Page 51 of The Defiant Curse

“Yeah, she had the baby, and then…”

She held up her hand.

“So, she hates his fucking guts, but births his child, THEN plans to take a jump out the window?”

He nodded.

Yeah, Elizabeth had heard the story from Ian and Gryphen, but seeing her—seeing herself, that made it even more horrifying. It also confused her because it didn’t make sense.

Mothers didn’t often hurt their children. The fact that she’d birthed the baby first, and cursed his bloodline…

“Yeah, she did that. Only, after she put a curse on this place, where all of Duncan’s heirs would walk through blood and devastation. Well, she nailed that because Ciarán was slaughtered in front of him.”

Jesus.

“And her child?”

He wasn’t sure.

“Callum clearly lived on, but there’s no record of him dying. We never found him in this area. We know he had to marry and have a family because around nineteen hundred, the family fractured and half of them went to America. The other half…it died off, and the castle stood empty.”

Maybe it was because she dealt with facts and timelines, but something was bothering her.

She just didn’t know what.

Only, she didn’t get to ask more. When they heard footsteps, Michael turned. Entering the space was his husband. It was clear he had been looking for them.

Once there, Graham came to a stop as if he was gauging the mood in the room.

“I see you showed her. How’s that going, Laddie?” he asked.

Oh, well, Elizabeth was staring at the painting without saying a word, so he was thinking not well.

Not well, at all.

Could he blame her?

To think that her husband bought a place where a woman was killed so many years ago, and she just happened to look just like her?

It wasn’t exactly easy for a seasoned homicide investigator to swallow that pill.

She was suspicious on a good day.

Today wasn’t a good day.

Clearly.

Moving closer, Graham was holding a plate with some freshly baked cookies.

“Carb to bury your feelings?” he asked.

That made her laugh.

How could it not?

“I’m just befuddled. If you guys say this wasn’t a prank, I have to believe you because you wouldn’t hurt me. If this is a prank, it’s not a good one.”

On top of that, it didn’t add up. For her, something was off. Maybe it was that they looked alike. In her world, coincidences weren’t the norm, and that carried over to her personal life.