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Brielle retrieved the stout wooden bludgeon she had secreted in the corner. With a swift, calculated swing, she brought it down hard upon the back of Sarah’s skull The maid crumpled instantly, slumping to the ground in a heap of unconscious limbs.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Brielle produced a small morsel of the tainted bread roll from her sleeve. She forced Sarah’s jaw open, shoved the bread inside, and ensured she swallowed it before letting her slump back.
Inside the room, the men heard the scuffle by the window.
“She’s making a run for it!” one of them growled, assuming Brielle was attempting her escape.
One of the ruffians lunged toward the window, hand raised to strike. Brielle, however, had already merged with the shadows, releasing Sarah at the precise instant the man struck.
The men grabbed the unconscious figure, assuming in the darkness that it was Brielle, and hauled her back toward the bed.
Brielle pressed her back against the cold stone wall, holding her breath. Once she was certain the plan had succeeded, she turned away with eerie calm and slipped into the night.
Capitalizing on the absolute darkness, she navigated the corridors to the kitchens. She rummaged through every cupboard and shelf, but the pantry had been stripped bare. Too exhausted to search elsewhere, she found a secluded corner behind a stack of sacks, curled up on the floor, and fell into a deep sleep.
Daniel had just set aside his parchments and was preparing to retire when a frantic pounding echoed on the door, accompanied by Donna’s trembling voice.
“Daniel? Are you abed?”
Hearing the urgent distress in her tone, Daniel rushed to the door and threw it open. “What is it? What has happened?”
Donna looked up at him, her face drained of color. Her eyes were rimmed with red, as if she had been weeping for hours. “Daniel… moments ago, I saw several men slip into my sister’s room. Please… I beg you, spare my sister.”
Daniel’s expression hardened instantly.
Several men? In Brielle’s room? He had explicitly ordered Owen to cancel that arrangement.
“She is my only sister,” Donna sobbed, her knees buckling until she fell to the floor. “No matter her transgressions, she is still of my own flesh and blood…”
Daniel scowled, disturbed by the display, and quickly helped her to her feet. “Take me to her.”
Donna lowered her head, feigning a sense of profound shame.
A ruthless glint flashed in Daniel’s eyes. What game was Brielle playing now? Even at this late hour, she refused to desist? And she had deliberately manipulated Donna into believing he was responsible for this
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Very well. He would take Donna and show her the true nature of her beloved sister.
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Donna remained pale and trembling as Daniel dragged her through the corridors. She wept piteously, “Daniel, I am willing to accept any punishment in my sister’s stead. Please show her mercy…”
The manor was quiet at this hour, but Donna’s sobbing was shrill enough to pierce the silence. It drew the attention of the servants, who emerged from their quarters to investigate.
“Ms. Donna Whitmore truly possesses a saintly heart,” one maid whispered to another. “After Brielle stole her betrothal, she still pleads for her.”
“It is true. Ms. Donna Whitmore has a heart of gold.”
The servants whispered among themselves. Intrigued by the commotion, a crowd began to follow them toward the courtyard.
*****
The large courtyard was immersed in pitch darkness, not a single torch lit.
In the silence, lewd, rhythmic sounds emanated from the room, punctuated by a man’s crude vulgarity. “Lady Brielle’s legs are strong as iron! She’s squeezing the life out of my back!”
A vein throbbed in Daniel’s temple. Even though he loathed her, she still bore the surname Whitmore. And right under his nose, she was coupling with lowly servants?
Donna’s face went from pale to ghostly white. She collapsed to her knees, clutching the hem of Daniel’s tunic. “Daniel, please! Have mercy!”
Her pleas were like oil on a fire. Did she honestly think he had orchestrated this filth?
He wrenched Donna to her feet. “I had no hand in this.”
Consumed by rage, he kicked the door open. He stormed in, radiating a murderous aura, and roared, “Brielle!”
The occupants of the room were terrified out of their wits. The men on the bed scrambled to pull on their breeches and tumbled out of the room, falling to their knees in the courtyard.
The servants gathered in the yard gasped and tutted at the sight.
“Good heavens, Brielle has no shame! Laying with servants, and five of them, no less…”
“Is this how the Whitmores raise their daughters?”
Hearing the whispers, Daniel’s face turned thunderous. When had the Clarke family ever endured such a scandal? By morning, he would be the laughingstock of all of Kinston.
“Guards! Brielle has acted with wanton depravity! Beater to death, immediately!”
At this command, Donna, who kept her head bowed, could not suppress the smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.
After all these years, she had finally succeeded in ruining Brielle. From this day forward, the Whitmore family would recognize only Donna as the rightful lady
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She feigned shock, standing there as if lost and terrified.
Several burly servants entered the room to drag the woman out and execute her.
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However, the moment they hauled the woman into the courtyard, she lunged at Daniel like a woman possessed, her clothes in disarray.
“Lord Daniel! I waited so long… I am finally yours, Daniel… Daniel…”
Her voice was thick with a feigned seduction, her breathy moans making the spectators’ skin crawl.
Her bare arms flung around Daniel’s neck, and she pressed her entire body against him.
Daniel frowned deeply. That is not Brielle’s voice.
He pried her arms from his neck and shoved her away with absolute disgust.
“Ah!” The disheveled woman sprawled onto the flagstones.
Maids rushed forward, holding high their lanterns to illuminate the scene.
Under the bright, golden flame, as the woman looked up, the entire courtyard fell into a stunned silence.
The face was undoubtedly… Sarah’s.
Donna’s breath hitched in her throat, her hands balling into fists around her sleeves. Not Brielle? How is this possible? Where is Brielle? How did it turn into Sarah? What is happening?
For a moment, her mind was a swirling vortex of panic and confusion.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed, the storm in them calming slightly. If Brielle had actually committed such an act, he would not have allowed her to draw breath.
“Guards,” he said, his voice dangerously low. “Find Brielle. Search the grounds.”
The entirety of Clarke Estate was thrown into chaos. Servants scoured the inner manor, searching high and low.
Brielle was fast asleep. She felt an urgent tugging at her sleeve and a maid’s frantic voice in her ear. “Lady Brielle! Wake up! Wake up!”
Brielle woke with a start, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What is the trouble?”
“The whole manor is in an uproar, and here you are sleeping like the dead!” The maid sounded annoyed. They had turned every stone looking for her.
Several maids hauled Brielle to her feet and dragged her back toward the courtyard.
The courtyard was ablaze with torchlight. The man who exuded such murderous intent stood silently under the eaves. Beside him stood the delicate, pale beauty, Donna.
On the ground lay Sarah, still half-naked. The maids has thrown a bucket of water over her, but she had not regained her senses. She writhed on the flagstones, murmuring incoherently. It was a shameful, wretched sight.
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Rachel Everett hurried forward with a heavy blanket to cover Sarah, sparing onlookers further offense.
Daniel’s gaze was as cold as glacial ice as he fixed his eyes on Brielle. “Where did you go this night? What have you done? Confess everything, down to the last detail.”
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Fate Binds Me to Lord Clarke
