Chapter 8 #4
“Leave. You and your father’s reputation and livelihood will be ruined before you wake tomorrow.
Sophia’s social circle stretches far greater than mine and my father’s combined, and I doubt she’ll believe I didn’t touch you tonight.
Not after I told her everything I was going to do to you.
You will be arrested and charged with performing medical acts without a proper license or training.
My father will make sure they imprison you or something even worse happens.
Everything will be taken away from your father. ”
“I saved you! You were going to die. My father couldn’t stitch your wound closed because of his tremors; that’s all I did!” Victoria screamed as she stepped back into the room.
Wilhelm’s eyes flashed. “I remember everything. You may have covered my eyes, but you left my ears open to hear everything. I know exactly what happened. I know your father is sick with something that made his hands shake so hard he could not do his duty and finish my procedure. One more reason you both should be cast out of society.”
“He’s not sick!” she shouted. She despised her father being spoken of with such a lack of sensitivity to his condition. She hated it more than the remnants of Wilhelm’s sweat that still clung to her skin or the feel of his body invading hers. “You will not speak of my father again.”
Wilhelm nodded, and the corner of his mouth curled viciously. “I like you with a little spirit. But I will do whatever I like, and you would do well to remember that.”
Victoria clenched her fist and, for the first time, felt the threads of her composure and sanity unravel.
“You obviously feel as though you have complete and absolute control over me and what you compel me to do, but I assure you, sir, the moment the ability to end this situation is within my reach, I will see that you suffer just as you have made me.”
Wilhelm rose from the bed, leveraging his stature, hoping to intimidate the small woman. “Do you threaten me?”
“No, that would be foolish. But take this as my warning to you. I am not fearsome nor formidable—”
“No,” Wilhelm interrupted her with an arrogant look. “You are quiet and insignificant.”
Victoria removed her eyes from the intricate wooden bedpost she’d been focusing on and shifted her penetrating, hollow stare onto Wilhelm. “That might be true, but—”
“It is true,” he snapped, growing more impatient.
“But I am also intelligent and persistent, and I will stop at nothing to protect the only family I have left. There is a love that lives in my heart for my father, the magnitude of which you could hardly understand, and for my mother there is only a torrent of anguish that has fermented into rage. If I cannot defend my father and myself with the one, then I will do so with the other.” Her dark eyes glistened in the flickering flame of the oil lamp, pressing unblinkingly into Wilhelm’s.
An air of madness had curled around the edges of the soft-spoken woman.
Enough for Wilhelm to pause for a moment.
But only for a moment, as the hunter only gains enthusiasm from the terrifying snarl of a beast before it is brought down.
“And what of it?” he taunted with the flash of a smile. “You may think I am a horrible man, but you can leave through that door whenever you wish. You will simply face the consequences.”
Victoria weighed her options as she straddled the space beneath the doorframe, caught between stepping into the hallway to short-lived freedom or staying within the promised peace of what lying with Wilhelm would bring.
“I will tell everyone about your unfaithfulness.” She flustered with a last burst of fight, dropping the thread once the words fell from her mouth and she realized how little it mattered.
Nearly all the noblemen cheated on their wives and kept mistresses.
No one would bat an eye at the future baron’s actions.
Wilhelm laughed. “I will have you whenever and wherever I see fit, for as long as I like. What is it that you do not understand about that?”
“What if I’m pursued by another? What if I marry a suitor?” Victoria knew she would have to, and soon, if she was to ensure her and her father’s security and the finances for his care. Thoughts of the cadaver drifted through the cracked floorboards of her mind.
His smirk twisted. “Then I will use you harder, so that he knows he’s enjoying my seconds. No other man could make me stop.”
Appalled, and feeling her snare tightening, Victoria held her face in her hands, struggling to think her way out.
“Enough. I’ve grown bored with your loose tongue.” Wilhelm’s sharp tone cut into her thoughts. “Take off that dress and lie on the bed.” He watched with a hunter’s focus to see if Victoria would appease his request or if she would fight him.