Chapter 25
+25 BONUS
This was a threat–Duncan wanted to push her to the edge All the assets had been secretly moved, but none of it had escaped his notice. Those properties were the Leverton family’s last lifeline. Without them, the entire family would be left destitute.
Could she really tell him the truth? If she did, would she even survive afterward?
“Duncan, we were almost married. Please, let my family off the hook. We have nothing left, just a small emergency fund. We can’t lose that, Duncan. I’m begging you,” Heather said, dropping to her knees, nearly prostrating herself before him.
Duncan turned, his gaze darkening. He remembered Audrey once kneeling like this, her forehead bloodied from bowing so hard. He had forced her to apologize to the wonth now groveling before him: Heather.
In hindsight, he realized how utterly desperate and resentful Audrey must have been. He owed her a debt he could never repay in this lifetime,
Without a word, Duncan began walking upstairs, Heather’s pleading voice echoing behind him. “Duncan, please! Let me go, let the Leverton family go! Just for old times‘ sake, please!”
Old times‘ sake? The thing he regretted most was using Heather to hurt Audrey. Audrey had died such a horrible death, and every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was her lying in his arms, covered in blood, smiling as she said, “Thank you.”
That “thank you” left him feeling utterly ashamed. He had hurt her so deeply, betrayed her so thoroughly, that he didn’t deserve her gratitude.
He could never atone for his sins in this lifetime.
“Fine, I’ll forgive you. But on one condition: you must knee here for an entire night,” Duncan said coldly. Audrey had knelt before Heather once, and now it was Heather’s turn to repay that debt.
“I’ll do it,” Heather quickly agreed, wiping away her tears. She wasn’t afraid of kneeling for a night, as long as it meant Duncan would stop going after the Leverton family and digging into Audrey’s poisoning.
But Heather had miscalculated. Duncan had already investigated everything about her, from her preschool days to her college years. He had compiled a detailed list of everyone she had been close to, especially her fellow pre–med classmates.
Duncan locked himself in his room. His gaze fell on the neatly made bed, where Audrey had once slept, where they had shared so many intimate moments.
“I’m willing to be your mistress… no, your escort,” Audrey had once said. “As long as I can stay by your side, I don’t care what I am.”
At the time, all she wanted was to stay by his side, no matter what title she held. She simply wanted to spend her remaining days with the man she loved. But he had been consumed with hatred and had cruelly punished her.
Duncan’s chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. His eyes burned with tears he tried to hold back. He opened the closet where her clothes had once been stored. After she left a year ago, he had thrown everything out.
Now the closet was empty, void of any trace of her existence.
Duncan closed the closet door and slid down, leaning against it. “Audrey, why did you bear the burden of your illness alone? Why did you hide it from me? Why couldn’t we face it together? Don’t you know how much you meant to me? Why didn’t you understand?”
Chapter 25
+25 BONUS
On the nightstand were the medical records Josh had given him. Duncan hadn’t dared to look at them even once. He was afraid of the pain it would bring, though not reading them didn’t spare him from that pain either.
Finally, he opened them. He couldn’t imagine how she had managed to come back to him, enduring his hatred, with her body in such a deteriorated state.
All her organs were failing. She had been unable to manage even basie daily tasks, yet in front of him, she had acted as if nothing was wrong.
Chapter 26
