“So you snuck in here to?—”
“They didn’t sneak,” Wayland broke in, head in his hands. “I let them in.”
Eliza’s mother nodded, lips pressed together in a tight, pinched line. “Of course you did. And you chose not to inform your wife that you intended to use your daughter as bait.”
“It was the safest plan?—”
The lady’s mouth opened to deliver what was certainly a crushing set down.
A weak whimper interrupted her.
Benedict’s attention shot to his sister, who groaned as the physician pressed against the wound at her temple.
Benedict stumbled to her side.
“Bell?” West asked.
“Wes— What happened?” she slurred, eyelids fluttering open.
Relief washed over Benedict. Worries he hadn’t even begun to identify floated away with Bella’s display of intelligible speech.
Her brow furrowed. She winced as the effort pained her. “’liza?”
“Eliza is missing,” Benedict rasped out.
The physician pressed again with a pad of gauze against Bella’s temple. In response, she batted at his fingers with a weary hand, her eyes slipping closed. A relieved chuckle escaped West, even as he continued to clutch her free hand.
“Drink,” she mumbled.
“You want a drink?” West asked, turning to request it from the nearest body before she shook her head weakly.
“Drugged drink,” she clarified.
“Someone drugged Eliza’s drink?” Benedict guessed.
Her nod was small but notable. “Nothim.”
“Someone was helping him?”
“Ye, recognized, but no.”
Benedict glanced around searching for some sort of clue as to what she meant.
“He was familiar?” West suggested.
“Yes.”
“Alright, so he had at least one accomplice,” Ainsley summed up. “Is there anything else, Bella?”
“Bit him.”
“You bit him?” West asked, brightening slightly. “Where?”
“Balcony,” she said, brow furrowing again.
“No, I meant—not on his co—You know… Right?”
Her eyelids fluttered again to fix West with a glare before shutting once more. Apparently, disdainful looks were worth the effort it took to open her eyes.
