CHAPTER 160

ALEXANDER

I looked into the hazel eyes that I had once drowned in as she glared back at me.

“You’re hurting me!” Darlene managed to choke out, and something snapped in the red haze that seemed to have coated my senses, dulling them.

I relaxed my grip around her neck instantly, my eyes widening when I realized what I had done as my wife turned around to cough up air, knocking a hand against her ribs.

“I’m...I’m sorry Dar, I didn't mean to -” I started, but the woman raised a hand in dismissal, backing away from me even though the hate swimming in her once soft eyes was enough to pin me in place, making the breath halt in my chest.

“I’m not leaving the manor because of that whore! Where would we go? No! I refuse it,” Darlene spat acidly, and I felt tendrils of frustration tug at my eyelids before I rocked on my feet, steeling myself.

My mother had always told me to take some time and count to ten, whenever I felt the lapse coming like I was on the edge of a cliff looking down into an in