2024-09-17 00:01:54"I don’t care whether you want to help me or not. Just stay out of my way," Sophia snapped.
Alex shook his head.
Her understanding was as dull as a butter knife, and her parents were much worse.
There was little hope she would realize the truth any time soon.
Alex felt no obligation to reveal his true self to her, as their relationship had been doomed from the start.
He was simply pl
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Chapter 800
At eight o'clock the black envelope lay on the white cloth in front of the Baroness, and nobody at the long table had touched their toast.The Baroness had ordered breakfast laid in the great hall this morning, not the dining room, and everyone knew why. For two hundred years Tiffany brides had stood in this hall to speak their choice, and the Baroness had always kept her hardest words for it. The hall smelled of cold butter and coffee gone bitter in the pot. Grey light lay on the silver chairs.Serena stood at the foot of the table. Her husband stood one step behind her, in his old Harland coat, with his hands folded like a boy called up in front of the class.The Baroness picked up the card with two thin fingers and read it out loud, flat and dry."Halcyon Group requests the presence of Serena Tiffany on Friday, in her own name, as an independent nose. One bench has been held for her. It will not be held for anyone else."She put it down.Then Patricia laughed. Bright and sweet, the
Chapter 799
The knock came after dark. Three hard knocks, quick and careless.Not his. Her husband knocked twice, soft, then a third time, a little late, as if he was sorry to bother the door.Serena sat on the bed by the wall with the black envelope in her lap.The kennels breathed through the bricks behind her, warm straw and wet fur. A hound snored. The card had gone warm from her hands."Who is it?" she called warily."Your future, cousin," a lazy voice drawled through the wood. "Open up. It's cold out here, and I'm wearing my good coat."Julian Pryce.She slid the envelope under the pillow and opened the door four inches.He leaned on the frame, handsome in a smooth, polished way. Brandy on his breath. Night frost on the shoulders of his camel coat."You're lost," Serena said flatly. "The guest wing is on the other side of the house.""I know where the guest wing is," Julian said, amused. "I've come to rescue you from this one." He looked past her at the bare bulb and the two narrow beds, an
Chapter 780
"Sit down, Pauline," the Baroness said coldly, not taking her eyes off Serena. "Let the girl talk. I want to hear how far she'll go."Pauline didn't sit. Neither did anyone else now. Cordelia was on her feet. Preston was on his feet. Every Tiffany at that table was standing, and every one of them was looking at Serena. The footmen had backed against the wall."I'll tell you what happens if you go," Patricia said, right into Serena's face. "You walk into Halcyon. You see the clock. You see the panel. You freeze. You shake, the way you're shaking now. And the whole coast watches Tiffany Perfumes go under because a half-blind girl.""Then I'll shake," Serena said, "and I'll still beat you.""You've never beaten me at anything in your life.""You've never had to make anything in yours," Serena said. "You've only ever had to steal it."Patricia's hand came up.The slap never landed. It stopped barely an inch from Serena’s cheek, caught in an iron grip. Alex was already standing beside her,
Chapter 797
Dulcie was already in the bridal room when he got there.She was sitting on the very edge of the big bed in her grey dress, with her hands knotted in her lap. She had stopped crying. Her eyes were red and dry.Julian leaned in the doorway. He had meant to be kind. He had meant to say, Don't worry, little cousin, I won't touch you, and sleep in the chair, and go home in the morning."Don't be frightened," he said. "I'm not going to —""I know what I'm meant to do," Dulcie said.Her voice was very small and very flat, like a lesson read out loud."Mother told me. And Grandmother." She stood up. Her hands went to the hooks at the front of her grey dress, and they were shaking so hard she missed the first one. "If you send the money back, I've failed the house. And if I fail, Grandmother says I go down to the garage wing. To wait on the prince and his wife. A maid, for the rest of my life, in the kennels."She undid the first hook. Then the second."This is her fault," Dulcie whispered, n
Chapter 796
She looked at the two beds. One was by the window. One was by the wall, where the cold came through the bricks."You take the window," she said firmly."It's your wedding night," Alexander said, surprised. "You should have the window.""I had a window for two years," she said quietly. "It had bars on it. I don't want to look out of one for a while." She nodded at it. "And you keep looking at it. You did it in the hall, too. Every time a door opened, you looked at the way out."He was quiet."I'm not asking why," she said gently. "I'm only saying, take it.""Thank you," he said, and meant it.The tap dripped. Somewhere in the house, a door slammed, and somebody laughed, a long way off."I'll fix that tomorrow," Serena said briskly, nodding at the tap."You can fix taps?" he asked, surprised."I spent two years in a tower listening to one," she said dryly. "I know exactly what's wrong with it. The washer's gone, and somebody tightened it too hard to hide it.""That sounds like this hous
Chapter 795
Serena pressed her hand flat on the cloth. It kept shaking.The glass tipped. Red wine ran across the white linen, between the candles, straight toward the lace of her wedding dress."Serena?" Gideon was half out of his chair, his napkin crushed in one fist. "Sweetheart?""I'm fine, Father," she said quietly.She wasn't. This was how the dark had started, two winters ago. First the hands. Then the eyes. Then the voice.Not again, she thought. Not in front of all of them."Oh dear," Patricia said from the family table, sweet as syrup. "Is she ill? She's gone so pale." She turned in her chair. "Doctor Reeve, shouldn't she have her drops?"Every head turned to the doctors' table. Dr. Osmond Reeve had a forkful of salmon halfway to his mouth."I, no," he stammered. "No. No more drops. Not tonight, Miss Patricia.""But she's shaking," Patricia said, loud enough for the back benches. "Look at her, poor thing. After everything she's been through.""Perhaps the excitement," Reeve said weakly.
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Reader Comments
why are you guys stretching it out so far, no one is that stupid in real life or fiction,, I'm just saying make it make sense
I have paid for subscription and they are yet to unlock it
The woman is a gold digger! This story is starting to become stupid.