Her eyes narrowed. “What are ye saying? Ye faked your death so ye could wait for who knew how long and have the estate turned back o’er to ye?” She shook her head, not understanding his reasoning. “Ye had no idea how long that would be. Didna ken my parents would—” The sentence died on her lips as a morbid thought entered her mind. “Did ye kill my parents to regain your estate?” She couldn’t help the rise of her voice. Her parents didn’t treat her the best, and were always more worriedabout themselves than her, but she would never wish them ill will.
“Watch your tongue, Willamina. That is a serious accusation ye make.”
Her hands fisted at her side. “Did ye?”
“Nay, but their,” he paused and smirked, “untimely deaths did help move things along.”
“Ye are a bastard.”
He raised a brow in surprise. “It appears meek, little Willamina has found her voice while I have been away.”
“Away? E’eryone thought ye were dead!”
He shrugged. “Right. But, alas, here I am.” He held his arms out as if saying ‘look at me, I’m right here’. Standing, he put his hands up to stop Finlay’s advance. “Easy. I’ve no plans to touch her. Or ye, for that matter.”
“Why the ruse, then? None of this makes any sense to me.”
His eyes slammed into hers. “Would ye be mad if I said I liked watching ye suffer?”
With the speed of lightning, Finlay had Gerard on the floor, his fists connecting with Gerard’s face over and over again.
She screamed for him to stop. Pulled at his shoulders. Tried catching his fists. Not because she cared for Gerard. Nay. It was Finlay. He was who she fashed over. “Finlay!” She yelled one last time and finally broke through the all-encompassing rage pulsing through him.
He pushed off Gerard and stood, cranking his head from side to side as he reached for his handkerchief to wipe his hands.
From the floor, Gerard laughed as he sat up. He turned his head and spit blood. “Punch me all ye want, ye prick, at the end of the day, she is still my wife.”
Willamina couldn’t take any more. She pulled at Finlay’s arm. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
She shrugged. “I dinna ken, but we canna stay here.”
They left the library, but not before Gerard got in the last word. “Ye can leave for the night, wife. But I expect your arse to be here first thing in the morning.”
It took all of her strength to stop Finlay from running back into the library and finishing what he had started.
As they were leaving, she noticed a figure on the stairs and for the second time that night, she was shocked at what she saw.
There, looking at her with an evil smile on her face, arms crossed in front of her, stood the woman responsible for getting Willamina run out of Inverness.
Lady Esmerelda.
The fake medium that ruined her. She was working with Gerard?
Did she and Gerard both work together to ruin her?
Her sinister laughter echoed in the hallway as Willamina walked outside and slammed the door behind her.
