Finally, she broke the stillness, her voice barely above a whisper, her gaze now fixed on the ground.
“Duty?”
Abel nodded slowly, his heart beating fast. “Yes,” he affirmed. “It is the right thing to do.”
Bridget’s sudden laughter sliced through the air, leaving Abel stunned and bewildered. After a slightly long cackle, he watched in disbelief as she lifted her eyes to meet his, her gaze now burning with fury.
The sight caught him off guard, his mind racing to comprehend the reason behind her anger. Before he could utter a word, she swiftly redirected her gaze back to her father.
With a resolute tone, she declared, “Father, I will not marry this man.”
Abel’s heart plummeted, his jaw dropping in shock. His mind spun with a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, unable to process the unexpected turn of events.
He turned his gaze to Bridget’s father, who simply nodded, his own astonishment evident.
In that tense and charged moment, Abel’s world seemed to crumble around him. Confusion and disbelief mingled with a sense of loss as the future he had envisioned shattered before his eyes.
He desperately sought to understand Bridget’s sudden change of heart, grappling with his emotions and the weight of the situation, doing his best to think rationally.
Questions swirled in his mind as he tried to make sense of it all. Had he misunderstood her feelings? Had he failed to see the signs of her discontent? The uncertainty gnawed at him.
As the silence hung heavy in the air, his gaze shifted between her and her father, searching for answers that seemed to elude him.
Finally, he seethed with anger and confusion, his emotions swirling like a tempest within him.
“I have to say, Lady Bridget, I believe you are making a grave mistake,” he declared, his words dripping with the weight of the scandal at hand.
But Bridget met his gaze with unwavering determination, her eyes locked onto his. Her resolute demeanor only fueled Abel’s frustration, and he scoffed at her steadfastness.
“I will not ask you again,” he snapped, trying to hide the desperation in his tone. “You must understand, Bridget, if you reject my proposal, your reputation will be irreparably tarnished.”
Though he tried to maintain a facade of strength, deep down, he yearned for her to change her mind. He despised the vulnerability he felt, considering himself pathetic for clinging to hope, yet he could not stop himself.
His heart sank as she nodded, her eyes burning with a fierce anger that contrasted with the calmness of her voice.
“I will not be any man’s duty,” she asserted, her words slicing through the tension in the room. “I was content being alone before, and nothing has changed. I will be perfectly fine without you.”
Her words struck Abel like a dagger to the chest, and he felt a desperate urge to hold her back, to declare his love once more. But the words eluded him, trapped within the confines of his throat.
“Lady Bridget—” he began, his voice a mere whisper, but she swiftly interrupted him, cutting him off.
“We have no business together anymore,” she declared, her voice resolute. “I will forget you, just as I expect you to forget me.”
With those final words, she turned to her father, seeking his dismissal. Leonard nodded in silent agreement, and Abel watched helplessly as she walked away without so much as a backward glance.
As her figure disappeared from sight, his thoughts raced, filled with what-ifs and unanswered questions.
And a deep, terrible, all-consuming regret
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Bridget lay on the silken sheets of her bed, her body weary from the vociferous emotions that consumed her. Over the past couple of hours, she had gone through a large range of different emotions.
As she closed her eyes, memories from that morning with her father and Abel filled her vision again. The anger that had coursed through her veins a few hours ago, propelling her straight from her father’s study into the confines of her room, still lingered.
She had unleashed her fury the moment she stepped into her room, screaming into her pillow and punching the sheets repeatedly as she sought release from the overwhelming frustration that threatened to consume her.
But then, the tears had come, unbidden and unstoppable. They cascaded down her cheeks, mingling with the remnants of her anger.
