He smiled in a self-deprecating manner. “He was hardly equipped to deal with the responsibilities that came with that privilege and before long, he had squandered his inheritance. He married my mother—who had no title but had immense wealth—but in the end, he lost her money, too.”
Claire looked at the Marquess with some pity. His life with the Duke of Lorchester must have been especially hard as she could not imagine that evil man being a good father to his son.
He was even willing to use his own son to get to my inheritance!
“Fortunately, my mother left enough money for me to make sure that I was educated in the same manner as my peers were,” he continued with a sad smile. “That is where I met Oliver. After that, I left London to make my fortune elsewhere and started to have some success in India, when my father summoned me back home, faking some sort of illness.”
“What an absolutely despicable man!” Lady Suzanna scoffed.
“Yes, he was,” the Marquess smiled grimly. “But he was my father and I figured that there might still be something left of my mother in our old home, so I returned. I did not know that he intended to use me to marry some unsuspecting chit just so he could siphon off her dowry and inheritance.”
He looked up to Claire with regret shining in his eyes. “I never meant to involve Lady Claire. I was smitten by Lady Suzanna the moment I saw her and my father was immensely pleased by my choice, knowing she had such a huge dowry.”
Oliver turned away in disgust, the thought of them plotting against his sister making him sick to his stomach.
“But I could not do it,” Lord Draydon sighed. He turned his eyes towards Lady Suzanna, who was looking at him in shock. “I loved you too much and I could not imagine you becoming a pawn in my father’s schemes. After you went into mourning, I was so relieved that I would not have to see you again—I would not have the opportunity to ruin your life.”
“What changed your mind?” Oliver grumbled.
“My father found out through Smithson that Lady Claire had inherited a huge sum of money from her aunt and her father. After that, he shifted his attentions to her and forced me to court her and convince her to marry me.”
Claire shuddered and turned away. The Duke of Lorchester was a truly diabolical man and Smithson was no different. Both of them were extremely selfish and were willing to go to drastic lengths to make sure they would get what they want.
But as it always was with greedy men, all the riches of the world would never be enough for them.
“When Lady Claire turned me down, I was happy,” he said. “I would not have to bother her nor Lady Suzanna. I never wanted to hurt either one of you and I told my father that, which was why he had me beaten up and locked up here.”
“And now, we have all come to this,” Oliver muttered in disgust. “You should have just surrendered him to the authorities when you had the chance.”
“What was I supposed to do? He is still my father, after all,” the Marquess shook his head. “And marrying a rich young lady—it is quite the norm for those of our status. In fact, it is what is expected of us. I never thought that it would all come to this, that he was actually willing to commit murder and other heinous crimes to get what he wanted.”
Trixie shook her head. “What a sick, twisted tale we found ourselves in.”
“I am so sorry for dragging your family into this,” the Marquess apologized. “I never meant for any of it to get this far.”
“Well, your apologies are not enough,” Oliver snapped at him. “The question now is what do you intend to do now that it has come to this?”
The other nobleman hung his head. “I would like to think that he is not so evil as he seems to have become. Hurting your sister is the last thing I want to do and if you die, she will be hurt beyond measure.”
“I might also hate you,” Lady Suzanna added. “Maybe a little.”
The Marquess laughed a little at that. “And I would deserve every drop of hatred for the pain I bring you. In fact, I would not be surprised if you despise me right now.”
The Duke’s sister looked at him with a small smile. “Well, I did think at first that you were up to something bad. I did warn Claire about you and she refused to believe me so…you could say we had different opinions.”
“You were right to be wary of me.” Lord Draydon flashed her a bitter smile. “You have always been an intelligent young lady and I was always hoping you would call me out so you would not have to fall for my father’s schemes.”
Lady Suzanna sat back in her chair with a wary look in her eyes. The Marquess looked longingly at her before he hung his head in guilt and shame.
The entire group sunk into silence as Lord Draydon’s revelations shocked them to their very core. The man they had thought was the villain had been nothing more but an unwilling pawn all along, to be discarded when he finally found the voice to stand up to his father.
Claire shook her head with a sad smile. It was also quite sad that they all found out just how devoted he was to Lady Suzanna right as they were all on the brink of death.
“Well, now what?” Trixie finally huffed, her eyes alight with frustration. “If His Grace signs that contract, then that madman will murder him and set us free.”
“There is not even a guarantee that he will set us free,” the Marquess added glumly. “My father and Smithson will try their best to erase all traces of their crimes.Weare the traces. We are the loose ends.”
“That is not very reassuring,” Claire sighed. “So, no matter what we do, we are all going to die?”
