Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Straightening off the balcony’s rail, he dug his hands deep in his pockets. “This time, there’d be no more lies. All of this – it’s to show you that there won’t ever be lies between us.”
Another painful, audible breath that seemed to drag the oxygen from the deepest part of his body.
“If you ask me again if I believe you can make me love you...” He choked off. “I’d say yes. And it’s happened. Because I love you.” He pulled one hand out, and when Mary saw the ring he was holding, she switched the TV off, unable to let herself hear the rest of what he had to say.
****
Mary’s struggle not to watch the rest ended a week later. She used to fall asleep quite easily but ever since she had learned of Rathe’s show, sleep had become elusive.
Eventually, she found herself going back to the living room in the middle of the night.
Her hands shook as she reached for the remote control.
She pressed Play, and it was like falling back in the rabbit’s hole.
The second episode had Rathe leaving his London office and about to step into his limousine. “I’m heading right now to the courts. I’d like to watch the proceedings, make sure that my suit against the Daughtrys is going smoothly.”
Mary gasped.
“There’s been much speculation about Camilla Daughtry and I especially since we had an engagement that lasted for approximately three hours, ending when her arrest papers were served.”
What followed was a sequence of events, clips taken from different dates of court proceedings.
There was Mrs. Emerson on the witness stand, claiming that she had been hired by Camilla Daughtry to spy at Rathe in his household. Similar testimonies followed from a long list of individuals, all of them employed in establishments either owned or frequented by any of the Wellesley family.
The last was of Camilla on the witness stand, leaving her own father to hang as she put all the blame on him. “He was the mastermind behind everything...even going as far as breaking client confidentiality to tell Rathe about his parents’ pre-nuptial contract...”
From the background, there was the sound of shuffling noise, and then a man that distinctly sounded like Wilson Daughtry shouting, “You ungrateful bitch!”
The camera switched back to the present, revealing Rathe inside his limousine.
A crowd of reporters was already waiting outside the courtroom, and they clamored to get to the duke upon sighting him. However, Rathe had his security with him and no one was able to come close.
Inside the courtroom, Rathe’s face remained stoic throughout the proceedings. The only time his expression changed was when the case was adjourned and he and Camilla came face to face.
The other woman asked bitterly, “You’re really going to let me go to jail after so many years of friendship?”
“I’m not the reason you’re in cuffs,” Rathe said coldly. “It’s your own actions—-”
“That’s a lie,” Camilla snapped. “This is all because of her!”
Rathe looked fit to kill her. “You don’t even have the right to speak her name—-”
Camilla spit on him, and gasps could be heard all over the place at what she had done. “What a hypocrite you are. Aren’t you the same person who agreed to marry me because you couldn’t wait to get rid of her?”
Cut.
Mary almost pressed Stop until she saw the next scene, which revealed Rathe back in his limousine, tossing back a shot of whisky.
It was so unlike him to turn to liquor that Mary found herself resting back on her haunches, her gaze glued to the screen.
Only when Rathe was done with his drink did he face the camera once more. “That time...before the party...Camilla proposed a fake engagement to help me convince Mary to leave me.”
Hearing the words made Mary feel sick.
“And I...” He laughed hollowly. “I accepted. Because that time, I thought I was doing what was right. I thought that by cutting all ties between us, it would make things better for my mother, and it would allow Mary to find someone who deserved her more.”
Rathe’s gaze strayed back at the glass on the table, its emptiness seemingly a reflection of how he considered his life was now. “Maybe, there is a person who deserve you more, but...” He looked up, and his lips twisted. “I want a chance, anyway. Give me a chance to love you.”
****
Another episode showed Rathe with the other Pussketeers getting together in New York, and a tense moment came up when Yanna Kastein asked to speak to the duke in private.
The wife of the Dutch billionaire was clearly nervous, wringing her hands as she waited for Rathe to join her. “I’m sorry,” she blurted out the moment they were alone.
Rathe was bemused. “Whatever it is, you’re forgiven.” A ghost of a smile curved on his lips. “Anything to remove that little frown on your face. If your husband sees it, I’m afraid he’s going to thump me, thinking I made you cry.”