Page 79 of My Cruel Duke

“My mother’s name was Rosalie. He called hermy Rose,” Rhysand pointed out. Penny nodded in realization.It is almost as though he was obsessed with her.

“I am beginning to believe he was obsessed. This is insanity…”

Penny had not realized she said the words out loud until Rhysand replied. “I fear for what we shall find next.”

Penny held her breath when Rhysand took out the third letter.

You told me you would take some time to sort out your thoughts, my Rose, how then did you end up with a child for him again?

“Oh my, she was with a third child,” Penny whispered. She turned to find Rhysand’s bloodshot eyes when he did not respond to him. He was doing all he could to keep the anger and hurt in.

The man, the only family he had left betrayed him in the greatest way possible. He had killed his family and pretended to be there for him, he swore to never get married and focused on training Rhysand. He had been dining and drinking with the enemy for years, and he knew nothing about it. He had strategically hidden his tracks and his involvement in the case. How could he call himself family?

Penny could only sympathize with him. She understood where he was coming from. It had been the same when she found out her father had tried to kill her, and when he failed, he pinned it on her innocent mother. And now it was revealed that Wilson was not her real father either.

The door to Uncle Harold’s room was pushed open, and Uncle Harold stood at the open door with an apologetic Aunt Augusta behind him.

“I did not tell him a thing, and I tried everything to keep him from turning back, but he insisted he forgot something important back at the house,” Aunt Augusta confessed without prompt.

“It is all right. We have seen enough.” Rhysand’s smile did not reach his eyes. Aunt Augusta did the one thing she was good at in awkward situations; run away.

“I sensed something was off since the meeting with Wilson, and I suspected he told the truth about what happened then. That rat would say anything to save his own arse. I went along with leaving Thornbury Hall because I thought it would be better for you to find out this way. But I owe you an explanation,” Uncle Harold spoke calmly.

“What explanation could you possibly have for killing my family and ruining my life?” Rhysand spat. Penny winced at the desperation in his voice.

“I was not thinking. I was blinded by my rage and love for her that I did not sit to think it through.”

Rhysand could not believe what he had just heard.

“You killed your brother! The only brother you had left, for his wife!” Rhysand yelled, “And you lied to me. You watched me punish another man for your crimes, and you drank to it. How wicked could you be?” The wrath in Rhysand’s eyes burned everything in its view.

“I am truly sorry for my actions. Believe me, I searched for ways to tell you what I did, but I feared this outcome. I thought it would be for the best if the truth never came out, and I punished myself by putting you first, and training you just like your father would have…” Tears spilled from the older man’s eyes.

“Your words mean nothing to me now, and I swear to you by heaven, that putting you in behind bars would be showing you mercy. You shall feel my wrath and wish for death.”

True to his word, Rhysand sent word to the constable and had his uncle arrested, but it did nothing to quell his anger. He had missed out on lunch and dinner, and Penny was worried.

She knocked softly on his door. Once, twice, he did not respond, but she pushed the door open regardless and let herself into the room.

The room was doused in pitch darkness, and if it was not for the candlestick she carried with her, it would have been impossible to tell between furniture and man.

Rhysand was lying on his large bed with his back to her, breathing slowly, but Penny sensed he was wide awake.

“Rhysand?” Penny called, but he did not respond.

Instead of taking his behavior to heart, Penny went up to him and laid on the bed beside him. Immediately, Rhysand turned and wrapped his arms around Penny, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

“I came because I thought you might need a shoulder to cry on. You do not have to bottle your feelings up. Let it all out, right here, I shall hold you.”

Rhysand hesitated at first, but when the first tear dropped, he lost control of himself.

Chapter38

Rhysand had tried his best to keep the news of his family away from the Ton, but when the sun rose it rose along with everything that concerned Wilson Hislop and Harold Patterson.

Multiple gossip mongers had written pieces about the incomplete stories they had heard from a friend of a friend. Some of the papers got the story right, while the majority, filled in the holes in the story with their speculations, most of which were exaggerated facts.

Thornbury Hall, however, was silent, as opposed to the noise that surrounded it. The long-lasting staff had remained, from the purge that commenced after the officers had taken Uncle Harold away. He realized Uncle Harold had paid some of the workers of the estate to carry out the horrible deed, and afterward, they retained their jobs, doing other horrible errands for the convicted.