CHAPTER THREE

She woke up to the feeling of him beside her. That was rare. He was usually up longer before her, but she wasn't going to complain. This was a nice surprise.

She gently touched his lips and watched them quirk upward.

"I love you," he whispered, opening his eyes and looking at her through thick lashes.

His hand trailed over to her stomach, rubbing the spot where their baby was growing. "Soon, my love." She leaned down to kiss him.

"Soon…" He sighed, closing his eyes, again.

She tilted her head. "Is something wrong?" Her body rested on his, causing him to let out a low groan and hold her close to him as if she was going to disappear if he let go. "Edward…"

"What is going on with you and Guinness?"

She froze. "What? I thought you knew that there was nothing going on between us. There is only you, Edward." There was desperation in her voice. Why couldn't he understand that she would never be unfaithful to him? He was her everything.

He pulled her into another kiss. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just curious. What if you had a chance to spend one night with him, would you? With my full consent, of course."

A blush was making its way up her neck. "I don't understand what you're asking."

"What if I was there in the room watching you?" His voice grew huskier as he ran his hand down her hip, resting on her thigh. "Would you do it?"

"Stop it, Edward," she whispered, but her body felt as if it was on fire and there was no way to put it out. The aspect of him watching her do anything naughty was arousing to her.

"Come with me." He dragged her out of bed with nothing but her nightie. Her protests were silenced as soon as they left the privacy of their room. She didn't want anyone to see her practically naked in the halls.

"Where are you taking me?" she hissed, trying to tug them back into the bedroom, so that she could change into something more presentable.

He didn't reply. Instead, he burst into Guinness' room without knocking, startling the slumbering man awake. He let out a yelp and stared at the intruders in shock.

What was happening? Both of them were in his room at the same time. Did that mean he was finally being kicked out? He didn't want to go. The acceptance he acquired had flown out the window. He didn't want to leave them, but it wasn't as if he had a choice. If they wanted to sell him, there was nothing he could do about it. He'd have to face the consequences of what he had done.

"I love you," Edward said to her. "I love you more than anything in the world. I'd die for you."

Guinness felt his heart shatter. This was very cruel of his master. He already knew that he loved his wife and would choose her without a second thought. That had already been emotionally and vocally conveyed.

"But I also love Guinness," Edward went on, feeling his wife stiffen against him. "I don't want to choose between either of you. I also don't want to lose either of you."

She shook her head. "How long?" she whispered.

Neither of them said anything. Neither of them knew what to say.

She stepped away from them, her head still shaking. "How long have you been doing it behind my back?!" The tears streamed down her face as her voice cracked. "I'm having your son and you finally decide to tell me?"

Her body was trembling. "Is this where you go to every night? Is this why I rarely wake up next to you because you're still asleep here with your lover?"

"No!" Edward exclaimed. "Please, I love you. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Well, you have, Edward. How long has this been going on? Weeks? Months? Years?"

He looked way. "Since… Since we bought the plantation and moved here."

Her glistening blue eyes widened. "Since what…?" That had been over five years ago! "And I've trusted you… I've heard all those rumours from the other servants. They whispered about seeing you sneaking into his room in the middle of the night. It thought they were just making them up… How could I have been so foolish?"

She spun on her heels and disappeared out the room, leaving the two men devastated.

Edward had been selfish. He thought he was able to hang on to both of them if he came clean. He thought his wife would accept him having a lover. Many other men had mistresses, but he never had that fancy until he saw Guinness. That was when he finally gave into his lust. He was a sinner. He had never been good enough for her. And now, he had finally lost her. He had lost both her and his son, that night.

As he grieved and reprimanded himself, Guinness wasn't doing much better. He had never admitted it to anyone before, but he also loved the mistress. Seeing her so heartbroken, he almost wished that he had ended it before it started. She had been the angel who bought him out of an abusive master. She had saved him from a cruel fate and this was how he repaid her. His mother would've beaten him black and blue if she was still alive. She must've been rolling in her grace. He had to fix this, somehow.

Abruptly, he stood up. "I must leave. Sell me anywhere you'd like, but I can't stay here."

Edward turned to him with bloodshot eyes. "Don't go. I've lost her. I can't lose you, too. Stay."

Guinness didn't know what to do. He felt as if he no longer belonged here. He had destroyed the family that had been so kind to him. "But… Maybe she'll forgive you if I was gone. I don't…" He didn't want to see her upset. It was tearing him up from inside.

"Just stay. I'll talk to her. Don't go anywhere." Edward wiped away his tears and did what he should've done as soon as she left.

He followed her.

"Where did she go?!" he demanded the nervous servants who must've heard everything that had happened.

One of them swallowed hard and pointed around the corner.

He sprinted out the house and looked wildly around, gaining odd looks from all the servants who were outside and completely oblivious to what had happened.

He called out her name, but didn't see her anywhere.

No one approached to tell him, so he grabbed the closest person – a young man who was barely old enough to be called a man. "Where is she? Where did she go?"

"W-Who?" The boy stared at him with wide eyes.

Edward couldn't recognise him. Was he new? Was he one of her strays that she took in? "My wife! Where did she go?"

The servant looked hesitantly to the left and that was enough for him to let the boy go and head towards the forest. It wasn't safe there, didn't she know? She could get hurt. Their baby could get hurt!

He had to find her. He had to somehow make it right, again. He should've just ended it with Guinness, last night. He shouldn't have told her. If he had really thought everything through, maybe she would've still been in his arms, celebrating her pregnancy.

In the forest, he continued to shout her name like a maniac. Birds flew away from him. Deer ran away from him. He had never felt like such a failure before.

"Please…" He collapsed on to his knees. His blonde hair fell into his eyes as he continued to think of all the ways she could be in pain because of him – or worse. If she died, he found no reason to go on.

The sun moved quickly across the sky and although he had gathered the strength to keep moving, again, she remained elusive. His wife was nowhere to be found and he didn't know what to do, anymore.

When night finally fell, he dragged himself back to the house where he could see clumps of servants whispering and staring at him. "Shut up!" he shouted at them.

They immediately quieted down, but he could still feel their eyes burning holes into the back of his head. He knew that as soon as he was gone, they'd start talking, again. He was powerless to change anything. He was absolutely useless.

He went up the stairs and peeked into the bedroom.

Empty.

There had been a part of him that really thought there was a chance that she had returned. Even if she never spoke to him again, he just wanted to know that she was safe. With the sun gone and darkness covering everything like a heavy blanket, his fears amplified.

Within minutes of his return, he was barking around orders. Perhaps the servants could spread out and find her. Perhaps she had heard him calling and decided to hide. He didn't want to contemplate any other reasons why she wouldn't answer him.

Soon, the house was empty. Even Nina had abandoned the kitchen to look for the mistress. That was fine. He wasn't hungry. How could he even have an appetite at a time like this?

"Master…" A meek voice reached his pacing form. He turned towards the sad eyes that reflected his own and the tears came right back.

"What have I done?" he whispered to his lover.

Guinness didn't know how to comfort him. He was only a slave. He had nothing to offer his wealthy master – nothing, except his heart and body, but look at how that turned out. "Sh-should I go and look for her? I didn't go because I thought she might not want to see me."

Edward wiped futilely at the tears, hoping that it would clear his vision. "No, it's fine. It's my fault. I knew that this would happen, eventually. I don't know why I thought it'd be better if I told her instead of her finding out any other way." He dropped into the plush armchair with a dejected sigh. "What am I going to do without her?"

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence that was only penetrated by Edward's sorrowful sobs. Guinness didn't know what to do. If he went near his master, now, would it do more harm than good? "Would she come back if I left?" he whispered.

Edward didn't know. If he was guaranteed that she was going to come back, he would buy a place for Guinness to live in on his own with no fear of being enslaved, again, but he didn't know if anything was going o bring her back. He'd rather have someone than no one, at all. "Stay," he told him. "Don't leave me. I need you. Now, more than ever."

Guinness hesitantly went over to him and knelt by his feet as if begging for forgiveness. Edward's long fingers grabbed his shirt and pulled him on to the bed.

That night, his master was rough and he was unyielding. Guinness took in everything, hoping that it would help Edward and that the physical pain would somehow overtake the ache in his heart.

"I'm sort." His master was in tears, again, as he pulled him close and kissed his forehead. "Have I hurt you?"

"No," he lied. He didn't want to make it worse for him, but his master probably already knew by the way he was eying the spots of blood on the sheets.

"I'm so sort, Guinness,' his master apologised, again. "Perhaps it's best if you left."

His heart sank, once more.

"Hurting people is all I seem to know how to do," Edward went on. "I don't want to do this, anymore. I love you and I love her and our unborn child, but I've already hurt all of you. How could something so beautiful end up so painful?

Guinness sighed. "If you really want me to leave, I will. Just tell me to go, but don't make me leave because you think it'll hurt me."

Edward said no more. Instead, he tightened his hold on Guinness and willed that tomorrow would be better –t hat he would see her, again.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Sorry, this is definitely short, but with the way the story is written, it's the only place I could stop before getting into the next part. There are most likely two more chapters to go. I have a chapter of Hotel written and will post it as soon as this story is done. I'm currently working on my Crimson Peak story. I also still have a million Christmas cards to make. This is just kind of stressful… The Holiday season is such a nice time, but the work put into it before the fun is a little overwhelming, sometimes. I enjoy it all. I just wish there was more time in a day to do everything that I want.

Anyway! Good news is, I've finally finished AHS: Hotel and I have a lot of thoughts on it. I may rant later on, who knows.

I'm just going to leave a short tally here in terms of the romance poll. I'll decide on a final pairing probably at the end of this story, so if you want to give your opinion, you have a couple of weeks to go.

James: 2

Both James and John: 4

Thank you Candyluver2121, HermioneandMarcus, girlsacred, Mystery Angle, masquerade04, guests (anonymouscsifan, Guest) for reviewing!

Candyluver2121: It shouldn't be too long, now! Hotel will be out as soon as this is done, which is probably in a couple of weeks and hopefully by then, I'd have more planned out than what I currently have.

HermioneandMarcus: Thank you! I'm going to tally up all the votes by the end of this story and see how I'll proceed with Hotel!

anonymouscsifan: I hated Alex the most, but the Countess is a pretty close second. I couldn't stand any scene with Alex in it. The selfishness, the almost inappropriate obsession with Holden, everything drove me off the wall! And then the ending to the season... Oh, God… Definitely not what I wanted. Expect changes when I get there.

girlsacred: I'm going to assume that that means you want a nice and steamy threesome? Teehee!

Guest: So far, I'm torn between just James and Madi and James, Madi, and John. Grr… I'm glad that you'll be flexible, though, because it seems that the outcome will be one or the other. It's so hard to decide!

Mystery Angle: Noooo the power of choice is too heavy for me to bear alone!

masquerade04: I definitely agree with you in terms of James and his kinks. Feels like I have so many ideas and so hard to choose the right one to make a cohesive story!

Thank you as well to everyone who has favourite and followed this story.

Please, leave a review if you enjoyed this.