Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“So you went against my father’s wishes?”
“Not without your mother’s consent.”
She jerked back. “What do you mean?”
“Your mother always knew about Mrs. Devereaux. Your father never hid the fact that he was in Peru with a broken heart. That he was there to try to forget her. After Deja was conceived, your mother had just given birth to you. Your father flew back to be with her, but he wasn’t made for that world. He constantly traveled back and forth between Peru and here, never stopping his affair with Mrs. Devereaux. They were able to get away with it until it came down to Deja’s paternity. That was when all hell broke loose.”
“Is this how you met Elizabeth?”
“Your father knew I was unhappy with having the burden of our family’s business. He helped me get a job at the Graves, and I chose freedom over the purgatory I’d been feeling. With that, your mother thought I was abandoning her with all the responsibility, and she hated that I’d be working at the Academy where his lover’s mistress lived.”
“Does that mean she knew about them?”
He nodded. “And she put up with it until she couldn’t anymore. She wanted to give you a better example of love and in finding a husband. She never imagined they’d kill him for it. The choice was between the man who’d taken her for a fool or her daughter, so you can imagine that the choice was simple for her. She got on that plane and never looked back until she called me about three years ago.”
She listened intently to everything he was sharing.
“She was crying, saying she messed everything up for you. That she’d never be able to give you the life you deserved, the one you wanted. She said you were unhappy like I was, that she could see it on your face every single day. It didn’t matter how much you hid it from her. You yearned for freedom in the same way I did. She wanted you to attend the Graves Academy to receive the best education for your future, and she knew it’d open doors for you to build connections and make all your dreams come true.”
Her eyes welled up with tears, and I hated seeing her so upset.
“She begged me to help her, to make the council understand that you were meant to be here. I spent the next three years doing exactly that until finally, they agreed, but only if Onyx would watch you and make sure you didn’t remember or find out the truth.”
“Why couldn’t Mrs. Devereaux and my father be together if they were so in love?”
“Because she was already promised to another man.”
“But it would have spared them their lives.”
He caressed the side of her face, looking deep into her eyes before adding…
* * *
“Because in this world, mi niña, the council is your God.”
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Hennessy: Love is messy, but beautiful.
My mind was spinning. “That’s so silly. If they loved each other, they should’ve been able to be together. My father was a legacy family. Why couldn’t she just marry into that instead?”
“I opposed,” Mr. Devereaux chimed in. “I was so young… so full of myself… I didn’t want the shame of another man winning the love of my life. I couldn’t allow her to humiliate me like that, choosing to marry another man over me. My dignity couldn’t stand for it.” He shook his head in disappointment. “I wouldn’t have survived the embarrassment. Everyone knew she was promised to me.”
“Wow,” I rasped. “So your ego won out over their lives?”
He locked eyes with me. “Yes, it did, and I’ve lived with the regret. I thought I could look the other way. As long as she didn’t leave me, I’d let her live a double life until I found out Deja wasn’t mine… then I turned into a man out for vengeance, and the council does love their blood.”
There was no denying it. “You had them killed.”
He didn’t reply, but he didn’t have to. The truth was written clear across his face in bright, bold lettering.
“I’m sorry, Hennessy. That’s all I can offer you now. But please know, I’m in debt to you for saving my life, and I know there’ll come a time when you collect. I look forward to it.”
I thought about what he offered. What could I possibly need from this man? He’d taken my father from me. I wanted to hate him, and I’d be lying if I said, had I known this prior to pledging my oath to the Brotherhood, I still would’ve sacrificed myself for him, but what was done was done.
There was no use in crying over spilled blood now.
The doctor had wrapped my hand, and I squeezed it tight, trying to be strong and not hold grudges or seek revenge. It was what started all of this to begin with. I refused to be like them. I wouldn’t let them change who I was.