Annabelle Linton shot him a look and coldly pushed him away.

She looked at him with disdain, the corner of her lip twitching into a sarcastic sneer as she said impassively, "Do what you want, but can you please stop with the holier-than-thou act? It’s unnecessary."

’An act—’

"Annabelle Linton!" Hearing her words, Leona Grant’s expression darkened. "Do you fucking have to provoke me like this? Just to make me miserable?"

’Just who is provoking whom?’

Annabelle Linton scoffed. Not wanting to look at his face, she lay down with her back to him and closed her eyes. "You can get lost now."

Seeing her turn her back to him, Leona Grant seethed. "Annabelle Linton, what the fuck is this attitude!"

"I’m being considerate of your feelings! I can’t bring myself to yell at you or hurt you, and you say I’m putting on an act? What the fuck do you have that’s worth me faking anything for, huh?!"

"You just have to provoke me like this, don’t you? It makes you happy to see me miserable, is that it? You just have to go against me to show how unique and unconventional you are, right?"

"No one—no one has ever dared to treat me like this! You’re the first person to fucking treat me this way, the first to dare to insult me! But I’ve never done anything to you, so what the hell do you want me to do?!"

With her back to him, Annabelle Linton remained completely silent.

"Speak!" Leona Grant yanked her around.

Annabelle Linton’s apathetic eyes revealed a hint of exhaustion. She looked at him without emotion for a moment before looking away.

Seeing her exhausted expression, Leona Grant felt a sharp pang in his chest, followed by an unbearable sense of misery.

He wanted to say something to comfort her, but he swallowed the words just as they reached his lips.

’Would comforting her even work?!’

’To her, anything he said would just be hypocrisy!’

A surge of frustration with no outlet welled up inside him. He was so angry he felt like he was going to explode!

Leona Grant irritably dropped his gaze and took several deep breaths. But far from providing any relief, he only felt more suffocated.

He got out of bed, kicked over the entire vanity, and stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him.

Fifteen minutes after Leona Grant left, Annabelle Linton’s eyes snapped open, a cold glint flashing within them.

She got out of bed and started to get dressed.

Aaron Wyatt’s situation was dire. If this went on, something terrible was sure to happen. She hadn’t known where he was before, but now that she did, she couldn’t sit still for even a second longer.

She couldn’t be indebted to him any more.

After getting dressed, Annabelle Linton went out onto the balcony.

This room was right next to Leona Grant’s study. She had to get in there—

Earlier, when he’d dragged her to the basement, she had clearly seen a servant unlock the door with a key right before he kicked it open.

This meant Aaron Wyatt was locked up. To save him, she had to get the key.

She would never be able to get it from the servants, so she could only look for it herself.

Leona Grant had a habit of keeping his more important things in the cabinet to the right of the bookshelf in his study.

And since no one had a key to his study, her only option was to try her luck by going in through the balcony.

Annabelle Linton grabbed a chair, stepped on top of it, and then hoisted herself onto the white-tiled balcony railing, looking over at the study next door.

The glass door to the study’s balcony was open. He had actually left it unlocked!

Her heart leaped with joy, but then she instinctively glanced down at the five-story drop and felt a knot of nervousness tighten in her stomach.

A fall from here would leave her half-dead, if not worse.

But it wasn’t like she had a choice, was it?

The sooner she got out of this place, the sooner she would be safe.

If Leona Grant had dared to point a gun at Aaron Wyatt once, he would surely do it a second and a third time. It was a risk she couldn’t afford to take, and a delay she couldn’t afford to make.

Annabelle Linton steeled her resolve, took a step, and leaped over to the adjacent balcony.

It wasn’t as difficult as she’d imagined. She landed safely.

But she had no time to celebrate. She walked into the study and strode over to the bookshelf.