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To william’s shock, Rebecca pushed herself in between them. “The way he mistreats me? You have never cared about my treatment before! In fact you have always been the one to mistreat me!”

“He’s manipulated her! You all saw him! The Duke of Danton is clearly a violent man!”

“He has never so much as laid a finger on me! The same can not be said of you. How many times have you hit me, slapped me, forced me to go without food or wouldn’t give me warm clothes to wear in the winter? And yet you have the audacity to accus William of being violent? Of being cruel?”

“Do you think anyone will fall for your lies!?”

“Her lies?” William grabbed him by the collar, unable to take this any longer. “If I’m so cruel, if then what does that say about you? You were so eager to marry her off the second you heard I was looking for a wife. You rushed through the engagement before we could even meet. Then you dare to try and kidnap her.!”

“”I’m just a concerned father trying to protect my daughter,” he finally insists.

But the crowd wasn’t quite buying it. They had seen too much.

Rebecca spoke again. “You have never once treated me as your daughter. You don’t get to pretend to be concerned about me now.

His face darkened, act breaking. “As if I didn’t treat you far better than you deserved. After everything you did, after they way that you killed your poor mother taking her away from me and your sister, you deserved far worse than anything I have ever done to you.”

Her gaze hardened even further. “What kind of monster holds his wife passing away from childbirth against the baby? I may never have been lucky enough to meet her, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t loose someone too.”

“You have never lost anything in your life! All you have ever done is take what doesn’t belong to you!”

“All you have ever done was show me cruelty and malice!”

William dropped SOlomon, letting him drop to the ground before turning to his wife. “I don’t think he’s with wasting our time on unless you ave some more you want to get off your chest.”

She shook her head. “No, I think I’ve said everything I need to say.”

“Then I’m glad. Now, let’s go home.”

William took her hand and the pair made their way from the part together.

“Are you all right?” William asked when the pair was alone.

“You know what? I think for the first time ever, I truly am.”

The pair made their way back home hand in hand. Rebecca couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face.

She didn’t understand how she could be so lucky.

“What are you thinking about?” William asked as they approached the door to their estate.

“Just how glad I am everything worked out the way that it did.”

“I’m glad I found you, but you have to admit the way you ended up here was not fair to you. You never should have been treated the way you were or forced to marry me.”

“I won’t disagree. It was horribly cruel of my father to use me as a bargaining chip like that, but it’s over now, and if it hadn’thappened, I doubt I would have met you. To me that makes all of it worth it.”

For a long moment, William fell silent.

Ordinarily, this would be when Rebecca would start to worry she shouldn;t have said anything or that she spoke out of turn, but not this time. She had meant every word of what she said. Even if he didn’t feel the same way, that was all right, but she couldn’t keep it in. she needed to say it.

William didn’t say another word until they were actually inside, but the second the door was shut behind them, he turned to Rebecca with an intense look on his face.

“You need to be careful about saying such things,” he said, voice thick with unsaid emotions.

“And why not?”

He sighed. “Because, I have rather fallen in love without. While I don’t expect you to feel the same way, it’s hard not to take your words and give myself hope.”