Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

H ow could I have been so dumb to be so taken with him?

Nora had never felt more stupid and depressed than she did at that moment. She had ignored all the signs that had been there even before she agreed to go to this unfortunate rendezvous with him.

Seeing him with a mistress that first night should've made it clear to her that she would never have anything serious with him. While the Duke knew how to make her feel safe and warm, none of that meant that he wanted more from her than what he'd offered.propositioned.

Seven nights. Why does it hurt so much if it's only meant to be seven nights?

She knew what she was getting into, and yet his cold tone as he sent her away had hurt more than it should have.

You knew what you were getting into before you started this. You cannot let yourself be so hurt.

She repeated the words over and over to herself. He'd had no reason to ask her to stay.

She'd gotten too used to his kindness and warmth. Nora pictured him in her head as she tried to be angry with him, but she couldn't muster up the energy to do that. He had been honest with her from the beginning. If anyone had been in denial, it was her.

She

A part of her had deluded herself into thinking that he would love her just like she was beginning to love him, but now it had become clear to her.

Too bad it took you this long and already giving your heart away for you to realize what you should've known from the very beginning.

Nora was even more angry with herself because of what happened to her mother. The Duke was nothing like her stepfather. However, she had promised herself that she would never allow herself to fall in love or marry unless it was to someone who loved her just as much, and yet here she was, falling for the first man who showed interest in her, albeit a different kind of interest.

How could you have thought this was something special? .

She'd never been the type to have weird expectations. It was very much unlike her.

Nora sighed as she breathed in the cool night air. She strolled around the estate, lost in thought and the misery of her situation. She turned a bend and headed to the gardens, when she heard a sound.

She frowned, leaning closer out of curiosity. Anger overtook her as her hands balled into fists. She watched her mother kneel in front of Lord Worlington, her head pressed against his hand as she pleaded with him to change his mind.

Nora

She turned away, as the sight was too much to bear, although her mother's cries reached her ears.

Her

Nora's mind was made up. Although she'd been eager to escape from him, the Duke had distracted her from her plan with the pleasure he brought her and the hope for something more than the deal they had made. However, now that her delusions had been cleared, there was nothing stopping her from putting her plans in motion.

Guilt ate at her. She hadn't even mentioned the plan to her mother yet.

Don't worry, Mother, I will save you from this life.

"Why do you have to go out? Why can't you just stay here with me? Just for tonight," Julia Swinton begged her husband, looking up at him with so much adoration that it choked Nora to see it from where she stood.

Why do you continue to love him?

Letting him go out, to be with whatever woman he wished to see today, was infinitely better than him being around to get angry at everything they did and beat her up even more.

Why can't you see that he should be gone than to be around here with you?

"Let go of me, woman. Why do I have to be here with you?" Lord Worlington asked, brushing her away. "Compose yourself, woman. You are a lady, and it's time you begin to act like one."

He kicked past her, heading out of the estate, all the while grumbling as he went.

Nora waited until he was gone and emerged from the shadows where she hid, watching everything that transpired.

"Mother, are you all right?" she asked, pulling her mother up from where she sat on the floor.

"Nora, I didn't realize you were here." Julia sniffled, looking away from Nora in shame. "I'm sorry you keep having to see me like this. This isn't how I thought things would go."

Nora shook her head. "You are not to blame for this, Mother. This is all Lord Worlington's fault."

"Oh, I wish you would stop calling him that," Julia said.

Nora's eyes narrowed. It was usually so easy for her to blame Lord Worlington, but her mother also had a part to play in all of this. Her heart clenched with guilt.

Her mother was a victim. However, Nora wished there were days when she would simply fight back or maintain a dignified indifference to Lord Worlington's constant terrible behavior. It would save her a lot of trouble.

"Aren't you tired? You're in pain all the time," Nora asked, angry at the situation.

"Yes, but it is my cup to bear," the Viscountess said in a defeated tone.

Nora was aghast. "What do you mean it's your cup to bear? None of this is because of you. It's simply because of the man Lord Worlington is."

Her mother sat on a bench and tapped the space beside her. "Sometimes, love just happens to be like that. It isn't really anyone's fault."

It's definitely Lord Worlington's fault.

Nora refrained from saying so. There was no time for them to argue over whose fault it was and if Lord Worlington deserved forgiveness or to be loved by someone like her mother, or anyone for that matter.

"Mother, I-I have a plan," she said wearily.

Her mother's head snapped up to hers. She could see the wariness in her own eyes before she asked, "What do you mean?"

Nora swallowed. There were only two ways this could go. Her mother would balk at the idea but come to accept it as the only way out of their problem, or she would ask her to forget about it.

I hope it'll be the former.

She didn't know what she would do if her mother refused to go with her.

"Why don't we run away together and finally be free of him?" Nora suggested, her hands behind her back as she bit her lip in trepidation.

Her mother was still for a moment, her hair flowing down in the midnight breeze and her blinking eyes the only evidence Nora wasn't talking to a sculpture.

"What?"

"Aren't you tired of living this way with a man who doesn't love you? You should come with me, Mother. We can escape together," Nora repeated desperately.

Her mother's eyes widened in fear as she looked around them as though Lord Worlington would suddenly appear behind them.

Nora's heart ached for her mother. She'd become a shell of her former self. This person here in front of her was not the mother she knew when she was a child.

Why can't you see this? Why do you let him turn you into this?

She turned away to hide the lone tear that slid down her cheek.

"You should never speak of something like that out in the open again. What if someone hears you?" Julia chided, fear plain in her eyes.

"Mother, please. Can't you just consider this?" Nora asked her.

"No, Nora. Moreover, even if I entertained this foolish notion, where would we go? How far would we run before he finds us? Timothy is a very powerful, proud man. He will not take kindly to being played like a fool. He will find us, and when he does, the consequences will be more dire."

Nora sucked in a breath. She had thought about it all. She knew he would go after them, which was why she'd needed to make sure that they had enough money to disappear for a while. At least until he accepted the idea that they would never return to him.

"You don't have to worry about that, Mother. I will take care of everything. We could go to your cousin, and she will help us out for as long as we need—at least until the dust settles and he stops searching for us. And then we could go wherever we wish to. I'll get a job, and you can do as you please," Nora said convincingly, smiling at her mother.

"And what about money? How will we survive until you get a job?" Julia asked. "We can only live on my cousin's mercy for so long."

"You don't have to worry about that, Mother. I have some money saved up already. It will keep us afloat for a while until I am able to get a job. I am a noblewoman, Mother. It would not be difficult for me to find work as a governess." to care for our needs."

Nora was excited. "Oh, Mother, we could leave tonight if you so wish it. I have been thinking about it for quite some time."

"No. I will not have it. We cannot escape, Nora. I don't want to do that," Julia said with conviction, her voice sharper than it had been earlier. The spell had been shattered before it could take root. "I love Timothy, and I will not leave him."

Nora reared back like she had been slapped. She'd accounted for her mother refusing to go with her, and yet the shock of it was almost too much for her to bear.

"And me? Do you not love me enough to want to run away with me? He's trying to separate us, Mother," she cried out, calming herself when her mother flinched.

"You know I love you, Nora. I have always loved you. You are my daughter. But I love him as well. You know that. I don't wish to lose either of you," Julia pleaded.

Guilt ate at Nora for putting her mother in a tight spot. Of course, her mother loved her.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I know you love me, and I'm aware that you love Lord Worlington, but it doesn't change the fact that he isn't good for you," she tried to convince her.

The Viscountess shook her head before Nora finished. "I cannot leave him. He wasn't always like this. He used to be so loving and caring. That was why I married him. And I know he loves me too. He just needs help in remembering that. Maybe he can change, Nora."

Nora sighed at the realization that nothing would come of this. Talking to her mother was like talking to a wall.

"How much more of Lord Worlington's abuse can you take before you realize that the man you knew is gone and you stop losing yourself in him so much?" Nora asked, her last-ditch effort to convince her mother to make the right decision. One that would guarantee them a better life.

How much more is he going to hurt you?

Nora wiped her eyes in anger. She let out a short, humorless laugh as she stared at the mark on her hand from the Duke's kisses.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, after all.

Here she was, upset with her mother for refusing to leave a harmful relationship, but hadn't she been close to doing the same despite knowing the truth. Her mother was blind to the truth of her situation, and Nora had been just as blinded.

She was also being absolutely foolish, trusting the Duke and falling for a fantasy even when the truth had been presented to her before she embarked on her rendezvous with him.

Maybe she had no right to think her mother made the wrong decision. After all, she had only just been eating out of the Duke's hand.

Nora stared up into the starry night sky, uncertain of what to do now that her mother would not be joining her in her escape plan, and also disappointed in the two of them for the kind of men they allowed into their lives.