Eliza and Will

Chapter 36

"Wickham," I declare, once I have reached him. I am filled with anger for Lydia, for Georgiana, for anyone else who he may have affected.

He turns suddenly at the sound of my voice, fear overcoming his features and stance as he realises who I am. He looks exhausted, with deep circles under his eyes and fine lines sketching his face.

"Can I talk to you?" I demand, making it clear that it is not an offer.

"I have nothing to say to you," he mumbles, trying to walk past me before I follow him and he sighs, turning to face me again.

"Oh, so you encourage my sister to run away with you and then you trap her? I've a lot to say about that!"

"I didn't trap her-"

"Yes you did," I interrupt. "You manipulated her and she was too naive to see past it," I exclaim, feeling beyond infuriated and sickened with him.

"You done the same with Georgiana, didn't you? Your a liar and a disgusting person, I'm sure they're not the only people who you have targeted."

"Oh, so you care about Georgiana now, do you?" He snarls. "I take it that you are now in favour of the Darcy's?"

"That's none of your business, don't change the subject," I snap, pain rising from within me.

"You have me curious now, I'm guessing that you have grown fond of William? And the fact that you appear defensive suggests to me that things have not worked out well. So what I'm proposing actually is relevant. In terms of your lousy sister, she will amount to nothing, just like you and your family. You will never be good enough. Why do you think Charles left Jane? And why I'm guessing that Darcy turned his back on you."

"Stop," I warm him, feeling beyond furious. The ache in my heart as he mentions William worsens, becoming overwhelming. That alone is enough to defeat me in this confrontation, more so than trying to make Wickham understand my logic.

"Therefore, I admit, I did technically trap your sister, but I gave her what she deserved. A chance to learn from me and become a better person, but soon after, she no longer appreciated me and decided that she didn't want me anymore. Due to this, it was only right for me to prevent her from returning home. I got her pregnant, which has punished her rightly."

My heart is beating so fast that I fear it may explode from my chest. The fact that he can take no credit from his mistakes and display the information that Lydia told me earlier in a sociopathic and casual manner to me is mind blowing. It takes everything in me not to slap his face, but I don't believe in unnecessary violence.

"Well," my voice shakes, "You have just disgraced yourself. You have shown to me now that your an even worse person than I thought. I hope that you enjoy the consequences of what you believe was from doing the 'right thing.' Enjoy jail."

I turn around but fail to proceed walking as his hand grips the back of my coat collar. He pulls with such a force that I gag, flinging me around and then tightens his hands around my neck, strangling me.

"You will pay for this," he seethes at me. Tears stream down my face as I am absolutely terrified, not to mention unable to breathe.

"Leave her alone!" I hear a man shout, before a crowd of people surround us, coming to my rescue. Wickham releases me at once and runs away from the scene.

"You should ring the police, miss," an old lady tells me, looking very concerned.

"No-no, it's fine," I croak, backing away from everyone.

Traumatised and shaken, I harshly rebuke myself,

"What is wrong with you?!"

A/N: Thank you for 24k!!! Happy Friday❤️