AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sound of the door opening drew Mary out of her thoughts, and with her ankle now fully healed, she was able to step out of the backseat without needing to use Teddy's arm as a crutch.
"If you need anything," the duke's driver reminded her, "I'm just a call away."
Mary shook her head at Teddy's constant nagging. "You really don't have to tell me that every day."
"You can never be too careful," Teddy said with a frown.
"But I really don't think my stepfather will try coming after me again. He'd be really stupid if he did."
Mary's words only had Teddy more worried about the duke's woman. His boss was right. Mary was just too innocent for this world, to the point that she didn't realize how her stepfather - even if he was no idiot - could still end up doing something stupid...because of his obsession.
And there was no doubt at all that the older man was obsessed with Mary.
****
Staffan was still inhis honeymoon when he remembered to ask his security team to check on Mary. The girl had been a huge help to his Saffi; it was Mary who had been there for his wife when Staffan had failed her. For that he would always be grateful to his wife's friend, and he simply wanted to know she was safe.
But when his security team got back to him, the contents of their report had him immediately calling the Duke of Flanders.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded of his friend.
"She's my mistress."
Staffan was about to tell Rathe to stop fucking around...but the silence from the other end of the line made him realize his friend was absolutely serious.
"What the fuck, Rathe?"
Staffan swore in multiple languages even as he tried to make sense of the other man's actions. This was not like Rathe at all, dammit.
"I know what you're thinking," Rathe said flatly. "I know she's too fucking young—-"
"It's not her age that's the issue here," Staffan bit out. "Mary'sinnocent,Rathe. That's what fucking matters. She's too damn innocent for someone like you, and the only thing that can make this right is if you love her.Do you?"
It took several seconds before Rathe answered him.
"No."
But that long fucking pause told him everything, and Staffan realized that his friend was lying both to him...and himself.
"I know what you're trying to do," Staffan said quietly. "You think you can do what's right by staying away from her. You think it's what you need to do to keep your promise to your mother and prevent you from following in your father's footsteps—-"
"They have nothing to do with this—-"
"Bullshit. I know, okay? I know how fucked up things were for your parents, but they never gave up on their relationship. So why are you giving up on—-"
"Because it's not fucking normal," Rathe snapped. "I'm sixteen fucking years older than her, Staffan!Sixteen!I'm old enough to be her goddamn father, so no, that's not fucking normal...just like my parents' relationship isn't fucking normal."
"Your parents were in love—-"
"But that didn't stop the world from making all of our lives hell, did it?"
"If you really believe it won't work out between you and Mary...then just let her go completely. Don't keep her by your side if you know you're only going to hurt her more."
A part of Rathe wished it could pretend to forget everything Staffan had said. He was just not ready to cut her out of his life for good, dammit.
But because he also knew that Staffan was right...
