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William did not quite blame Wilson for telling his friends about his troubles. After all, he was the only servant who had known him his whole life.

“Of course, I immediately summoned Edwin and Magnus, and they did not seem to realize that there was a problem at first,” Theo continued.

“That was only because you refused to give us more details,” Magnus retorted. “In the letter you wrote, you did not mention that you have evidence that William was in trouble.”

“Then the letter would have been longer. I was in a rush, so forgive me if I was not able to cram all the information I had into a letter,” Theo said sarcastically.

William frowned as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Theo and Magnus’s arguing voices only caused his head to pound even harder.

“Would it kill you two if you at least pretended to be civil with each other for William’s sake?” Edwin hissed.

This seemed to do the trick, as Theo and Magnus both fell quiet, looking rather guilty.

“It does not matter how we made it to Bath. What matters now is that we are here, and we must help you fix your mistake before it is too late,” Edwin added.

“Edwin is right,” Magnus spoke up. “If you lose Eveline now, you might spend the rest of your life regretting it.”

Those words hit William like a dagger to the heart.

“But I would not be able to live with myself if she ever got hurt because of me,” he said.

“Why do you think you would ever hurt her?” Magnus asked curiously.

“I am certain she is already hurting because of you,” Theo added.

William had to agree with Theo. Eveline had been heartbroken when she left, and he was sure that as he was drowning his sorrows in alcohol here, she was probably crying on her sisters’ shoulders in Notley Manor.

“First, you must tell us what caused her to return to her father’s house. What did you do to her?” Magnus asked.

“I told her that I shall be moving to Bath, as our marriage was only one of convenience and we shall be nothing more than friends,” William said.

“How foolish can you possibly be, William?” Theo scoffed.

“You should never say that to a woman, even if it is true,” Magnus chided. “Have you no social skills?”

“Of course, it is not true. I care for Eveline. I care for her deeply,” William admitted in a low voice. “In fact, I might be in love with her.”

“Then you must have resigned yourself to misery because why else would you ruin your one chance at happiness?” Edwin asked. His curious expression told William that he truly wanted to know.

“I suppose it is time I told you about my father,” William sighed.

His friends exchanged glances. They had always joked about the fact that while the others spoke about their fathers, William never said anything about his.

It was, therefore, surprising that he suddenly wanted to talk about his father.

“You have never talked about him,” Magnus noted.

“And it is for a reason,” William responded. “My mother died while bringing me to life, and in his grief, my father turned into an incredibly violent man.”

“Oh, that is just awful,” Magnus said.

“He was cruel to me, as he blamed me for my mother’s death,” William continued. “Now, I can never bring myself to love anyone in fear that my love would turn me into the monster my father became.”

“I know how you feel,” Theo murmured. For the first time in a long while, he seemed to be serious. “My father did the same thing to me. He would beat me to no end, and if I dared to cry out, the beating would only get worse.”

William was taken aback. He never knew that his friend’s father had been cruel too.

“My father was cruel too,” Edwin admitted. “I ran away from home throughout my childhood because of this. It is for that reason that he shipped me off to the Army.”