Page 44 of Unseen

The year sounded ludicrous. I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. How could my family have let me marry a man that wasn’t even born in this century?

Mr Fisher cleared his throat, and my eyes flew open to find him gazing at me over the rim of his spectacles.

“Madam? May we continue?”

I nodded eagerly. “Of course, forgive me.”

“My stepmother is taking this all rather hard, as you can imagine.” Azriel reached over to take my hand, and I dug my fingernails into his palm. But the bastard didn’t even flinch, simply looked at me sweetly. “To be a widow so young, it is truly a burden she is bearing most beautifully.”

“She is lucky to have such a devoted stepson, Mr Caine.”Mr Fisher looked from Azriel back to me with adoration, before his eyes dropped to my breasts, then back to the papers in front of him. “The last will and testament was signed before myself and my associate, Mr Carrington, and was made while Mr Caine was of sound mind. Therefore, this will and testament shall stand as written.”

Just bloody get on with it.Azriel’s hand was still curled around mine, and I dug my nails into his skin again, wishing I could raise that hand to my lips and bite one of his fingers off. The fiend instead pressed the heel of his palm into my lap, and rubbed my thigh. I could barely feel it through my dress, but it had my back ramrod straight and rage drying out my mouth so my tongue felt as though it was made of sand.

How could he be so brazen in front of another? It was not to be borne.

He pulled his hand back just as Mr Fisher once again raised that fat little face to look at us both.

“I shall now read the will as dictated by Mr Caine himself. These are his final wishes.” He cleared his throat ceremoniously. “To my son, Azriel Dorson Caine, I bequeath my house, Linmere Manor, and its lands. Also to my son, Azriel Dorson Caine, I leave my companies and estates as listed by Fisher, Carrington and Associates.” Mr Fisher lifted a list with his other hand. “The leases therein listed are to be kept as stated.”

Uneasiness whispered up my spine to the hairs at the back of my neck. Mary had surely tied my stays too tightly. I put a hand to my ribs, shifting in my seat.

“Furthermore,” Mr Fisher went on, and I breathed a little sigh of relief. “I leave to my wife, Evangeline Thomasina Caine, the jewels in her possession, and the tapestries of my Mother, Albertine Caine.”

I waited, the seconds ticking by. Mr Fisher’s eyes dartedover the pages, and then he placed them down on the file, leaning back in his chair and regarding us both with a smile.

“And that would be that then.”

My head spun, and my throat was now so dry I felt as though I was choking on broken glass. I tried desperately to clear it, to speak, wishing for nothing more than that glass of water Mary had offered, and some way through the black haze that threatened to swallow every word I attempted to sputter out.

I gestured to the file with a shaking hand. “M-Mr Fisher, there is more.” I nodded eagerly, staving off the tingling sensation that stretched through my limbs. “Please, sir, I am sure there is more.”

“There is nothing more, I assure you.” Mr Fisher raised the papers in his hand, showing me that he had read from the two pages, and one held Acton’s flourish of a signature at the bottom. “This is what Mr Caine dictated to us when he made this will last year.”

“Last year?” My stays were strangling me now, and I clutched a hand to my stomach. “No, there must be a mistake. Mr Caine made this will upon our marriage, he made assurances to my father. It was all arranged.”

Mr Fisher’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I assure you, madam, any previous will is now null and void.”

I was going to faint. I forced myself to maintain my breathing, shaking my head but stopping instantly as black spots danced in my vision.

“No, you don’t understand. My husband, god rest his soul, made assurances to my family, and to me. He had set aside funds for my family home, and for me, in the event of the birth of any children, or my widowhood. I saw him sign both copies, one of which is in my father’s possession.”

“Oh,thatwill.” Mr Fisher snapped his fingers, his beady eyes narrowing even more as they landed back on me, almostdisappearing in his bloated face. “I remember now. He did lodge that will with us upon your marriage. But, as I say, it is now null and void.”

“Since when?” Azriel’s voice sounded beside me, and I jumped as I had almost forgotten he was there.

“Since this will was signed one year ago.” Mr Fisher slid the file into his briefcase, before leaning back in his armchair and crossing his hands over his pudgy tummy. “While I recall the previous will being signed, I do believe Mr Caine felt it not in his interests to provide for offspring that did not appear to be forthcoming.” Mr Fisher looked me up and down, and I now understood his lecherous gaze. To him, I was spoiled, barren, a lady not worth his respect.

I shook my head, rage and revulsion and a deep pit of hopelessness tearing open in my chest. “No, Mr Fisher, you must understand, this will leave me destitute. I have nothing, nothing but some jewels and some dusty tapestries.” I forced a smile, sure that if I did not smile I would burst into tears in front of these two damned men, and I would not do that. “Mr Caine loved me, he would not want to see me penniless. He would not want my family to lose their home.”

Mr Fisher slowly took the spectacles from his face, folding them up and tucking them into the pocket of his jacket. “Your family, madam, had the fortune of being in Mr Caine’s good graces these past three years.” He fixed me with a stare, and lifted his mouth into a grin. “You must understand, your family’s poor financial choices were hardly the responsibility of Mr Caine.”

“It is one he took on.” My voice was becoming gravelly, my throat on fire, raked by panic. “He agreed to it, in exchange for a wife.”

“He agreed to it in exchange for an heir.” His eyes flickered to Azriel, his lips pursed in a smirk. “Or perhaps a spare more accurately. Which you failed to provide.”

I could not respond, I simply stared at this ruddy, obese man and his round cheeks and his beady eyes that had almost sunken into the valleys of his face, and I wanted to kill him. All those times I had washed Acton’s seed and filth from my body, all I had done was ensure my own ruin. The ruin of my family. I had been selfish and stupid, and now I had the sum of it.

I had nothing.

---