AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Catherine stays still for another few beats, then gives a shallow nod. She puts her arms around my waist and pulls me closer.
“Catherine.” Bettencourt’s tone is icy. “What’s all this?”
“Oh.” I turn with a sheepish grin. “Catherine and I have been having clandestine meetings since we were introduced at the Hamilton Ball.”
Catherine got her eyes from her father, but Bettencourt’s are cold. Calculating. “Have you now?”
The faintest shiver goes through her body, and Catherine steps to my side, her arm around my waist. “Yes, Daddy. Remember that time I went to Adelaide’s house? I was actually meeting Jacob.”
I skim a hand down her back. “A suite at the Lowell on the Upper East Side.” Catherine must feel me look down at her, because she looks back at me. She does have beautiful eyes. I’d like to see them in better light. It’s not an act when I have to tear myself away and look back at Bettencourt. “We understood the value of our union and took steps to pursue it. The fact that you and my father saw fit to make it official is…” I laugh, indulgent. “It’s a little old-fashioned. But tradition will have its way.”
Bettencourt’s eyes narrow. He looks between me and Catherine. The only argument he can make is that I’m not fit to marry his daughter based on what happened at the initiation, but he’s the one who arranged it.
One more look at Catherine, who moves her hand tentatively to the front of my jacket. I get a look at her delicate wrist.
And the shadow of the bruises decorating her skin.
“Anyway, now that our relationship is out in the open, Catherine will be living with me.”
Bettencourt’s fist closes around the cane. “I think not.”
I let out a sigh and give the ceiling—and, I suppose, God—a brief, exasperated glance. “I’ve already taken her precious little virginity, if that’s what worries you. No need to get squeamish. I can’t imagine that would be a problem. You’ve never struck me as a man who was particularly protective of your daughter’s bodies. And look!” I take Catherine’s hand and hold her arm toward Bettencourt. “Here’s the proof she’s been fighting you. I can take her off your hands. I know how to control women like her.”
Catherine’s asshole father openly glowers at me now. “She’s usually not willful. Which is why this turn of events is surprising to me, Jacob. If she was already fucking you, why did she refuse to marry you?”
I do my best to pull off a contrite expression. “Catherine’s a good girl. She obeys me. And I told her not to tell anyone about us.” I release her hand and put my fingers under her chin again. Look into her eyes. Try to communicate that it’s going to be okay. That I’m going to get her out of here. “She didn’t tell, did she? That’s why you can leave her to me. I have a good handle on her.”
I move my other hand to the back of her neck and meet Bettencourt’s eyes with a smile that mirrors the violence in his face.
Bettencourt laughs out loud. “Better you than me.” He gestures toward the door with the cane. “When you’re tired of her, feel free to bring her back. I’m sure we’ve worked out our differences.”
“It’s getting late, isn’t it? Come, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”
Catherine lets me steer her out of her father’s office. “This way.”
She untangles herself from my arm and walks ahead of me, her movements still stiff. We turn a corner and Catherine slips into one of the doors. I keep a lookout in case Bettencourt changes his mind.
It doesn’t take long. Catherine reappears with a small, leather overnight bag and a matching purse.
“Ready to go?”
A terse nod, and she leads the way down the hall to the main staircase. Gloria, the maid, waits at the bottom. Catherine puts an arm around her and kisses her cheek.
“I’m leaving.” Her voice is too soft to echo up the stairs. “Lydia is with Elise.”
Gloria gives her a gentle squeeze, and Catherine pulls back to look her in the eyes.
“I’m not coming back, Gloria. You should leave, too. As soon as you can.”
“Understood, Miss Catherine.”
Gloria walks us to the door, and then we’re out in the cooling night air. I make it to the passenger door a step ahead of Catherine and help her in. I’m close enough to see her wince before she sits.
What the fuck did Bettencourt do to her?
It’s not a conversation to have here, in front of the house. I get behind the wheel, start the Range Rover, and go.
This suburb is ritzy enough to believe in such things as nature conservation, so I take a different route back to the city. The forested park I’m thinking of is a couple of miles away.
