Chapter 298
Chapter 55
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The quiet town of Willow’s Creek rarely saw much commotion in the dead of night, but tonight, Thornfield Manor was alive with hushed murmurs and whispered speculations. Servants moved about anxiously, eyes wide with curiosity and concern, exchanging glances filled with unspoken questions.
Something had happened.
Something scandalous.
When the only physician in town, Dr. Bernard Holloway, was roused from his sleep and summoned to the grand estate, it only fueled the fire of gossip. wasn’t often that Thornfield Manor–home to the infamous and enigmatic Graham Lancaster–sent for a doctor after midnight. And that too on their wedding night, no less.
By the time Dr. Holloway arrived, the tension in the air was palpable. The servants barely made way as Graham strode through the grand corridors, leadi him to the master bedroom.
The heavy doors shut behind them with an ominous thud.
The room was dimly lit, the lingering scent of candle wax and something earthier–something intimate–still hanging in the air. The silk sheets on the massive bed were rumpled, the air thick with the aftermath of a night neither Graham nor Isla would ever forget.
And on the bed, covered in a fresh bedsheet, Isla lay curled up, her body tense, her face burning with shame.
The deep crimson stains on the discarded sheet near the foot of the bed told the story without a single word needing to be spoken.
Graham had refused to leave her side.
He stood at the center of the room, wearing nothing but his trousers, his broad chest bare, muscles tense, his hair disheveled from restless fingers running through it. His expression was unreadable–somewhere between impatience and something far more dangerous.
Dr. Holloway let out a slow breath as he took in the sight before him. His tired old eyes flicked from the shaken young bride on the bed to the half–dressed restless husband pacing the floor beside her.
He had his suspicions.
Still, his duty remained the same.
He moved to Isla’s bedside, his expression kind but professional. “My dear, I know this must be… uncomfortable for you. But I need to ask a few questions te ensure your well–being.”
Isla squeezed her eyes shut. Uncomfortable was not even close to what she was feeling-
She had known Dr. Holloway since childhood. He had treated her scraped knees as a child, prescribed herbal tonics for winter cells, and now this.
This was humiliating.
“Y–yes,” she murmured, her voice barely abuse a whisper.
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8:51 am P
Chapter 298
Dr. Holloway cleared his throat and folded his hands over his cane, his gaze gentle but probing. “And this was the first time you were intimate wit
Miss Isla?”
A sharp, deafening silence filled the room.
Isla’s stomach clenched. God help me.
She felt like she was being stripped bare all over again–except this time, it was under the scrutiny of a man old enough to be her grandfather.
Her fingers curled into the sheet as she swallowed past the knot in her throat. “Y–yes.”
She wanted to die.
Right there, right then, to just curl into herself and disappear.
Her eyes flicked toward Graham for a fraction of a second, but he was already watching her, his gaze dark, unreadable. His jaw tightened at her admis and his fingers twitched at his sides.
Dr. Holloway hummed, seemingly unbothered by the tension suffocating the room. “And there was… pain?”
Isla’s cheeks burned.
She couldn’t do this.
She couldn’t sit here, under the scrutinizing gaze of both the doctor and her husband, and answer these questions as if this were some sort of routine
checkup.
“Yes,” she whispered, mortified.
Graham let out a sharp exhale and crossed his arms over his chest. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered. Dr. Holloway arched a knowing brow at him. “Forgiv me, Mr. Lancaster, if this is uncomfortable but I do need to ask these questions.”
shaking his head before looking back at Isla. “My dear, I know this is difficult, but I need to be thorough. Was there excessive bleeding?
Isla gritted her teeth, gripping the sheet tighter. “I–I don’t know.”
She hadn’t checked. She had been too humiliated to even think straight, too overwhelmed by what had transpired between them.
Graham ran a hand down his face in frustration. “This is insane,” he muttered under his breath.
The room felt smaller now, suffocating beneath the weight of unspoken words and the heavy tension pressing between them. The physician’s present dd- little to ease the storm raging inside Graham–if anything, it made it worse.
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8:51 am
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The End Of a Marriage
