Three Years of Devotion, All for His Lie

Chapter 6

Isabella let out a mirthless laugh, her rage turning glacial. "Dorian, I'm telling you for the last damn time, I want a divorce! Then your precious estate can finally breathe easy!"

Dorian acted deaf to her words. "Seize her!" he roared. "Throw her into the snow, she kneels until Aurora says otherwise!"

Minister Theodore arrived breathlessly upon hearing his daughter had awakened, only to freeze at these words.

Anger burned in his chest, but the young lord's status kept him in check. "Dorian," he began carefully, "what's provoked such fury? Isabella just woke from her injuries."

"Father-in-law," Dorian spat, lips curling like a cornered snake, "your daughter's a jealous snake. Since she can't bear a child, she'd rob me of mine! How should this be settled?"

Theodore's weathered face crumpled as he saw his daughter collapsed on the floor. "My lord, if my child has offended you, I begs."

"Begs?" Dorian's voice turned razor-sharp. "Then kneel in the snow for her. Perhaps then I'll consider mercy."

Theodore stiffened. Never had he imagined the man praised as his daughter's perfect match could be so cruel.

Watching her father humiliated, Isabella choked out, "I never kicked her! A healthy child doesn't miscarry from a touch!"

Dorian's eyes burned crimson. " Aurora fights for her life, yet you still lie? Guards! Drag her out, slap the truth from her!"

Thwack! Thwack! The matron's blows rained down as Isabella knelt in the snow, bare knees searing against the ice. Blood trickled from her split lip as she stared at the man she'd once loved, now a monster wearing his face.

Theodore, who'd cherished his miracle child-like glass, roared, "Have you no fear of heaven's law? If you hate her, return her to me! Must you torture her?"

Dorian flicked his sleeve. "Minister Everett, don't twist facts. She tried to kill my heir." His gaze fell on Isabella, trembling and dazed. "To atone, I'll make Aurora my second wife in seven days."

Bound and bleeding, Isabella rasped through swollen lips, "Dorian, divorce. Final warning."

For the first time, doubt flickered in Dorian's eyes as he met her hollow stare. This time, she wasn't bluffing.

The woman who'd adored him with unwavering devotion actually meant it—she was done with him!

His gaze swept the room, landing on the embroidery frame atop the table. There lay an unfinished golden belt, its corner bearing the clear-as-day character "Monta", half of the surname "Montague."

His lips curled in a mocking sneer as he glared at Isabella. Here she was, slaving over gifts day and night, counting the hours until his return, yet now she had the nerve to demand a divorce? She might talk tough, but her heart was laid bare in every stitch.

That flicker of doubt in him hardened into cold certainty.

"Apologize properly to Aurora," he hissed. "For the sake of our childhood bond and three years as husband and wife, I might still let this slide."

At these words, Theodore's already ailing body finally gave way to rage. Crash! His vision went black as he crumpled to the floor.

"Physician!" Isabella lunged forward, her knees scraping through the icy slush as she cradled her father's head. "Fetch the physician now, my father needs help!"

Rosie darted forward to help the collapsed old man, only for a bloodcurdling shriek to split the air from the inner chamber.

The physician stumbled out, his face ashen. He swallowed hard. "We couldn't save Mrs. Aurora's child."