Page 74 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
His fists clenched at his sides. But it was too late.
“Gaming hell,” Nathan drawled.
The truth of his words fell heavily on Cecilia like a boulder.
She slowly turned her head towards Magnus, her expression shifting from confusion to shock to barely contained horror.
“You what?”
Lily stood up, too.
The damage was already done. However, Magnus moved fast, crossing the room in two long strides. He glared at Nathan with enough force to silence him and while Lily wished to throttle him, she didn’t want the duke doing so.
Nathan did keep quiet, but not because he was intimidated. She knew he only did so because he was sure he had already spilled what he had intended to,
“Get out,” Magnus bit out, clearly struggling to keep his temper even.
“You don’t want your in-laws to be present in your wedding preparations?—”
“Now.”
Nathan’s mouth opened. He had more to say. However, he closed his mouth, before turning around and leaving.
He had barely disappeared into the hallway when Cecilia marched towards her brother, still reeling from the revelation.
“He gambled the house?”
Lily winced at the fury evident on Cecilia’s face, guilt eating at her that her brother had caused such a disaster. The gambling hell was a side to him Magnus never wished for Cecilia to see.
“And he gambled it at your hell,” Cecilia emphasized, shaking her head in disapproval. “Do you—do you really own a gaming hell?”
Magnus stared at his sister for a moment without answering and in that moment, Lily pitied him. It was clear he was haunted by the truth he had wished to keep hidden from everyone, especially Cecilia.yet he squared his shoulders as if preparing for battle.
“Yes,” he said evenly.
Cecilia turned to Lily, a dozen questions flashing in her eyes, along with a maelstrom of emotion. Confusion, betrayal, even a touch of judgment.
“You knew?”
“I did,” Lily breathed.
“And you still agreed to marry him?”
“I did,” she repeated, her voice firmer.
The silence between them grew brittle despite the distance between them.
Until Lily stood straighter and spoke again, her tone not so soft this time around. “He took care of you.”
Cecilia blinked, before giving her a quizzical look.
Lily lifted her chin. “That gaming hell you’re so quick to judge? That fortune you think tainted? It gave you shoes, Ceci. Books. Music lessons. A future. He bled for it.”
Magnus fixed his gaze on her, clearly caught off guard by her words.
Although she knew he was looking, she didn’t turn to him. Rather, she continued.
“He made something out of nothing,” she said. “So, if you’re looking for reasons why I said yes, you can start there.”
