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Vanessa’s spine straightened. “Go ahead and hit me. I’m used to it: It’s the only way men have of asserting their power.”
“I never struck you, you lying bitch; although Lord alone knows I should have.”
“Then why didn’t you? The physical scars would have been far easier to bear than the agony of your rejection!” Her voice shook. “No one rejects me … least of all an arrogant hypocrite who discarded me like an old shoe simply because he wasn’t the only man in my life.” Vanessa raised her chin, raking Trenton with icy disdain. “Is virtue the only condition your wife must fulfill, Trenton? Evidently so, although I wonder if you still find it as attractive a quality as you did prior to taking your virgin bride to bed!”
A vein pulsed in Trenton’s neck, and only Ariana’s gentle hand on his back kept him from losing all control. “Your lack of innocence was the least of my objections to you, Vanessa. Your duplicity, your deceit, your manipulations, your cruelty, your self-indulgence, your greed …” Trenton drew in a furious breath. “Those are the reasons I wanted nothing to do with you.”
“You wanted me. I know you wanted me.”
“At one time, yes, I wanted you. Until I discovered just how high your price was. Frankly”—Trenton gave her a thoroughly deprecating look—“you didn’t come close to being worth it.”
“You bastard!” She drew back her hand and slapped him across the face. “I’ve lived through hell because of you!”
“No, Vanessa. You’ve lived through hell because of you.” A spasm of agony flashed across Trenton’s face as the full impact of Vanessa’s existence began to sink in. “And so did I.” His hands shook. “My God, all these years … my father … my sanity …”
“Trenton … don’t,” Ariana whispered, coming around to stand beside him, wrapping her small fingers around his strong, trembling hand.
“And now my wife,” Trenton continued, venom reappearing in his gaze. “You heartless bitch, you were behind this sick scheme, weren’t you? This attempt to drive me insane and get your hands on my fortune by using Ariana, keeping her here against her will? It wasn’t Baxter’s plan, it was yours!”
“Yes … yes … it was mine!” Vanessa shrieked. “And why shouldn’t it be? I’ve spent six years with a sadistic parasite, relinquishing my youth, my dreams, my last dollars, and my last shred of pride! I’ve been beaten, isolated, abused until I didn’t care if I lived! And all because of you!” Hard, wrenching tears wracked her body, contorting her beautiful face into a mask of anguished loathing. “My only consolation was that your life was over too! You were banished to Wight, forced to live as a recluse, with no hope for your future and no joy in your present. And then …” She dashed the tears from her cheeks, her body shuddering with sobs. “My baby sister blundered her way into your life. I hoped she’d make it hell for you. … But instead, the stupid chit became infatuated with you. Not only that, but you were good to her. She had your money, your title, your bed … all the things I should have had! And damn you to hell, I was going to have them … no matter what the cost!”
“I want you locked up,” Trenton ground out. “And I want the warden to throw away the key.”
A sudden, eerie calm settled over Vanessa. “Then do it. No prison could be more horrible than the one I’ve endured.”
“Trenton … wait.” Ariana stepped forward, studying Vanessa with pity and sorrow. “I despise you for what you’ve done … to my husband, to all of us. You’re a very unstable woman, Vanessa, and a very cruel one as well. But despite the fact that you yourself incited all your own grief, no one should have to suffer the life you’ve been forced to withstand.” Ariana half-turned to Trenton. “If my husband is amenable, I’d like to give you a portion of the money you so worship, in exchange for the promise that you’ll never set foot in England again. Go wherever you wish, as far from your sick husband as you choose. But equally as far away from us.”
Ignoring Vanessa’s stunned expression, Ariana’s eyes met Trenton’s. Then, before he could respond, she turned to Baxter, who was leaning listlessly against the wall, limp and depleted of whatever emotional reserves he had left after listening to Vanessa’s shocking revelations earlier today.
“As I’ve always said,” Ariana murmured, “you’re a weak man, Baxter. Not evil, but weak. And a very poor judge of character, it seems.” She shook her head with dismal finality. “You’ve been punished enough. You’ve destroyed whatever small amount of family allegiance existed between us. Now you truly have nothing.”
With that, Ariana turned and walked back to her husband’s arms. “While we, on the other hand, have the greatest blessing life has to offer.” She lay her hand over his heart. “I love you, Trenton,” she whispered, watching the rage fade from his eyes in the wake of something far more powerful. “Neither Baxter nor Vanessa is worth your hatred, only your pity. I know how much you’ve given up because of them. … But the ultimate deprivation is theirs. Money is a meager substitute for what we have. Please, darling …” She reached up to caress his jaw. “It’s time to let it go.”
Closing his eyes, Trenton turned his lips into Ariana’s palm, nodding slowly against her smooth skin. “Give them whatever you want, misty angel.” His warm breath caressed her hand. “Just get them out of our lives.”
“Thank you,” she breathed.
“No … thank you.” Wrapping his arm about her waist, Trenton drew Ariana toward the door, away from Winsham and all its ugly memories. Once he paused, turning back to where Vanessa stood, unmoving. “My solicitor will deliver a check to you tomorrow. After that
, I expect you to be gone from England by nightfall, never to return again. Should you decide ever to show your face in this country, I won’t hesitate to have you thrown in prison for the rest of your life. Is that clear enough for you?”
Stripped of her bravado, empty-eyed and dissipated, Vanessa nodded, an old woman destined to spend the rest of her life with only the shallow wealth she coveted as her companion.
“As for you,” Trenton said to Baxter, “stay the hell out of our lives … mine and my wife’s. Permanently.”
Bleakly, Baxter murmured his acquiescence.
No other words were necessary, and none were exchanged.
With purposeful tenderness, Trenton guided Ariana back into the sunlight. “Come, misty angel,” he said softly. “I know just the place where we can heal.”
CHAPTER
26
DUSTIN’S BROW FURROWED IN confusion when he read the cryptic message that arrived at Broddington an hour later. Gratefully, he absorbed the fact that everything was resolved and Ariana was where she belonged: with Trent. It didn’t matter that Trenton’s message contained no details; those could wait until later. What baffled Dustin was the odd tenor of the message, which was perplexing, at best. Anxious to decipher Trenton’s meaning, Dustin followed his brother’s advice and sought out Theresa at once.
“I received a letter from Trenton,” he announced.
