“I also ken what it feels like to lose family, Gresham,” Raphael reminded him. Keira knew that he was referring to his late wife. “I have been punished for me old life, trust me.”
Gresham grinned. His eyes gleamed wickedly, and his following words threatened to tear the skies in two, like a thunderbolt.
“I ken,” he said. He was not shouting any longer. Something assured Keira that he didn’t need to. The truth of his next words had the power to break someone’s heart into a million little pieces. “It was I who killed her. I assume ye guessed as much, that’s why ye’ve been lookin’ for me. Ye wanted the whole story. Well, I sneaked into yer home late at night. I pushed yer first wife down the stairs. I avenged meself, and I thought that would be enough. But now, seein’ that ye wanted to take more happiness to yerself… I couldnae have that. I couldnae allow that to happen.”
With those words, Gresham approached Keira and pulled out a small-bladed knife from his pocket. The silver glistened in the light of the moon, piercing through one’s eyes. Keira had to look away. Her heart was now beating like mad. Gresham was so close to her that she could smell the sour sweat emanating from him. She coughed a little, which startled the man, and he quickly pressed the blade right to the thin skin of her neck.
“Keira!” Raphael shouted. “Dinnae move!”
“Aye.” Gresham cackled. “Unless ye want me hand to slit and cut this beautiful, swan-like neck of yers!”
Keira’s eyes pleaded with Raphael. He was too far to do anything. By the time he would reach her, Gresham would easily be able to kill her. She tried to banish the thought from her mind, as the fear of her condition threatened to suffocate her before Gresham’s blade ever sliced into her tender flesh.
“Ye are wrong, Gresham!” Raphael shook his head. “She isnae precious to me!”
Both Keira and Gresham’s breathing halted. She could hear his breath hitch as his lips were right next to her ear, and her hearing was now too acute from the adrenaline that was surging through her veins.
“She is a wife that others have arranged for me,” Raphael explained, taking one step closer to them.
Gresham did not seem to have noticed that. Instead, he was focused on Raphael’s words, which continued to pour into the black abyss that was Keira’s heart, filling it with darkness and despair.
“She never meant anythin’ to me, and she never will.” Raphael shrugged with soul-crushing indifference. “If I dinnae marry her, I will marry someone else. It doesnae matter. Me line will continue with any other woman that is chosen for me. So, ye see, killin’ her will get ye nowhere, Gresham. It is me ye have to kill.”
Keira’s breathing was shallow. She felt as if she would faint at any moment, but she had to keep herself awake. There was too much at stake.
Raphael’s mind was a hurricane of emotion. The truth was finally out. He had had some suspicions, but he had been hoping that he was wrong, that the death of his first wife and his unborn child was truly just a tragic accident.
Now, he knew better. He knew better, and the claws of his guilty conscience dug deeply into his heart with the realization that his first wife had died because of him. If she had not known him, if she had not committed the crime of loving him, she would have been alive now. She would have led a happy life, probably with children of her own, by the side of a man whose wicked past did not come back to haunt him and hurt all those around him.
If Raphael had learned anything from his past, Keira would be free. She would be married to that earl back home, and she’d go riding again. She’d enjoy life and pleasure every day.
But Gresham was right. The past was truly not done with him yet. It would keep coming back again and again because Gresham wasn’t his only enemy. During his pirate days, Raphael had made many enemies. Some of them were dead, and others had gone into hiding. He couldn’t know when they might surface again, seeking revenge, just like Gresham.
That could mean only one thing. Raphael couldn’t allow himself to love anyone. He couldn’t allow anyone to love him. It was too dangerous. One woman had already died. An innocent child had already died.
Now, he had a chance to save Keira in more ways than just one. He would save her from the clutches of this scoundrel, and then he would save her from himself.
“Ye… ye are only sayin’ that to force me to let her go!” Gresham’s angry voice brought Raphael back from the torrent of his thoughts.
“I dinnae care what ye think. I am telling ye how things are,” Raphael spoke, and each word felt like a sharp dagger piercing his heart, wounds that would never heal until the end of his days.
But this was the only way to truly save Keira. He knew that now. To love her meant to let her go. And he did. He loved her. Damn it all.
Gresham looked down at Keira. Raphael knew that this would be the moment of decision. Gresham would either let her go or kill her. Raphael couldn’t risk it.
“Dallas!” he shouted, and his loyal man jumped out of the woods. It was enough to distract Gresham and buy Raphael a few precious moments in which he could act quickly.
Raphael lunged at Gresham, pushing him forcefully away from Keira. He grabbed Gresham’s hand, digging his fingers into the man’s wrist, squeezing tightly, and forcing him to drop the blade. They fell to the ground at the same time in a chaotic battle.
Raphael’s movements were quick and calculated, each swing of his fist hitting the target. But Gresham remembered his pirate days well, too. He was an equally fierce opponent, fighting with a cunning and ruthless style, his every move sudden and unexpected, designed to overpower his enemy.
Leaves and twigs were left disturbed underfoot as the two men circled and clashed, their bodies rolling on the ground. They thrust, parried, and dodged, each seeking to outmaneuver the other. Gritted teeth and sweat-soaked brows marked the expressions of both men.
“Raphael, watch out!” Keira screamed as Raphael looked to his left. Dallas was still too far away from them to be able to act in time, and Jasper had only now emerged from the woods.
Gresham’s hand reached for the blade that had been taken away from him. Raphael quickly grabbed the blade. He had done many horrible things in his life, he had taken lives. But he had left that world behind. He had left that Raphael in the past. Or so he hoped.
Now, it seemed that the pirate Raphael had returned. Raphael could feel him in the surging of his blood as he held the blade close to Gresham’s throat. He didn’t want to go back to theman he had been. He needed to fight this urge to kill, although Gresham deserved it. He had pressed that same blade to Keira’s throat, and for that alone, he deserved to die.
