The Duke said nothing more, but Leo could tell that he was positively outraged. He looked at his own son with utter disgust in his eyes, dripping with disappointment. If Aaron thought that he was going to get away with it with the help of his father'swealth and power, he completely miscalculated how strict his father really was.
“Of course,” Leo went on relentlessly, “you don't have to take my words for it, not even look at the evidence. I believe the guest in my estate, a certain known forager, has some very interesting stories to tell.”
When Aaron heard that there was a witness, he realized just how deep the hole he had dug himself into it really is.
“I must admit,brother,” Aaron said with an emotionless voice, “it was quite entertaining watching you chasing my shadow. I never thought that this prank would get this far, that you would eventually have to get married. Imagine my satisfaction to see you tangled in such an escapable situation just because I orchestrated it to be so.”
“Aaron,” Bridget exclaimed. “This is… this is your brother.”
“Half-brother,” Aaron barked. “The perfect golden prince, the untouchable Lord of Mildenhall. perfect in every way and form. Do you have any idea how it is to grow up under such a long shadow?”
“Aaron,” Bridget tried. “This is all in your head.”
“He's the one that you've ever loved. I was just a very poor substitute. I wanted to show you that he is not as shiny as you think. And I wanted you, Leo, to suffer.”
Leo heard this confession with an emotionless face. He had seen the evidence, he had heard people pointing at Aaron, but to sit in the same room as the man who attempted to hurt you, hit very differently.
“I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted,” Lee's voice was like the acts of an executioner. “Your actions will have consequences. I will leave this to the judicial procedure, and perhaps we can hear but the public opinion things by exposing all of this to the great audience of the ton during this season.”
Aaron lost all color from his face. He truly believed that he would get away with it, and now that it was a time of reckoning, he had no fight left in him. Bridget spoke no more, she was just crying in a corner, her hands hiding her face.
“I believe this,” Winston said, “to be a just punishment. It would be best if we let the authorities take care of this.”
“Father,” Aaron begged, “you will not leave me being either exiled or punished.”
“That is exactly what I intend to do. What you did was atrocious, heartless, and cowardly.”
“Father, please don't do this.”
“If I had another heir, I would have disowned you this very instant, strip you of my name, exclude you from my household, cut all funds.”
Aaron collapsed, the little thread that kept him standing snapped, and he fell on his knees before Leo. He was looking ahead with a glassy look, imagining perhaps the future that was coming for him, it looked as gloomy as his eyes.
“I just wanted to hurt you.”
“The worst part is,” Leo said, “that you dragged an innocent woman into all this. Someone who had done nothing to hurt you. Yet you didn't even blink when you ruined her reputation and your future.”
“Miss Jenkins,” whispered to himself. “I never wanted to hurt Miss Jenkins. I told him not to hurt her.”
Cold sweat ran down Leo’s spine. He didn't want to believe the implication of what Aaron had just admitted.
“What did you say?”
“It was just to scare her.”
“What did you do?” Leo demanded with a raw, guttural snarl, the sound of a beast whose den has been threatened.
“She was being so meddlesome,” Aaron talked to himself. “And instead of hating you, even she defended you during the family dinner.”
Leo’s restraint snapped in half. In two strides, he was before Aaron. He grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up so fiercely that for a few seconds, Aaron was not touching the ground.
“WHERE IS SHE?” Leo roared, shaking him so hard his teeth rattled.
Only then did Aaron realize what he had done. If he wanted to anger Leo, he had succeeded. The man who looked down at him was not a civil person. It was a savage animal that felt threatened. He had those teeth and claws and would use them on him.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Leo’s fist landed on his half-brother’s face, but Leo kept him up, holding him by the collar.
