Page 78 of Touched By a Traitor
As the words left her lips, Andrew’s face drained of color, his skin turning an ashen hue that reminded her of the sands of anhourglass, slipping away before her very eyes. In that moment, she knew, with a certainty that pierced her to the core, that he was guilty of the accusation laid at his feet.
A bitter laugh escaped her, the sound harsh and grating to her own ears. “What a fool I have been, to believe your love for me had conquered your aversion to my chosen path. You had planned to destroy me from the very beginning.” Her voice broke on the last word, the weight of her realization threatening to crush her where she stood.
Unable to remain still, Charlotte began to pace the room, her skirts swishing around her ankles as she moved, her agitation evident in every line of her body.
“Why did you marry me?” she asked, her voice rising with each word. “You could have ruined me and been done with it, left me with some shred of dignity intact. Was it to control me? To keep me under your thumb? Or was it some twisted way of conquering the one woman who had dared to defy the system that men like you have built? Or perhaps it was nothing more than base lust, a desire to possess my body?”
She halted abruptly, her gaze raking over his form, taking in the rigid set of his shoulders, the stony expression on his face. He stood before her like a statue, unmoving and unfeeling, a far cry from the passionate, devoted husband she had thought him to be.
When at last he spoke, his voice was even, almost clinical in its detachment. “I hired you because I needed a barrister, and you were the only one willing to take on my case. I told my investors that I would ruin your career once the trial was over, a means to placate them for the time being. I meant it to a degree, but I was also conflicted. But I did not marry you out of spite, or some perverse need to conquer you. My affections, my love for you, were genuine. I fell in love with you because I’ve neverknown a woman as kind, as courageous, as utterly remarkable as you. I’ve loved you from the first day we met at Madam’s.”
Charlotte’s heart clenched at his words, a part of her longing to believe him, to trust in the sincerity that shone in his eyes. But the bitter sting of betrayal was still too raw, the wound too fresh to be so easily soothed.
“Did you vote to have me disbarred?” she asked, her voice choking with emotion, dreading the answer as she knew, with a sickening certainty, what it would be.
“Yes.” The single word fell from his lips like a condemnation, a final, damning blow to the fragile trust that had once bound them together.
Charlotte stared at him in stunned silence, her mind reeling as she tried to reconcile the man she had loved with the stranger who stood before her now.
“I cannot live with your betrayal,” she said at last, her voice trembling with the force of her emotions. “I cannot bear to look at you, to be reminded every day of the fool I have been, the trusting, naive girl who believed in the illusion of your love.”
With shaking hands, she began to pack her valise, her movements swift and purposeful as she gathered her belongings, the remnants of a life she could no longer claim as her own.
“Charlotte, please,” Andrew said, his voice urgent. “I know I’ve hurt you, that you may never find it in your heart to forgive me. But we’re married, bound together in the eyes of God and the law. We must work to heal the rift between us, to find a way to live together.”
Charlotte shook her head, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “I have no desire to heal anything related to you, Andrew. Your very presence is a reminder of my own foolishness, my own blindness to the truth that was staring me in the face all along.”
“You may not believe me”—his voice broke on the words—“but I love you, Charlotte. The thought of losing you, of livingwithout you by my side, is too painful to bear. I cannot breathe without you. Please, I beg of you, do not leave me.”
Charlotte’s eyes flashed with anger and pain, her voice rising with each word as she confronted her husband. “You love your empire and your pride more than you could ever love me. You have no idea what I sacrificed to earn my degree, to secure my place at the Inns of Court!” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her body quivering with the strength of her despair. “I gave up so much, and you, who claim to love me, contributed to the very destruction of all I held dear!”
Andrew’s face crumpled, his shoulders sagging under the weight of his guilt and shame. “I am sorry, Charlotte. I know I’ve been selfish, that my actions were wrong. It was my own fear and insecurity that influenced my vote.” He took a step toward her, his eyes pleading for understanding. “I was terrified you would see me for the brute I truly am, that you would leave me for the duke. When Wilson told me you and Chatham were spending time together at the Inn, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened in disbelief, her mouth falling open in shock. “Wilson? That snake told you the duke and I were close, and you believed him?” She shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.
“Not entirely,” Andrew admitted, his gaze dropping to the floor. “But you’d been lovers once, and I was afraid.”
“I was never the duke’s lover, you stupid man!” Charlotte cried, her voice cracking with emotion.
Andrew raised his head, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You saw us together, yes, but we weren’t there alone.”
“Someone else was in the room? Was she hiding?” Andrew frowned, his mind struggling to make sense of her words.
“Not a woman. A man, concealed behind the curtains.”
Andrew’s face further reflected his confusion. “Are you saying you and two men?”
Her complexion turning crimson, she exclaimed, “No!Theyfeared being discovered.” Charlotte took a deep breath, steeling herself to explain. “After the duke helped me at Cambridge, I returned the favor by pretending to be his lover, in case someone stumbled upon them, as you did that night.”
Andrew staggered backward as if struck, his face draining of all color. Charlotte watched in stunned silence as the realization seemed to crash over him. She could see the exact moment when the full magnitude of what he had done hit him—the destruction of their marriage, her career, everything they had built together, all based on lies and his own fears.
“I’ve ruined us,” he whispered, his voice hollow with horror. “I’ve destroyed our marriage, your career, everything… over nothing. Over lies.” His hands shook as he pressed them to his temples. “Christ, Charlotte, what have I done? What have I done?”
He sank into a chair, his head falling into his hands as the magnitude of his failure seemed to overwhelm him. For several long moments, only his ragged breathing filled the silence.
When he finally looked up, his eyes were red-rimmed with unshed tears. “If not the duke, then who?”
