Chapter 253: Chapter 253: Her Suffering, Her Husband Turns a Blind Eye
Eleanor Crawford walked back to the hospital alone, saw the doctor alone, and picked up her prescription alone.
When she opened her phone to pay, she saw a social media post someone had shared a short while ago.
It was a selfie of a young man eating ice cream.
The caption read: "Got chewed out, so I ordered my favorite mango ice cream."
Next to him, familiar cufflinks were faintly visible.
Eleanor Crawford’s tears fell, drop by drop, onto her phone screen.
’What a handsome kid... but his heart is more venomous than a viper’s.’
’But who can blame him... when he has someone to spoil him?’
’It’s precisely Miles Grant’s attitude of scolding him one minute and placating him the next that has made him so utterly lawless!’
Her phone suddenly buzzed softly. A message from him popped up.
"Eleanor, Miles told me to apologize to you. I want to say sorry in person. Can we meet?"
Eleanor Crawford gripped her phone tightly.
In the past, she would never have replied. She would have let him run wild, anything to de-escalate the situation and avoid causing trouble for Miles Grant.
This time, she typed out a single word: Okay!
He sent an address.
「Twenty minutes later.」
Eleanor Crawford, a bandage on her face, appeared at the designated location.
A black motorcycle was already waiting there.
The person on the bike watched her through their helmet’s visor.
Just then, a call came from Miles Grant.
Eleanor Crawford answered but said nothing.
"Eleanor," Miles Grant said over the phone. "I just gave Ian a stern talking-to. He knows he was wrong, and he promised me it won’t happen again. He’s still just a kid. Don’t be too hard on him."
The "kid" Miles Grant was referring to was currently smirking—a vicious, arrogant expression. His eyes were just as cold and defiant as ever, showing no trace of remorse.
’Twenty years old, and still a kid?’
Eleanor Crawford didn’t understand how Miles Grant could let him bully her time and again, yet firmly believe each time that he would turn over a new leaf.
’Is it simply because I’m an orphan with no one to back me up? Because he can bully me without consequence, knowing no one will come to my defense?’
VROOOM—
Once again, the motorcycle charged brazenly toward her.
He intended to toy with her just like before!
Eleanor Crawford ran to the side.
The rider’s laugh grew more arrogant and wicked as he looked at her like she was an idiot.
The instant Eleanor saw the motorcycle was about to scrape past her, she lunged!
She clung desperately to the person on the bike.
The bike tilted.
BANG!
The two of them fell together.
Startled cars speeding over the bridge swerved to avoid them, their tires grazing dangerously close to their heads as a cacophony of horns erupted.
The one Eleanor Crawford was clinging to showed no fear, only brazen provocation. "Tsk tsk, Eleanor. This is a bad move. If anything happens to me, you’ll be in a world of trouble."
Eleanor Crawford didn’t answer. Instead, she locked his neck in the crook of her arm and began to drag him.
"As I thought, you’re always such a coward," the man tutted.
Only when Eleanor Crawford pushed him against the railing, with half his body hanging in the air and he saw the vast river below the bridge, did he finally show nervousness. "What are you doing?"
"Let’s die together," Eleanor Crawford said through gritted teeth, her arm around his neck tightening. "Since you’re never going to leave me alone, we might as well die here together!"
Eleanor Crawford’s eyes were filled with absolute resolve.
Her arm pressed into his throat like a knife.
"Ah!"
"Miles, save me!"
The man shouted in panic.
Eleanor Crawford’s phone, which had fallen to the ground, was still connected, and Miles Grant on the other end heard his shouts.
"Ian, Ian."
"Eleanor, why are you with Ian? Where are you!"
Eleanor Crawford didn’t want to hear another word from Miles Grant.
’Her status meant that fighting with Ian Jacobs would always put her at a disadvantage.’
’Before, she couldn’t bear to part with Miles Grant, couldn’t bear to lose the career she’d worked so hard for, couldn’t bear to give up her high status.’
’Now, she was ready to give it all up!’
SPLASH!
A huge splash erupted on the calm surface of the river!
The immense impact felt like it was tearing Eleanor Crawford apart, but her only feeling was: Relief!
Eleanor Crawford never expected to open her eyes again.
The moment she met Miles Grant’s eyes, her heart sank.
’Even in death, she didn’t want to see this man again.’
The man’s hand held hers. "Eleanor, how could you be so crazy? How could you do something like forcing Ian to jump into the water!"
"Do you have any idea what the consequences will be? You’re going to destroy yourself!"
Eleanor Crawford coldly pulled her hand away.
Her fingers dug tightly into the bedsheets.
It took all her effort to suppress the trembling at the corners of her mouth.
Miles Grant looked at Eleanor Crawford and sighed softly.
"I know you’ve been wronged over the years, but Ian is just a kid. And if Dad and Grandma find out about this... how disappointed will they be?"
At the mention of Julian Grant and Old Mrs. Grant, Eleanor Crawford could no longer suppress her emotions, and tears streamed down her face.
Mr. Grant and Old Mrs. Grant had never held her orphan status against her. They had supported her through school, and later, Old Mrs. Grant had taken her in and raised her as her own.
She owed them a debt of gratitude she could never repay...
"What is this nonsense about disappointment?"
A gentle voice laced with coldness came from the doorway, and Sophia Shaw slowly walked in.
She walked past Miles Grant, bent down, and took Eleanor Crawford’s hand. "Chloe didn’t push anyone into the water. They just both accidentally fell into the river. That’s all."
Surprise flashed in Eleanor Crawford’s tear-filled eyes as she looked at Sophia Shaw.
Sophia Shaw squeezed her hand and shook her head.
"If Mr. Grant doesn’t believe me, he can go ask the young man who fell in with her."
She was no longer calling Eleanor Crawford ’sister-in-law,’ having switched to ’sister.’
And she was no longer calling Miles Grant ’Brother,’ either.
Miles Grant was taken aback.
"How is that possible... Ian clearly..."
"By the way, I checked the age of that Ian Jacobs. He’s twenty this year. You’re considered an adult at eighteen. Can you still call a twenty-year-old a ’little kid’?"
Miles Grant froze.
It was as if he was only now realizing that Ian Jacobs was past the threshold of adulthood.
Sophia Shaw had always been gentle and soft-spoken, but her words today were particularly sharp and confrontational. Miles Grant didn’t know what to say, and only muttered, "I... I’ll go find Ian and get this cleared up."
He turned and quickly left.
"Faye." Eleanor Crawford squeezed her hand back. "How did you..."
Sophia Shaw’s gaze fell on her face, full of heartache. "I saw everything."
When Eleanor Crawford had called her, she was busy, so Jacobs answered.
Jacobs heard a jumble of chaotic sounds and recorded it for her to listen to.
After hearing the roar of the motorcycle and Miles Grant’s voice, she realized something was wrong and had Jacobs trace the IP address of Eleanor Crawford’s phone.
Fortunately, Eleanor Crawford was using her personal phone, so the IP address wasn’t hard to trace. They quickly found out she was at the hospital.
When Sophia Shaw arrived, she only saw her hurrying into a car, a bandage still on her face.
She followed, arriving just in time to see the moment she dragged Ian into the river with her!
"So, you were the one who saved me?" Eleanor Crawford asked softly.
Sophia Shaw nodded. "Don’t worry, that Ian will change his story."
Eleanor Crawford gripped her hand tightly, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside her.
’It turned out that Ian wasn’t impossible to handle; it was just that Miles Grant never wanted to handle him.’
’After all the injustices she had suffered, the one who finally stood up for her wasn’t the husband she was supposed to rely on, but... Sophia Shaw, someone she barely even spoke with.’
Before long, Ian indeed appeared in the hospital room, sitting in a wheelchair.
"Sh-she didn’t... she didn’t lay a hand on me. I just... I fell off my motorcycle, and she was helping me up. We just accidentally fell into the river."
"I wasn’t thinking clearly earlier. That’s why I thought she was trying to hurt me."
Ian’s gaze recoiled as if burned the moment it met Eleanor Crawford’s.
Sophia Shaw quickly sent the two of them away.
Eleanor Crawford looked at Sophia Shaw. "What on earth did you do to him? How did he become so obedient?"
