Page 90 of A Duke for Hire

“Jesus,” Everett muttered, walking into the room with Morgan Green, Duke of Grandhill. Both of them were holding a large jug of beer in each hand a sack of fried chips from a nearby street vendor.

“What in the bloody hell happened here?” Morgan chimed in. Both of them looked from one fighter to another, as if it were obvious this had not been a usual row in the ring.

“We were only gone for ten minutes!”

“That is what I want to know,” Tristan stated, turning a commanding gaze to Hugo.

“Your wife is at my parents’ house and your friend is sitting across from you with a very bloody face,” he said, his tone heavy. “You need to tell us what’s going on, and you need to do it now. Because I’ll be honest with you: with what you just did, if Ezra decides to come at you I will not stop him.”

“Don’t stop him,” Hugo seethed, trying once again to jerk out of his friends’ grasps. “Let him come.”

“You’re trying to punish yourself,” Duncan spoke up, letting his hand off of Ezra’s shoulder as he gave Hugo a knowing look.

“Why?”

“Why?”Hugo seethed, giving them all an incredulous look. “Because I am exactly what the rumors say I am. Because I have destroyed my wife in every way.”

He shook his head, self-hatred pouring through him. “I should have never looked for a wife, never cared about an heir, and never have come to London.”

“Hugo, no,” Everett said, suddenly serious.

Hugo glared at him.

“My line is cursed. It shouldn’t be allowed to continue. I knew better. In my bones, I knew it was best to leave it all alone, but I stupidly thought…I thought.”

He paused, lowering his head and shaking it.

“I thought with Seraphina I could be different. From the beginning she pulled something new out of me. I never told her that. Told anyone that. But I see now that I was wrong. That if she stays with me I will hurt her.”

“You are hurting her more by pushing her away!” Tristan insisted. “I have never seen a woman in more pain than Seraphina at this moment. You have to get over this, Hugo. You have to let the past go, or you’ll both slip back into it. For Heaven’s sakes, she’s even starting to allow her mother to visit, and you know how monstrous that woman is!”

Hugo’s head snapped up, the hair on his neck standing rigid.

“Shewhat?”

“Seraphina! Oh, I am so glad you came.”

Seraphina’s body felt numb and rigid as her mother threw her arms around her. Stepping foot back into Mary’s house was something she thought she would never do. But, to everyone’s surprise, Mary had visited her at Theo’s house, offering her a comfort that she never knew her mother could provide. So, when she insisted Seraphina pay a visit in return, she felt obliged.

“Mama,” Seraphina answered quietly.

She let her mother lead her inside the home she’d lived in the past few years, feeling strange. Her stomach twisted with each step, and a dull pounding had arisen within her head. It felt wrong to be back.

“Come in, darling, come in,” Mary said cheerfully, taking her to the sitting room.

Seraphina froze at the doorway, feeling the urge to cry again. It was the room where she had first given into her attraction to Hugo. Had let herself finally go. Memories of their passion erupted in her mind. And then came the heartbreak.

“Have your feet decided to no longer work?” Mary teased, yanking her rather harshly. “Come on, Seraphina, take a seat and have tea with me.”

Seraphina brushed a tear away as she let herself be pulled further into the room, and she obediently took a seat in one of the high-backed chairs- making a point to go nowhere near the chaise.

“Oh, I am so glad we finally have an opportunity to speak alone,” Mary chattered away, pouring them tea. “Your friends are lovely, dear, but this is where you belong. At least until this little squabble between you and your husband is over.”

Seraphina flicked her eyes up to her mother, her face expressionless. Her friends. They had warned her not to visit with Mary.

“This is no squabble, Mama,” she said. “He has left me. He is not coming home.”

Mary’s brows dipped down.

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