Page 1 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
CHAPTER 1
“How could you, Nathan?” Lily cried, her voice shaking with both rage and fear.
The debt collectors did not seem bothered about the tension in the room and just went about doing their work, taking paintings off the wall and moving both small and big sculptures.
“You told me you would take care of it. You promised me! You said we would be fine.”
Nathan, her brother and the Earl of Medlin, looked around the room, trying to avoid her accusatory gaze. “I did everything I could, really. I tried. I swear it,” he said.
“This is everything you could have done?” she scoffed. “Because it seems to me that you have only made things worse. We are slowly losing everything we have! What are we to do?”
“I will fix it, I promise.”
“Fix it? You had your chance to fix this, but what have you done with it? Why are these people in our house, taking away everything valuable we own?”
She noticed one of the debt collectors glance across the hall, but took no heed of him.
She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling dizzy, while Nathan’s voice droned on in the background. When she opened them, she fixed them on the strangers emptying the main hall. She could feel her legs turning to jelly at the mere sight.
What have we done to deserve this?
But she could not find an answer to that question.
She had done everything she could to save money, but to no avail. She had dismissed every servant, except one, and even had to do some of the chores just to keep the manor clean and presentable, and the gardening just to keep them all fed.
But what had Nathan done ever since he became the Earl of Medlin?
Nothing but flaunting his title around and squandering the family fortune on gambling and alcohol, drowning them in more debt with his recklessness.
A shaky breath escaped Lily’s lips, and she clenched her fists in an attempt to keep her composure. Just thinking about what he had done made her want to break something.
She glanced at her brother, who seemed to be quite fidgety. But she didn’t ask. Whatever he had to say would only make the situation worse.
That was all he had done ever since he returned home from his Grand Tour and assumed his duties.
“Do you even know how hard I have worked to prevent this from happening, Nathan?” Lily hissed.
Her brother gulped.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Her face contorted into a scowl. “You’re sorry? Did you just say you’re sorry?” She bit her lip for a second. “Do you know what I have done just to hide from the world the fact that we are in debt? Do you even know everything I have done for this family while you prance around town, flaunting your title? I did not marry just to watch over you—because I knew this would happen!”
Nathan’s lips quivered. “I will fix it. It might take some time, but I-I will find a way and fix it. I swear.”
Oh, not this nonsense again.
She turned away from him and sighed heavily.
The debt collectors finally stepped out of the manor, leaving the main hall bare and desolate. The clatter of wheels announced their departure, and she couldn’t be more grateful for it.
The only paintings left on the walls were those of her family. Every other painting her parents had acquired in their lifetime was now gone. They took most of the furniture too, and all the easily movable sculptures.
Lily sighed once again and looked down at her hands, clasping one in the other to rub the chill from it. Earlier, she had rushed out in a frenzy when Summer came to inform her that there were strangers in the main hall, and had found Nathan at the bottom of the staircase, shaking like a leaf, trying to talk to her.
She had sensed something was wrong then. But now, looking back on what had happened, she should have overreacted a little more, given the mess they were in. She had been much too calm.
If they could lose that many items in just one day, what more would the debt collectors remove until they paid off the debt? And how long would they keep this up?
