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That night, he was livid.
As of two hours earlier, he had finally learned the extent of her treachery, and he wanted to choke her with his bare hands. It wasn’t enough that she’d played her little game—was still playing it—with him. When that pressure alone hadn’t worked she’d evidently spread rumors throughout the ton that Trenton had ruined her, stolen her innocence, promised to marry her. That too was unsuccessful. So she’d embellished further, feeding the gossip-hungry ton with the horrid secret that Trenton was mad; he was insanely jealous and possessive; he was unstable. He was a man to be feared, in business and in friendship.
Slowly, the rumors found their mark, and the whispers began. The whispers soon became doubts, the doubts, rebuffs—not only by friends, but by colleagues.
And Richard Kingsley’s health began to plummet as his worst fears were realized.
It was Queen Victoria herself who brought the situation to a head. Having enjoyed a long-standing friendship with Richard Kingsley, she’d taken it upon herself to tell Trenton the reason for his father’s deteriorating health and his family’s growing ostracism. Despite her own dubious opinion of Vanessa’s accusations, she strongly advised Trenton to handle this “unpleasant matter” at once, lest his respected family name be permanently marred.
Her words struck home. Trenton was livid, furiously unwilling to allow one conniving trollop to hurt the people he loved, the reputation they’d built. He had to stop her.
He’d sent an urgent note commanding Vanessa to meet him by the River Arun. Pacing up and down its grassy bank, he waited, drinking himself into oblivion.
By the time Vanessa arrived, Trenton was fuming and soused. Rather than a beautiful woman intent on seduction, he saw only the spiteful bitch who was ruining his life and destroying his father. Vehemently, he plunged into a verbal tirade, enumerating all she had done, from her sexual escapades to her destructive gossip to her vicious lies.
Vanessa’s response was feigned innocence. And Trenton went wild.
Seizing her shoulders, he shook her fiercely, half tempted to beat the truth out of her and then physically expel her from their lives.
Seeing no alternative, Vanessa begged, swearing that she never meant to hurt or deceive him, that she only wanted him to understand how much she loved him.
Trenton was unmoved.
Pleading cast aside, Vanessa flew into a rage, swearing that if she couldn’t have him, she?
?d malign the Kingsley name so severely that no other woman would want him.
The roar in Trenton’s head became deafening. Beyond thought or reason, he crushed her arms in a punishing grip, bellowing out that she was slowly killing his father.
Vanessa laughed.
And something inside Trenton snapped.
Fiercely, he flung her to the sand, thundering out his vow of vengeance.
She rose, flying at him hysterically, and his fingers closed around her throat, burning to choke the very life from her. Instead, he threw her harder into the slapping waves along the shore, watching as the waters rushed up to her legs.
He threatened to kill her.
But, God help him, he hadn’t.
So how had she died?
Instinct told him that an unfeeling bitch like Vanessa, a woman who loved only herself, would never resort to suicide. Unless she truly was delusional, and she actually believed her own lies. Had she gone over the edge of insanity?
Trenton laced his fingers together, resting his forehead upon them. For himself, it no longer mattered, not about her passing or its cause. The ultimate damage had been done.
But now there was Ariana.
What could he tell her? That he despised her sister, that he hadn’t killed her, but often wished he had? That the Vanessa he knew was either totally unscrupulous or completely mad?
And when his warm-hearted wife was still reeling from the impact, would he then have to tell her the truth about Baxter? About the journal and exactly how it had passed from Baxter’s hands to his?
Would she even believe him? And if she did, would she prefer the ugly knowledge to blissful ignorance?
I love you, Trenton…. You really are a wonderful man. … I believe you.
Trenton’s head came up abruptly.
