Interrogating Lady Bradford
He'd just been thinking the Grand Tutor's son had finally learned some discipline, bringing a quill and parchment to study even when he was out and about.
He never imagined the kid was turning the Donovan family's business into some kind of script, with stories so wild they sounded like pure fantasy.
The moment the elder Donovan's gaze landed on him, Ryder Sinclair clutched the stack of fine paper to his chest and took a half-step back, terrified the old man would snatch the pages he'd worked so hard on and tear them to shreds.
Seeing this, Cassidy Sterling crossed her arms and fixed the patriarch with a hard stare.
"Lord Donovan," she said, her voice dangerously calm. "You'd better start explaining how your son's new wife recognizes the pattern on this paper. If you can't, this office will have every last member of your family arrested for interrogation."
The elder Donovan's blood was already boiling over what the Sinclair boy had written. Her words were the final straw. He shot a furious look at Lady Bradford, his voice shaking with rage.
"Tell me the truth! Do you recognize the pattern on this paper or not? Where have you seen it? If you dare lie to me, I will throw you out of this family myself and hand you over to the Magistrate's Court for a formal inquest!"
The old man had spent decades in the Imperial Court; he'd seen it all.
But right now, his knuckles were white where he gripped his cane.
His mind raced, replaying his eldest son's recent behavior.
When it came to the Stonehaven Estate case, the boy hadn't just been impulsive, he'd been reckless, showing a shocking disregard for the Donovan family's century-old reputation.
Before, he'd just assumed his son was blinded by a woman, willing to defy his own father for her. A few whispered words in bed, and he'd become obsessed with seeing the Marquis of Stonehaven dead.
But thinking about it now, a cold sweat broke out on his back.
What if this woman, this Lady Bradford, really did have some mysterious past? What if she was connected to the Stonehaven case? The thought sent a jolt of pure terror through him.
If generations of the Donovan family's work were destroyed, bringing ruin and execution down on them all because of some woman with a hidden agenda, how could he ever face his ancestors?
He was sick with regret, hating himself for the moment of weakness when he'd handed control of their vast family enterprise over to his worthless eldest son.
At his father's words, Vice Director Donovan's gaze slowly shifted to the woman clutching his arm. For the first time, his eyes were full of suspicion.
Lady Bradford gripped her husband's arm tighter, her whole body trembling as she choked back sobs. "I swear, I don't recognize it. Since I married you, I've followed the rules. I rarely even leave the house. How could I have ever seen something so strange?"
The elder Donovan hobbled over on his cane until he was standing right in front of her, his eyes burning with fury. "I'm asking you one last time: who are you? Where did you come from? Who are your parents? Tell me the truth!"
Lady Bradford fell to her knees with a thud.
"I don't know who my parents are. I only remember a flood in my hometown when I was a little girl. The fields and houses were all underwater. I was separated from my family and had to wander the streets to survive. If my husband hadn't rescued me from bandits, I would have died out there.
I never would have lived to give him a son and a daughter."
She bowed low, pressing her forehead to the ground before Cassidy. "Please, Princess, I'm begging you. Spare me. I truly don't recognize the pattern on that paper."
Her daughter, Willa Donovan, dropped to her knees beside her with a soft thud and began to bow as well, her voice choked with tears. "Please, Princess, spare my mother. She really doesn't recognize it."
She looked up, her face streaked with tears.
"My mother has been on her own since she was a child. She's suffered so much. It was only after she met my father that she finally had a safe home. She's always tried so hard not to be a burden to him. She barely ever goes out, so how could she have seen the pattern you're talking about?
If you insist my mother is guilty, then punish me instead. I'll take her place. I only ask that you be merciful and let my mother go."
She punctuated the plea by bowing again, and again, her smooth forehead quickly turning red and raw against the floor.
Seeing the marks on her daughter's forehead, Lady Bradford cried out as if her own heart was being torn out. "Willa, my child, how could I ever let you suffer for me?"
She turned back to Cassidy, tears streaming down her face, her cries so desperate they seemed to tear at the air.
"I'm begging the Princess to see the truth. I don't recognize that pattern. If you must find me guilty, I'll accept any punishment you see fit. I only ask that you think of my daughter... she's so young. Please don't let her suffer with me."
The sight of his mother and sister kneeling on the floor sent a rush of hot anger through the little boy beside them. His face flushed red, and with his small fists clenched, he charged right at Cassidy. "You can't bully my mother and sister!"
Just as his fist was about to connect with her dress, his father snatched him up by the back of his collar. The boy kicked and squirmed, but he couldn't get free.
Held dangling in the air, he still craned his neck and glared at Cassidy, yelling, "I'll beat you up! You're a bad person, bullying my mom and my sister!"
The Vice Director slapped a hand over his son's mouth and bowed frantically to the princess, apologizing over and over.
Cassidy just stared at the whole scene. The mother and daughter were on the floor, crying and begging her to spare them, and now this little kid was threatening to fight her.
Wait a minute. What was even happening? Were they ganging up on her because she didn't have a mother? Or was it because she was an only child?
Before she could sort it out, Prince Ashworth, who had been standing silently beside her, finally spoke.
"What is the meaning of this?" he said, his voice deceptively soft. "Is your entire family ganging up on my daughter? Do you think This Prince is just going to stand here and watch?"
He glared at the child squirming in the Vice Director's grip, his eyes burning with fury. "You want to hit my daughter? Do you think This Prince won't have you killed right where you stand?"
Staring into the prince's furious eyes, the child's face went pale with fear, and he burst into tears.
Hearing her son's cries, Lady Bradford, still on her knees, went limp.
She bowed her head to the floor again and again before the prince.
"Your Highness, please spare him! He's just a child, he doesn't know any better! I'll discipline him, I swear he'll never bother the princess again! I'm begging you, Your Highness, have mercy!"
The Vice Director forced his sobbing son's head down. "Apologize! Apologize to His Highness right now! And ask the Princess to forgive you!"
The little boy was crying too hard to speak, managing only a choked whimper. "I was wrong... I won't do it again."
Prince Ashworth sneered, his cold gaze sweeping over the people kneeling on the ground. The chill in his voice didn't soften an inch.
"Guards. Take this child and throw him to The Onyx Guard."
He let the order hang in the air for a moment. "I don't care if he's young. I don't care if he 'doesn't know any better.' Anyone who dares to bully my daughter, even a newborn, will answer to me. This Prince will settle the score for her."
All this begging for the princess to spare them... did they really think he was blind? It was obvious what they were doing: ganging up on her, trying to use her youth against her.