Chapter 4

I looked at Julian, a bitter laugh tearing from my throat. 

"Julian, that was your baby. A living, breathing human life!"

"Juliette staged the entire thing! She threw herself against the stone altar just to frame me. Are you really blind to her games, or do you just not care?"

"So what if she did?" 

Julian cut me off. 

"Juliette is delicate. She can't handle stress like you can. Why can't you just yield to her for once? You only lost a pregnancy. Juliette has been crying for hours! Asking for an apology is mercy on her part."

I froze. 

I stared at the face I had loved for years, and my stomach turned.

He knew. He had always known. 

He allowed the servants to whisper venom behind my back, spreading rumors that I was a cursed widow who seduced her brother-in-law.

All of it was just to cover up the fact that Juliette had murdered his own child. 

And now, he wanted me on my knees, apologizing to the murderer to make those disgusting lies look true.

I took a deep breath, forcing my hands to stop shaking. "And if I refuse?"

Julian’s eyes darkened.

"Eleanor, my patience is wearing thin."

He reached inside his coat and pulled out an antique pearl-and-lace necklace.

My mother’s dying heirloom.

The very token of devotion I had given him when we first swore our vows. 

"Such fine pearls," Julian murmured, dangling the chain between two careless fingers. "It would be such a pity if they were crushed into powder."

My vision turned red. I gritted my teeth. 

"You disgust me, Julian."

Julian smirked. He held the lace chain out over the glowing embers of the roaring fireplace.

His fingers loosened just enough for it to slip a millimeter. 

"One flick of my wrist, Eleanor, and the necklace and pearls will burn to ash. Forever."

"Are you going," he whispered, "or not?"

My body trembled with helpless rage. Tears of pure hatred burned my eyes. I forced out two words:

"I’ll go."

A satisfied smile spread across Julian’s face. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Good girl," he purred, his voice soft as a velvet blade. "I do love you, Eleanor. But you're far too stubborn. If you just stayed obedient, why would I ever want to hurt you?"

I fought back the urge to vomit and jerked away from his touch.

Then I was on my knees on the stone floor of Juliette’s salon.

I cradled the scalding porcelain cup directly in my bare hands as a sign of "true humility."

The boiling heat seared straight through the thin china, scorching my palms and leaving my skin red and blistered.

Juliette leaned back gracefully in Julian’s embrace. She glanced down at my red, blistered fingers, smiling. 

Slowly, she took the cup. 

"Oh, Eleanor," Juliette sighed with feigned innocence. "Even though you pushed me on purpose out of sheer malice, I'll forgive you."

"After all, it's not like you'll ever have a child to inherit anything anyway."

I lifted my head and looked straight at Julian.

"My mother’s necklace. Give it back."

"Did you mean this little thing?" Juliette chimed in.

My heart stopped. 

Juliette casually pulled the pearl necklace from her pocket, swinging it back and forth like a toy. 

"Julian gave it to me this morning. I let my spaniel play tug-of-war with it in the garden. Oh, did you want it back? Oops, my hand slipped!"

The lace dropped onto the stone hearth. Before I could even scream, Juliette casually stepped forward and ground the sharp heel of her shoe directly into the pendant.  

Snap. 

The delicate pearls cracked under her weight, crushing into a smear of white powder. 

"Oh dear," Juliette clicked her tongue, pouting playfully. "What cheap junk. It breaks so easily! Thank goodness I didn't put it on my dog’s collar."

Tears blurred my sight as I dropped to my hands and knees. 

My blistered fingers clawed at the stone, picking up the crushed white dust piece by piece. 

I remembered my mother’s trembling hands placing this necklace around my neck on her deathbed. 

My sweet girl... promise me you will live a safe, happy life...

A sob ripped from my chest, hot tears splashing onto the ruined pearls.

Julian looked down at me from above, completely indifferent. 

"It was just an old trinket, Eleanor. Once it's broken, it's broken."

"Juliette did it to teach you your place. When you become my secret mistress, Juliette will be the Viscountess of Ashford. You must learn to bow to her. It’s for your own good."

I gathered the broken pieces into my skirt and stood up. 

Every shred of love, every memory of warmth, died right there on that hearth. 

I looked at him, feeling nothing but cold, pure revulsion. 

"I will never be your mistress," I said, my voice steady and icy. "My father has already arranged a new marriage for me in the North. I am returning home today to prepare for my wedding."

"What did you say?" 

Julian’s face twisted into something feral. He grabbed my wrist. "You’re getting remarried? Over my dead body! Don’t even dream about it!"

I ripped my arm out of his grasp. 

"Over your dead body? Who do you think you are to forbid me? My brother-in-law?" 

I glared at him, every word a slap across his face. 

"I am not asking for your permission. I am notifying you. My dowry is packed. I am walking out of Ashford Manor right now. From this day forward, I have nothing to do with you or this pathetic house!"

I spun on my heel toward the double doors.

"Bar the doors!" Julian roared.

"Don't let her leave!"

Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall.

Four burly footmen slammed the doors shut and blocked the exit, their faces stony.

I turned around, fury burning behind my eyes. "Julian Ashford, I am the only daughter of the Duke of Blackwood. Are you actually trying to hold me prisoner?"

To my horror, Julian laughed. 

"A prisoner? No. Everyone knows my poor widowed sister-in-law lost her mind from grief. In her sorrow, she begged to fulfill my brother’s dying wish—by offering herself to me."

"Today is our wedding night, Eleanor. And with your father and brother stationed hundreds of miles away on the northern frontier, who’s going to stop me?"

The sickness in his eyes made my blood run cold. 

Juliette walked up beside him, smiling maliciously as she handed him a parchment stamped with a black wax seal. 

"Julian, make her sign this," Juliette purred. "A Confession of Ruin and an Irrevocable Deed of Wardship. Once her signature is on it, she’s legally yours, and she’ll never walk out of these gates again."

My breath hitched. 

A Deed of Wardship.

If I signed that document, I would be legally declaring myself unfit and ruined.

My father would be forced to disown me to save the Blackwood name from the scandal. 

I would lose all legal protection. I would become his permanent ward—a kept woman completely at the mercy of the Ashford estate. 

A disposable plaything to be used, locked away, or quietly discarded. 

Even any child I bore would be legally illegitimate and born without rights. 

He didn't just want me. He wanted to strip away my freedom and lock me in a cage forever.

"Julian," I whispered, my voice shaking with dread. "Don’t you dare."

Julian stepped closer. "Be a good girl, Eleanor. Sign it. And I promise I’ll come to your bed tonight."

I lashed out, clawing at his face, but the footmen swarmed me.

Heavy hands pinned my shoulders, forcing me violently down against the desk. 

"Hold her down," Julian ordered coldly, dipping the quill in black ink. "Pry her fingers open and make her sign. If she won't write, ink her thumb and press her seal!"

"Let me go! My father will hang you for this! Julian, my brother will tear this manor to the ground!"

Julian merely chuckled, entirely unbothered. 

I clamped my fists tight, fighting with everything I had.

But two grown men gripped my right hand. 

Crack.

A pop echoed in the room as they forced my index finger backward. 

Agony shot up my arm like liquid fire. Cold sweat instantly drenched my back. 

Despair, thick and suffocating, pulled me under.

Was this how it ended? Chained like an animal in this hell?

BOOM!

A deafening blast shattered the manor's front gates.

The doors of the manor splintered into flying shrapnel, blown completely off their iron hinges.

The footmen guarding the entrance were launched several feet through the air, crashing into the stone pillars with broken groans.

The thunder of iron-shod hooves shook the entire manor floor. 

Through the dust and splintered wood, a tall figure in a cavalry coat rode straight into the foyer, a gleaming saber drawn in his hand. 

My brother’s voice roared through the halls like rolling thunder:

"Who dares touch my sister again? I’ll take your heads!"