I Walked Away And He Fell Apart Chapter 08
The truth completely shattered Garland’s long-standing arrogance.
It finally hit him that he had backed Madelyn into an impossible corner—the woman who had once given him absolutely everything. He finally saw his terrible mistake for what it was—putting a vicious woman on a pedestal while treating the only person who actually mattered like dirt.
Garland looked up, reaching out to grab the hem of my dress.
“Maddie! I was wrong!” he pleaded. “I had no idea she framed you! I’m so sorry. Please forgive me, I was so blinded by anger I couldn’t think straight…”
Rayford kicked him away.
“Back off,” he said. “Don’t get her clothes dirty.”
Garland sprawled on the ground, his eyes wide with absolute despair.
Then, as if remembering something, he scrambled up and rushed straight back to the Ridgley’s mansion, tearing right into Sabrina’s courtyard.
Eyes bloodshot, he lunged at Sabrina and grabbed her by the throat.
Every single one of Sabrina’s scandals was dragged into the light. The duke’s family was completely ruined, becoming the biggest laughingstock in London.
That very night, Garland broke Sabrina’s legs and banished her to a ruined convent outside the city limits.
I heard she completely lost her mind out there within a few days.
But none of that mattered to me anymore.
Garland ended up kneeling outside the gates of the Harington’s mansion. He stayed out there in the snow for three full days and nights.
“Maddie, please, just see me…” he begged. “If you’ll just see me, I’ll do whatever grunt work you want. I’ll give my life to make this up to you…”
On the fourth morning, the mansion gates finally opened, and I walked out.
“Maddie, you finally agreed to see me…”
He looked thrilled, genuinely assuming he had won me back.
“You still care about me, don’t you? You couldn’t stand seeing me suffer…”
I stood on the steps and looked down at him.
“Garland, I only came out here to tell you one thing. Stop coming around. We are completely done.”
He stared at me in disbelief. “Maddie, what are you talking about? I know I was wrong. I drove Sabrina away. I avenged you!”
I scoffed. He was pathetic.
“Did you really think that just because you changed your mind and admitted you were wrong, I’d just sit here waiting for you? Garland, your little show of devotion just makes me sick.”
Garland opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Every last drop of hope drained from his face, leaving him hollow and totally silent.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed in the snow, unable to get back up.
Rayford wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed the top of my head.
“The wind’s pretty fierce out here, darling,” he murmured. “We should go back inside and watch Lorna practice her handwriting. She just learned how to spell your name today.”
Rayford wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed the top of my head.
“The wind’s pretty fierce out here, darling,” he murmured. “We should go back inside and watch Lorna practice her handwriting. She just learned how to spell your name today.”
I leaned back against his warm chest, a small smile slipping out. I took Rayford’s hand, lacing my fingers through his.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s go home.”