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Chapter Twenty-Nine
Astunned silence followed immediately after Emma’s confession. Ariadne was the first one to recover from the shocking revelation. “Lord Brexley? He’s behind all of this?”
“But why?” Leda asked. “He cared for us.”
“He cared for you because he wants you,” Emma said with a curl of her lips. “He wants to make you his mistress.”
“You’re lying again,” Leda said, pointing an accusatory finger at Emma. “You can’t stand the fact that he wants to help us.”
“No,” Edward said. “She’s telling the truth. At this point, she has nothing left to lose.”
Emma bowed her head. “I cannot bear the weight of my guilt anymore. You’ve treated me like family and all I did was give you pain and betrayal in return.”
Ariadne ignored what she said. Her words sounded false to her ears now that she knew her true face. “But why do this? Why go to all of this extent just to have Leda?”
“He wanted your father’s inventions too,” Emma explained. “He has already managed to get his hands on one.”
“His knee brace,” Ariadne said, remembering the conversation she had had with him not too long ago. “That was Pa’s invention.”
“The missing pages from his notebook,” Edward spoke up. “I remember that. That was you too?”
Emma nodded. “He asked me to steal it but I knew I couldn’t take the whole thing without raising suspicion, so I took two pages out of it and gave it to him so that he could pass it off as his own invention.”
“And he got a patent for it,” Ariadne said, anger rising within her. “In his name. He stole it and was rewarded for it.”
“He wanted to make sure all your doors were closed and that you were left with no choice but to turn to him,” Emma said. “He thought it would have happened sooner if it weren’t for your stubbornness.”
“The fire,” Ariadne said. Everything was falling into place now. “It wasn’t Edward’s father who paid the boy to start the fire. It was Lord Brexley who did.”
“He thought it would get him to what he needed which was your compliance,” Emma said, “and the notebook.” She produced it from behind her back. “I stole it for him before the fire started. You would have believed it was destroyed in the fire and nobody would know otherwise.”
“You lying—” Leda stepped forward and slapped her on her cheek. The crack of the sound echoed in the room. Ariadne stared at her sister wide eyed. “We loved you and this is what you gave us in return.”
Emma sniffled. “I never knew things would get so out of hand.”
“You mean you never thought you would get caught,” Ariadne said.
“I would have guessed eventually. I would have found out about Brexley’s theft. I would recognize Pa’s inventions even if they redesigned it.”
“You don’t get it,” Emma said. She held a hand to her cheek. “He had no use for you. He would have let you go as soon as he had Leda.”
“What a vile disgusting man,” Leda said, making a face. “I would never have been his, not even if he showered all his wealth on me He would never have me. He’s my father’s murderer and so are you.”
Emma flinched. “I know I was wrong—”
Ariadne held up her hand before she could finish. “Don’t lie. No more lies, Emma. You betrayed us. We can never forgive you for that.”
Edward, who was standing at the corner, near the door, was lost in his thoughts. “We need to do something about it. He needs to be brought to justice.”
“You’re right. We can’t let him get away for what he did to Pa,” Leda. “And us too. We have been his victims without realizing it.”
“You will have to help us,” Ariadne said to Emma who looked up hopefully. “This will not redeem you and our relationship will never go back to as it was before. You’ve destroyed the sanctity of it but if you have true remorse for what you have done, you will make it right this time.”
“What do you have in mind?” Edward asked curiously.
“A plan,” Ariadne said. She seemed lost in her thoughts for a few moments before saying, “I think this might work but we have to be very careful.”
* * *
