into the darkness of the forest, away from the clearing, away from his house.
Now, sitting in his parked car seven years later, Eric grimaced at the memory.He’d sat in that clearing for nearly an hour after both Elias and Lina had fled, drinking what remained of the wine and trying to decide what to do.Finally, fueled by alcohol and a sense of righteous indignation, he’d made his decision.
If Lina truly loved him, as she’d claimed during their clandestine meetings, then this was the moment for her to prove it.He would go to her, demand that she leave Elias once and for all.They would start fresh somewhere else, away from the small-town gossip and judgment.
The secret tunnel had been his means of entering the Harrow house undetected for months.A relic from the Underground Railroad days, it connected a hidden entrance in the woods to a concealed door in the house’s cellar.Elias had shown it to him years ago, proud of his family’s history of aiding escaped slaves.Eric had later used that tunnel to facilitate his affair with Lina, slipping into the house when Elias was away.And Eric had snuck through that tunnel just a few days ago to see the painting that would inspire Alexis Downey’s death.
The night of the picnic, the tunnel had seemed darker than usual, the air thicker, as if the earth itself disapproved of his intentions.He’d navigated by touch and memory, emerging finally into the musty cellar.The studio had been unoccupied, the house above quiet, no sign of Elias.
He’d found Lina in the bedroom, curled on the edge of the bed.Her eyes had been red and swollen from crying, her movements sluggish.Empty pill bottles and a half-empty glass of wine had sat on the nightstand—she’d been self-medicating again, a habit that had worsened as their affair had deepened.
“Eric,” she’d said, her voice slurred.“You shouldn’t be here.He’ll be back soon.”
“Pack a bag,” he’d told her, standing in the doorway.“We’re leaving.Tonight.”
She’d looked at him with confusion clouding her glassy eyes.“Leaving?”
“Together,” he’d said.“This is our chance, Lina.He knows about us.There’s no reason to hide anymore.”
But instead of the joyful agreement he’d expected, Lina shook her head slowly.“No, Eric.I can’t leave him.”
“What are you saying?After everything we’ve shared?After all the promises?”
“It was a mistake,” she’d whispered, not meeting his eyes.“All of it.I love Elias.I’ve always loved Elias.”
“That’s the pills talking,” he’d insisted, moving closer.“The guilt.Once we’re away from here—”
“No.”Despite her intoxicated state, her voice had been firm.“It’s over, Eric.It should never have begun.Please leave.”
The rejection had hit him like a physical blow.For months, she’d whispered her love into his ear, had promised a future together once she found the courage to leave her marriage.And now, when that future was finally possible, she was choosing Elias?
“You don’t mean that,” he’d said, his voice hardening.“After everything he said tonight?”
“We betrayed him, Eric,” Lina had replied, tears flowing freely now.“We hurt him.I can’t compound that by leaving him.”
Something had snapped inside Eric then.All the love he'd felt for Lina curdled into rage.If she weren't his, if she were choosing Elias despite everything...
He’d spotted the letter opener on her dresser—a silver thing with an ornate handle, a gift from Elias on some forgotten anniversary.Without conscious thought, he’d grabbed it.
“If you won’t come with me,” he’d said, his voice strangely calm, “then you can’t stay with him either.”
The confusion in her eyes had shifted to fear as she’d registered the blade in his hand.“Eric, please—”
