Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Arabella paced the small room frantically as she tried desperately to deny the fear that seemed so determined to consume her.
It was there, bubbling away beneath the surface so that it was all but impossible to ignore.
Of course she was afraid! She had been tricked, kidnapped, and was now being held hostage by her own father, a man who she knew would go to unspeakable lengths to get what he wanted. To feel fear was to be human.
However, feeling afraid and letting it dominate her were two completely different things. While Arabella could do nothing to ignore her fear entirely, she could at the very least stop it from controlling her.
I am a duchess, no longer the same little girl I once was, and my father needs to understand that. I must show him that he does not control me.
So, she paced, and she planned what she might do… If anything could be done.
The room that she was in was locked tight, while the only window was boarded up so that she had no chance of escaping through it.
Beyond the room was a small cabin in the middle of a forest; Arabella did not know the location of the forest. She had been trapped in the back of the carriage as she was taken to it, half-conscious, hardly able to move, let alone take note of her surroundings.
When the carriage arrived at the cabin, she was dragged inside by two large men. She did her best to look about, as if knowing where she was might make a difference. But all she saw were trees, and before long, she was being tossed into this small room.
There, she was left alone. For how long? She did not know. But it was dark outside, likely the same day as when she had been taken. Again, not that this mattered! Not that she could do anything!
I need to think! I know what my father wants, but how can I make him see that this will not work?
That was where she stalled. Arabella could posture however she wanted. She could stand up to her father and deny him his wishes. But at the end of the day, she was trapped here, Caspian had no idea where she was, and it would only be a matter of time until her father snapped…
The sound of the door unlocking had Arabella stop her pacing.
Again, the fear threatened to burst from her, but she shoved it down with desperation. She then turned to face the door, standing tall and proud, doing her best to look as if she were in complete control and that nothing her father could do or say could change that.
The door swung open, and her father stepped inside. As soon as he did, he swung the door shut, and she heard it lock again.
“Oh my,” he said when he saw her scowl at him. “What is it that you plan on doing with that, Arabella? Glaring at me until I let you go?”
“You have gone too far, Father,” she said with a hiss. “Kidnapping me? Whatever it is that you think you are going to achieve, you would be wise to let me go at once. If you do that, I promise I will forget this.”
He pushed his thin lips together as he studied her. “Yes, perhaps you are correct. This is rather extreme, is it not? I mean, who would ever guess that I might go through such lengths?”
“As I said, it is not too late.” She held her scowl on him. “Let me go and—”
“Enough of that.” He waved her down with humor. “All this posturing, Arabella. Yes, yes, I understand. You are not the same little girl that you once were. You have grown and changed, and whatever else it is you need to tell yourself. I am very impressed.”
“I am not…” She bit back her urge to snap; to show any emotion that her father might use against her. “I am not posturing, Father. The simple fact is that you have kidnapped a duchess, and when it is found out, there will be consequences.”
His eyes flashed as if the thought excited him. “Oh, really? And what consequences might those be?”
“My husband will see you punished,” she said. “If you think he will simply let this go…” She scoffed. “Then you do not know him very well.”
“Your husband, is it? I thought that you were above needing such things? Is that not the point, here? That you are a duchess, so strong, so powerful, that you do not need your husband to protect you? Or have you not changed nearly as much as you claim?”
“I… That is not…” Arabella stammered, and she hated that she did. “Of course, my husband will be worried. And of course, he will do whatever he must to stop you. But that does not mean that I am going to let this stand. I am—”
“Floundering,” he cut over her sharply. “That is what you are doing. On the one hand, you are so eager to prove to me that you are brave and assertive. On the other hand, you cannot help but evoke your husband’s name because deep down, he controls you.
” He sniggered. “You think that you have changed, but you have not. As when you were a girl, always, you are somebody else’s.
And do not waste time denying it, Arabella…
” He sighed and shook his head. “It is beneath us both.”
Her father knew her too well.
Arabella wanted nothing more than to stand up to him. To deny his cruel assessment. To refuse whatever he said and prove that she had changed! I know I have changed… I know it.
But there was an undeniable truth to his words.
This was a circumstance that went beyond mere character growth and a newfound sense of place. Ultimately, Arabella was helpless before her father, and she could do nothing to stand up to him. Not really.
She needed Caspian… She needed him like she never had before.
“Ah, there she is,” her father chuckled as he saw her deflate. “Finally, my daughter has arrived. And faster than I expected. What a shame.”
She bowed her head pathetically. “What do you want, Father? You must know how hopeless this is. Caspian will find you before he pays any ransom you demand of him.”
“Is that what you think I am doing? Arabella, you underestimate me. Which is not a surprise, I suppose. If you had not, we would not be here in the first place. You really ought to have done as I told you. This is your fault, not mine.”
She looked at him with scorn, but that only delighted him further.
“I am not asking for a ransom,” he said. “At least not as you imagine it. What I am asking for is what I deserve after all that I have done for you, everything I have sacrificed. It is time that it is repaid.”
“Done for me? You have done nothing!”
“Says the woman now married to a duke!” he cried. “My doing, not your own.”
“That is not…” She sneered. “That had nothing to do with you.”
He scoffed. “Be that as it may, I am still owed, and I will be paid. What I need from you is simple, Arabella. All you have to do is stay here. To sit tight. To simply exist because even one as disappointing as you can achieve that much.”
Again, she looked at him with scorn, her body shaking.
“I have arranged a series of legal documents,” he continued.
“Those that pertain to certain portions of property and inheritance rights as given to you by your marriage to the Duke. In signing them, I will be handed those rights, the property that I desire. All perfectly legal,” he assured her. “My lawyers have been thorough.”
She gasped. “You… You mean to steal—”
“Nothing,” he cut her off. “I am not stealing a thing. The Duke is signing them over! Not everything, of course. I do not mean for you and His Grace to become beggars. Rather, it is a considerable fraction of your wealth. Again, it is what I am owed.”
Arabella found herself shaking her head. “That is… Caspian will never do that.”
“Of course he will,” he said. “As I told you, I have had my lawyers draw up the papers. It is perfectly legal. As well as binding,” he emphasized.
“But Caspian… Whatever you think you can make him do, you cannot control him.”
“And that is where you are wrong. I know that simply asking him to sign these papers would not convince him. And to ask you to talk him into it…” He shook his head.
“Despite everything, you have changed a little, Arabella. Enough, anyhow, to convince yourself that you can refuse me. Thus, I have determined that an insurance policy of my own is needed.”
Her blood turned cold, and the fear that she had worked so hard to push down started to surge.
“You are that insurance policy. That is why you are here.” He looked at her with venom.
“As we speak, men whom I have chosen for their… Let us call it their persuasion skills. They are on their way to the Duke’s residence right now, where they will tell him of the situation as it currently stands.
As they will tell him that if he refuses to sign the papers, your life will be forfeit. ”
“No!” she gasped.
“Yes,” he growled. “I was surprised to see how close you and His Grace have become, but as I was surprised, I was just as delighted. And if not him, that boy you two share… Timothy, is it? I am sure that my associates will happily use his safety to help convince the Duke, should he not care for you as I need him to do.”
Arabella trembled with fear, rage, and a stark desire to attack her father as if that would make any difference!
She glared at her father as if she might attack, but he just laughed. Though he was not a physically imposing man, he was taller and stronger than her, and years of being beaten down and made to feel like nothing had such an impact that Arabella could not even imagine attacking him.
He scoffed with derision to see her shrink back.
“Speaking of which… I did not come here to make deals or to gloat. I merely wanted you to know what is happening, so you realize there is nothing you can do to stop it. I warned you, Arabella, and you did not listen. This is your fault.”
With those words spoken, her father turned and left the room. As the door locked behind him, Arabella sank to the floor, a pathetic mess, returning once more to the girl she had always been—denied for so long, but now proven resolute.