Page 69 of A Virgin for the Forbidden Duke

She found the door, and with a click, she opened it and started to walk away without a glance back. She wasn’t sure she could hold herself back if she saw him.

What if he still looked at her with such hatred? What if he looked at her like he used to? A predator circling his prey?

Either way, she couldn’t.

Till she felt his hands wrap around hers and pull her to a stop.

She knew it was him before she turned around.

“Matthew…”

When she turned to him, she froze. He wasn’t looking at her with hatred. He also wasn’t looking at her like he used to.

No… Somehow, he way he looked at her was… more. He held such vulnerability and fear in his eyes.

“I can’t… I can’t let you go, Agnes. You have to tell me right now before I run mad,” he said and pulled her back into the room.

This time when she heard the click of the door, she wasn’t afraid. Instead, she wondered how she would tell him all she needed to without preparing first.

But she couldn’t refuse him. Not when he looked at her with such shattered eyes.

“Tell me… Agnes,” he started. “I wanted to act indifferent, like I didn’t care what you had to say, but I do… It’s grating, but I do care about what you want to say, Agnes, and it’s driving me bollocks… So, tell me, please.”

Finally, they fell. Her tears. At the sound of his vulnerable voice, her tears fell.

She wanted to hold his hand but feared he wouldn’t want that.

“Oh, where to start from?” she whispered to herself.

“Anywhere,” Matthew answered anyway.

“That night? I had invited you out for something else entirely… till…” She looked up to where he stood in the darkness. “Till I heard my mother’s cries. I heard what she said. She cried, wishing her daughters would stop doing things that would ruin the family with their love lives.”

In the quietude of the night, Agnes and Matthew stood facing each other, the weight of her words lingering in the air.

Matthew furrowed his brows. “Agnes, what in the devil’s name was your mother talking about? Ruining the family with love lives? That means she talked about you and your sister. Isn’t Rose ailing?”

Well, there came that real moment of truth. She wondered how he would take the news.

Agnes took a deep breath. “Matthew, there’s something you need to know. My sister isn’t sick. It’s all been a lie.”

“A lie? What are you talking about?”

Agnes took a deep breath and hoped her voice wouldn’t tremble so much. “Two years ago, Rose ran away with a servant she fell in love with. Our mother, to cover up the scandal it would’ve caused, concocted the story of Rose’s illness.”

Matthew’s eyes widened. “Rose ran away? And you’ve been living this lie all this time?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry, Matthew. I had to break your heart that night because I heard my mother crying, wishing her daughters wouldn’t ruin the family she worked so hard to build.”

“Your mother lied, and you played along with it? You allowed yourself to suffer for something you didn’t do. Why?”

Agnes shook her head. Now the tears would not stop pouring. “I didn’t know what to do. It was a family secret, and I thought I was protecting everyone. But tonight, I can’t keep pretending. I need you to know the truth.”

Matthew ran his hands through his hair, trying his best to understand exactly what was happening. “So, Rose is living happily with a servant, and you have been carrying the weight of your family’s lie? That’s why you said all the hurtful words you said?”

He sounded like he was afraid. Too afraid to hope.

“Yes, and I understand if you can’t forgive me. But, Matthew, I need you to know that I love you. I always have, and I never wanted to hurt you.”

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