Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 37: A Shameless Couple

Raina Reddington shoved Miles Hawthorne away with all her might, yanked open the dilapidated door, and rushed out.

Miles Hawthorne reached out but failed to grab her, watching as Raina ran a few steps away.

"Raina."

Raina searched in the direction Ethan Lancaster had run. The overgrown grass showed clear signs of being trampled. Miles Hawthorne caught up to her and glanced at something in the distance. "That should be a well over there, but it was sealed up a long time ago..."

"Ethan Lancaster!" A sense of panic gripped Raina. It was too quiet; Ethan hadn’t even shouted for help.

She walked up to the well. The bricks that had once surrounded it were long gone, leaving only a deep pit hidden in the weeds. There were clear signs that the ground had given way. Raina crouched down, but the well was too deep to see a thing.

"Ethan Lancaster, Ethan Lancaster!"

There was no response, only the echo of her voice.

When Ethan Lancaster’s foot found nothing but air, the fall nearly knocked him senseless. Fortunately, while the well was dry, the bottom was damp, which saved him from breaking any bones.

Raina leaned anxiously over the opening, but she still couldn’t see what was happening inside.

"He’s probably been knocked unconscious. Or worse, died from the fall," Miles Hawthorne said coldly beside her.

Ethan Lancaster heard every word clearly. ’Why is that guy everywhere?’ He furrowed his brow but said nothing. This meant Raina had been with Miles this entire time.

He pressed his lips together, remaining silent. ’At least Raina has some conscience,’ he thought, hearing the anxiety in her voice. "Stop talking nonsense! We need to find a way to save him!"

"Save who?" Miles Hawthorne’s gaze dropped to the well. "What makes you think there’s anyone down there?"

"He can’t be anywhere else."

Miles Hawthorne crouched down, picking up a red brick scattered by the well’s edge. "If you pull him up, you’ll just be asking for trouble. It’ll be hard to explain certain things. Besides," he added, "are you happy with your marriage into the Lancaster Family?"

Ethan Lancaster looked up. The mouth of the well was choked with weeds. The sunlight, already weak, filtered down through layers of dense bamboo leaves. It passed by the shoulders of Raina and Miles Hawthorne, who stood nearly touching, then slipped through the tangled grass at the well’s edge. The light that finally reached the bottom was so faint it couldn’t even illuminate Ethan’s eyes.

Raina was practically leaning her whole head into the opening. "So what do you suggest we do?"

"Just bury him."

"What?" Raina stared at Miles Hawthorne in disbelief. She couldn’t believe those words had actually come out of his mouth.

Ethan immediately cursed to himself. ’If Raina hesitates for even a second right now, they really are a pair of scumbags.’

"You’re insane." Raina’s voice was calm. Then, as if remembering something, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Ethan Lancaster’s number.

A ringtone drifted up from inside the well, but the call went unanswered. Miles Hawthorne yanked Raina back, and she lost her balance, stumbling to the ground.

"Leave now. This has nothing to do with you. This place isn’t like Stoneworth; there are no security cameras, not even any people around. If I fill in this well, who’s going to know as long as you and I keep quiet?"

Raina stared intently at Miles Hawthorne’s profile. She knew he had changed, but she never realized he had become this ruthless—that he could talk about murder and burying a body so casually.

"You should go."

"You’re still going to save him?"

"Of course I am!" Raina shoved him. "If you don’t leave right now, I’ll start screaming for help. I’ll bring the entire village running. Are you really that shameless?"

"You won’t."

"Try me. I will."

Ethan heard the genuine anxiety in her voice; it didn’t sound like an act at all. He heard some movement from above—Miles Hawthorne must have left.

Raina called her grandmother and told her that Ethan Lancaster had fallen into the well, asking her to find people to help. After hanging up, she leaned over the edge of the well and called out his name repeatedly.

"What are you screaming about?" Ethan Lancaster’s voice drifted up from below.

"So you’re not dead?"

"..."

Ethan Lancaster was covered in filth, and the rotten mud at the bottom of the well reeked. "Who are you trying to jinx?"

"I was calling you for ages, and you didn’t answer."

He braced himself against the walls and managed to get to his feet. "Why don’t you try falling from this high? You’d be lucky if you weren’t smashed to bits."

"Well, I’m not stupid enough to walk straight into a pit."

Ethan Lancaster looked up. Raina pushed aside the overgrown weeds at the edge of the well, and he could just make out her face. "So, you watched me fall?" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

She wasn’t about to admit that. "You fell on your own. What, you think someone pushed you?"

"Where were you just now?"

"I was... I was in the bamboo grove, not far from here."

Her grandmother rushed over with some people. A few able-bodied neighbors had brought a thick hemp rope, which they threw down into the well for Ethan Lancaster to tie around himself. It took a great deal of effort, but they finally dragged him out. Seeing he was mostly unharmed, her grandmother’s expression eased. "How embarrassing. To think you could just fall in like that."

Ethan Lancaster, caked in mud, saw Raina standing nearby, perfectly fine. He slung an arm over her shoulder. "Grandma, who does this haunted house belong to?"

Her grandmother glanced over, her expression unreadable. "It’s just an old house that belongs to someone else."

"And who might that be?"

A neighbor standing by was about to answer, but her grandmother quickly cut in, "You two should just go back. You run back here and do nothing but cause me trouble. It’s so annoying!"

Raina took Ethan Lancaster back to wash up. Her grandmother had already packed her luggage. Raina couldn’t very well abandon Ethan to stay here alone, so she had no choice but to agree to leave.

Ethan Lancaster had Seth Sinclair come pick them up. Remembering Miles Hawthorne’s words, he told Seth to arrange for two extra cars, just in case.

The road out of Hemlock Village was treacherous for a long stretch. The car swayed back and forth, unable to pick up speed.

The jostling made Raina dizzy. She leaned against the window, silent. Ethan Lancaster’s expression was cold and stern, his thin lips pressed into a hard line.

The driver suddenly slowed down. "Fourth Master, it looks like there’s been an accident up ahead."

Ethan Lancaster’s eyes lifted slightly. "Is it blocking our way?"

The road was narrow, just wide enough for two cars to pass. However, one of the two vehicles in the collision was a large truck that was now blocking the middle of the road. Still, if the driver was careful, they should be able to squeeze by.

"I’ll try."

Because of her profession, Raina couldn’t help but take a closer look at the mention of an accident. The car looked vaguely familiar. By the time their car drew alongside it, they had slowed to a walking pace. Raina rolled down her window and saw the car’s driver slumped motionless over the steering wheel. Blood trickled down from his forehead, the windshield was shattered, and the airbag had deployed. He was clearly badly hurt.

Wait—

Raina got a clear look at the man’s clothes, and then the car. Wasn’t that Miles Hawthorne?

"Stop the car!"

The driver instinctively slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a stop.