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How couldanyonebe cruel to Esme? She was the sweetest—albeit whackiest—woman I knew. And that included my own grandmother who was a hoot in her own right.
“You already know that my parents died when I was young. I was nine. It was a car crash,” Max continued, wrapping his arms around himself. “My grandmother told me it was a drunk driver, but when I was sixteen, she told me the truth about what happened. Or who was responsible, I should say.”
Oh, no.
I pressed my lips together. Was this going where I thought it was?
I sincerely hoped not.
“The drunk driver was my father.”
My heart ached in a deep, heavy way that set a blanket of melancholy over me. “Max,” I said softly.
“My parents’ marriage was not a happy one. I’m almost certain that Mum only stayed as long as she did because of me. This dukedom was my birthright and from what I’ve been told, she was afraid that if she left, my father would disinherit me.”
The pain in his eyes was excruciating, but I couldn’t look away from him. It came off him in waves of sadness and anger, and I wanted nothing more than to rush to him and wrap my arms around him, but I was afraid that if I did, he would stop talking.
“He’d overheard the household staff gossiping that she was going to finally divorce him because of his behaviour. She couldn’t take it anymore.” He rubbed his hand over his mouth, momentarily breaking eye contact to look away. “I don’t know if that’s true. Nobody ever spoke about it, and we let many of the staff go after their funerals because me and Grandma didn’t need a whole household’s worth.”
So much pain.
“My father wasn’t a rational man, and he acted before he thought almost daily. The estate only stayed afloat because of Grandma, even when he was alive, and although she does try to make excuses for him on occasion, we both know that he knew what he was doing when he got in the car that night.” Max swallowed, and his jaw clenched tightly. “Mum used to run the local Women’s Institute. The Duchess of Windermere has been involved with it since it was created here. It’s one of those things that is passed down from duchess to duchess. It was pretty much Mum’s only escape from him. For all his issues, my father knew that they had to keep up appearances, and her leading the group was one of those. That same night he heard the gossip, he went to collect her afterwards, even though she had her own car with her. She was too afraid of him to reject him, so she got in the car even though she would have known that he’d been drinking.”
He hesitated.
“Whatever happened in the car led my father to deliberately veer it off the road into one of the deepest lakes in the area.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my heart clenching.
“I don’t know if he wanted to kill himself, her, or them both, but the official verdict was a murder-suicide. The car doors were locked so she had no way to even attempt to escape.” He straightened, pulling his shoulders back. “I inherited a world I wasn’t ready for, and Grandma had to pick up the slack because I was only a child. He was a hateful, vile man, who subjected Mum and Grandma to the most horrible treatment anyone ever could. He is the reason I won’t have children, and it’s not only because I’m afraid I’ll end up like him. It’s because he doesn’t deserve a legacy. The title should have died with him that night.”
He turned away and headed for the door, and I pushed myself off the window seat.
“Max!”
He threw up a hand and kept walking, letting himself out without closing the door behind him.
There was no way I was just letting him leave like that.
I didn’t stop to close it as I ran after him. The earlier rain had gotten heavier and was now hammering down, and it pelted against me since I was running into it.
“Max!”
“I need a minute,” he shouted over his shoulder, still walking.
“No!” I caught up with him and launched myself towards him, grabbing hold of him. I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and held on tight, stumbling along after him as he kept walking.
“Ellie,” he muttered, still stepping forwards.
“No,” I mumbled right back, pressing my face into his back.
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“This is ridiculous. It’s raining cats and dogs, and you’re clinging onto me like a little limpet.”
“I don’t care.” I squeezed him tighter. “You can’t say that and run away and not expect me to follow you.”
