Page 75 of A Trap by the Rakish Duke
Aurelia recoiled in horror. “You want me to steal from him?”
Lord Keldbrooke nodded, his tone cold and calculating. “Yes. Be useful for once in your miserable life. Take what you can before it is too late.”
Aurelia’s hands trembled, not from fear but from disgust. She had always believed her father to be kind and gentle, but this was something she had never expected. She felt her last bit of respect for him evaporate.
“I will not,” she declared, her voice steady despite the maelstrom of emotions churning inside of her.
Lord Keldbrooke sneered. “You must if you want to survive. Do you think Philip will forgive you for meeting with me? You are a fool, girl. He will discard you and you will be left with nothing.”
Aurelia rose from her seat, her eyes cold as they locked onto her father’s. “I would rather be left with nothing than stoop to your level.”
Without waiting for his response, she turned and left the room. No matter how broken her heart was, she would not become what her father wanted. She would not betray Philip, not like that.
The days that followed were filled with an unbearable sense of loss and loneliness for Aurelia. She moved about Bridget Houselike a ghost, unable to find solace in anything; neither food nor conversation nor books.
She had become a shell of herself, the spark in her eyes quashed by the bitter truth she had learned about her father.
It was as if the world had shifted beneath her feet, leaving her adrift in a sea of despair. How had she been so blind? How could she have ignored all the signs, dismissed Philip’s warnings and believed that her father was anything but the dangerous man he had proven himself to be?
She had trusted him and defended him because she could not bear to believe that the man who raised her could also be capable of such cruelty and deception. And now…now she had lost Philip.
The very man who had tried to protect her from the truth.
At least now you know his true nature.
Tears of despair and disappointment welled up in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks despite her attempts to hold them back. Her father had been a liar, a schemer, and, worst of all, a murderer.
It broke her to her very core.
But the thought of Philip, who had given her his trust only to have it shattered, made her heart ache more than she thought possible.
She had been such a fool. How could she not have believed him? How could she have doubted the one man who had shown her nothing but love and affection?
Aurelia was haunted by the image of Philip’s face when he found her with her father. The betrayal in his eyes, the raw anger that twisted his features; it had been more than she could bear. Now, because of her own blindness and stupidity, she had lost the love of her life.
Bridget House, with its dark walls and heavy drapes, seemed to close in on her, suffocating her with its silence. It wasn’t the grand, imposing structure that made her feel so small and insignificant; it was the realization that she had lost everything she ever had. She could now relate to the pain that Philip had suffered.
Her father had betrayed her, but what was worse, she had betrayed Philip.
A knock on her door startled her out of her thoughts and she hurriedly wiped her eyes in a futile effort to compose herself. She couldn’t let anyone see her in such a state, not even Eilidh.
“Come in,” Aurelia called out, her voice trembling slightly as she tried to keep her emotions at bay.
Eilidh entered the room with a gentle smile, carrying a tray in her hands. “I brought you some tea, Your Grace,” she said softly, setting the tray down on the small table by the window.
Aurelia nodded, though she had no intention of drinking the tea. Her appetite had vanished entirely, replaced by a gnawing emptiness that filled her chest.
“Thank you, Eilidh,” she murmured, turning her gaze out the window, unable to meet the maid’s concerned eyes.
Eilidh hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Your Grace…your friends have come to see you.”
Aurelia blinked, her head turning slightly. “Friends?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes, Your Grace,” Eilidh replied. “The Duchesses are waiting outside.”
For the first time in days, a spark of something resembling hope ignited in Aurelia’s heart. She had been so consumed by her misery and her overwhelming grief at losing Philip that she had forgotten about the few friendships she had formed.
She sat up.
