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“You have no brother in me,” I sneered, nearly spitting. “And you may think you have fashioned for yourself a very good safety net, but believe me, I will not rest until you are held accountable for your misdeeds.”
“Misdeeds?” He dared laugh at me. “I know of no such thing!”
With the mocking look on his face, I could not stop myself from grabbing his coat, wishing to throw him across the room. “That girl…Emma, even as you tricked and abandoned her to misery, even as she was dying, her last thoughts and desires were of you. She wept for you. You proved to be nothing but a monster, and still, that poor one wished to hold on to the lies you fed her in any way possible till the end.”
“Poor one? Lies? I told her she would be a duchess and live in a grand estate. Was she not? Any misery was by her own foolish—”
My fist collided with his face once and then a second time, sending him to the ground. “You and your mother are exactly the same! Vile, gluttonous pigs, using whomever you please as if they were mere ladders for your lives!”
He wiped the blood from his nose. “Us, gluttonous? As if you do not know your own disgusting greed! You took everything, threw us to the wolves, and now you lament the way in which we survive?”
“I took what was mine by right!”
“I am the first—”
“You are a bastard! The son of a butcher’s daughter! You have no right to Everely. You have no right to the nobility! We will not have you. The lot you were given was better than you deserved!”
“Be damned!” he hollered, throwing his fist toward me.
I caught the punch. “Do not mistake me for the younger and smaller one now, Fitzwilliam.”
He replied by grabbing the teapot and throwing it at my head. When his hand reached around my neck, I took a shard of the broken teapot and slashed it across his cheek, throwing him off me.
The door burst open and the magistrate yelled, “What in God’s name!” He saw our fists raised and our clothes bloodied. “Lord Everely?”
“Forgive me, sir, for intruding. I came to divulge information of the highest importance. But I was greatly put off by your guest. I must go. Please feel free to send me the bill for any and all damage,” I grumbled as I pushed past Fitzwilliam toward the door.
“Everything you took from me, I shall see it returned,” Fitzwilliam snapped.
“Then you shall have nothing as I remind you once more that you were given nothing,” I said and walked into the hall in which three men, two of them witnesses of the scuffle, stood waiting with eyes wide. The third, however, was an unexpected face, coming down the stairs with a bag in hand—Dr. Darrington.
“You will need to wrap that hand, Your Grace,” he said, eyeing my excruciating red knuckles.
I hid it behind my back and looked at the two men, the first, Mr. Danvers, the witness to the duel I’d had with Emma’s father, and the second, Mr. Lyndon, a lawyer who could attest to seeing Fitzwilliam claim to be me. “I believe it best we come another time. I thank you for your patience, gentlemen.”
“It is best to have all this put to rest, once and for all, Your Grace,” Mr. Danvers said as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Should you need us again, we shall be here. You need not worry. We stand with you, Your Grace,” Mr. Lyndon said.
“Thank you. Good day to you all,” I said. They followed the butler toward the door, leaving me with the doctor, who still stood waiting. “Yes?”
“You are in need of treatment. Where else were you struck?”
“I am quite fine, thank you,” I said.
“Doctor!” a maid at the door called for him. “Mr. Topwells is in need of your help once you have seen to the duke.”
“I am fine. Good day,” I snapped, showing myself out.
I did not dare look at anyone as I stepped into my carriage, grateful I’d thought to bring it instead of a horse.
“To the house,” I spat out. Inside, I reached under my coat to feel the wound at my side on my rib.
Inhaling through my nose, I closed my eyes, wishing to calm myself. I knew Fitzwilliam was not capable of remorse, but now that I had seen him, it was even clearer that he had not returned only to provoke me, he still truly believed himself to be the rightful owner of Everely and my title. The man had secured himself a rich wife, and still…still, he desired more. He desired what was mine.
Curse him.
Damn him.
