The Duke's Masked Wife

38 Guards at the door (1)

“Baroness, I sent someone to get the town guards as you requested,” James informed Katrina while watching her from a distance.

It was hard to fathom the Baron was dead. After years of working for the Baron, it was painful to see him dead. However, this was not the same case for his wife. James expected Katrina to ball her eyes out but the Baroness had not shed one tear. What did he expect from a woman who ordered him to slowly poison her husband?

‘Was she never in love with him?’ James thought. Even though she wanted the Baron dead, he thought she would at least have some ounce of love to show the Baron right now. Katrina looked like a stranger who stumbled across the Baron.

“Good. When they come, tell them the Duke killed my husband and this man,” Katrina ordered James.

James was truly surprised to hear she was going to tell the guards the truth. He expected Katrina to lie about what happened or claimed she saw nothing and found her husband like this after searching for him. Was she now abandoning all hope for Kate to get with the Duke?

“Why?” James couldn’t help but ask. “Your daughter wishes to be with the Duke.”

“Only a fool would get in a battle between Edgar Collins and William Lancaster. Besides, Edgar seems crazy enough to openly admit he killed my husband and expose my lies if I were to not tell the truth. Do not mention anything about Alessandra being sent to William. That was meant to be a secret. Remember, your life is in my hands.”

“Don’t think because my husband is dead you are free from what I am holding over your head. This is the time when you should be sticking close to me. I will fix this house and regain its glory. I will need a good butler beside me” Katrina looked over her shoulder at James. “Make sure you do well when the guards come.”

She met many men like James who act innocent but like everyone else, they wanted to elevate themselves by any means possible. She knew James was smart enough to seize the opportunity she was presenting to him.

.....

“Yes Baroness,” James bowed slightly. A woman who could watch her husband of seventeen years die and not show an ounce of sorrow was not someone he was going to play around with.

Now that the Baron was gone, everything would be under Katrina’s control. He wasn’t certain how she could fix the state of the house but he had a feeling there was something up Katrina’s sleeve. She wouldn’t have killed her husband if she did not have a solution for digging herself out of their financial hole.

Trying to expose Katrina would do him no good. If he somehow succeeded, no socialite would hire him as a butler since they liked workers who wouldn’t squeal on them. He would have to work a job that wouldn’t pay enough to feed himself and his family. He would never forgive Katrina for how she set him up but he had to think about his livelihood.

‘All of my peers are doing better than me. I should join them,’ James concluded.

Katrina was slightly annoyed that she had to go to the servant’s quarters to trap James only for her husband to be killed at the hands of another person the next day. Still, she got what she wanted in the end. Her husband was now gone and the property belonged solely to her.

“Mother? Why are you outside when it is so freezing cold? Have they taken Alessandra- His head,” Kate stumbled back, overcome with fear as her eyes went to a man with his head cut off. “What’s going on?” She looked to her mother for answers.

James kept his head down avoiding eye contact with Kate as her dead father was not yet in her view. ‘Would she react to her father’s death?’ He wondered.

“Kate, I need you to not react when you see this,” Katrina walked up to Kate and placed her hands on Kate’s shoulder to calm her down. She knew how much Kate loved her father and seeing him dead was going to shake her up.

“Not react? There is a man without a head in our path, mother! What on earth happened? Wasn’t someone supposed to come and take Alessandra away? Did she flip out and kill someone? I want to hear it from my father. Did he go along with her?” Kate started looking around for her father to get the good news.

Alessandra was finally out of their hair and now she could be with Edgar as it always should have been.

Kate wrapped her arms around her body as the night air nipped at her skin. She didn’t understand why James and her mother were so quiet when they had finally gotten rid of Alessandra.

“Kate, listen to me. Your father is dead-”

“Mother, that is a ridiculous joke to make at this time of night. If you and father are arguing, resolve it instead of saying nonsense,” Kate glared at her mother. Normally, her mother wasn’t one to care for those kinds of jokes.

“Do not look at me like that Kate. See for yourself,” Katrina pointed to where her husband laid with a hole in his chest.

Kate stepped forward following the direction her mother was pointing, now noticing the second body spilling blood onto the ground. “Father,” she gasped, rushing to his side to check on his condition. “H-He cannot be dead. Father,” Kate kneeled down to his level, expecting him to be okay and her mother was only mistaken.

Kate shook her father’s body to wake him up to receive help.

“He is dead Kate. Things didn’t go as planned-”

“Well obviously!” Kate yelled at her mother with eyes full of tears. Her father was not responding to her touch but she failed to believe he was truly gone. They had not had a good conversation after she stormed away from the table. Her father was not meant to be like this. “Alessandra did this, didn’t she? She was never grateful. Hunt her down and kill her!”

“It was not Alessandra. It was the Duke who killed him. You have to let go of him now, Kate. I will find you a better man,” Katrina promised her finger. They all underestimated how much Edgar cared for Alessandra. It was better for Kate to chase after someone else.

“The Duke?” Kate did not believe her mother. Why would Edgar kill her father? Was her mother implying he did it for Alessandra? “This is not the Duke’s fault. It is Alessandra’s. She must have placed a spell on Edgar. If she had gone quietly, he wouldn’t be like this,” Kate closed her father’s eyes.

There was no doubt in her mind this was all Alessandra’s fault.

“Where is Alessandra? Did she run away after seeing her father like this? We have to bring her back, mother.”

Katrina sighed, placing her hand on her forehead. She did not have time to deal with Kate when the guards could arrive at any second. “Alessandra has gone with the Duke. His carriage left after this all happened. It’s impossible to bring her back now.”

“What? She’s gone with the Duke?” Kate’s sadness for her father was replaced with anger from Alessandra taking what belonged to her. “You just let her leave? I was supposed to go live with the Duke,” Kate stood up from her father’s side to approach her mother.

“Kate, we have more important things to deal with. Give up on Edgar. There must be something wrong with his head to do this and take Alessandra with him. I will find someone else. Someone better than Edgar. Let’s focus on your father first.”

“Why? You don’t even look upset by his death, mother. Are you-” Kate’s words were silenced by pain on her cheek and a buzzing sound in her ears.

“The man I have been married to for seventeen years has just been killed and I am pushing myself not to break down because I have a daughter to remain strong for and a house to deal with on my own. Don’t you think I wish to cry too?” Tears started to run from Katrina’s eyes.

Kate immediately felt guilty for saying such a thing to her mother. She was so angry with Alessandra leaving and heartbroken with her father’s death that she had not realized the gravity of what she was saying to her mother. “I’m sorry mother.”

They were meant to give her father a proper send-off before worrying about anything else. Alessandra would be dealt with sooner than she might realize. When the Duke tosses Alessandra out of his home, Kate was going to be ready to make her life a living hell.

In the distance, the sound of horses galloping and men yelling was heard.

“The town guards are here, Baroness,” James alerted Katrina.

“Kate, run inside quickly. Now!” Katrina yelled after Kate wouldn’t move.

Kate did not understand why she could not be around when her mother would speak to the guards. This was her father laying dead on the ground. Still, she knew how her mother could get when she was angry and decided to go inside to wait for what her mother would say later.

Katrina watched Kate hurry off back inside the home. She then continued to force out tears to play the role of a wife grieving for her dead husband.

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