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“Thank you for informing me of this. I will meet with them as soon as they are ready and send any information they give me about my mother to the court,” said Alessandra.

“Thank you. And if it is not rude, might I ask what you are hiding behind your mask? Is it a wound?” Mark asked, figuring it might have something to do with her inheritance.

Alessandra touched her mask without thinking. “Why do you need to know?”

“Well, it’s a bit too much of a coincidence. The daughter wearing a mask and not allowed out in society gets her inheritance stolen. If there was some sort of mistreatment you received from your father, stepmother, and even your sister, it will make this case even more serious. You’ll be entitled to much more and because of their crimes, we can strip them of their titles,” Mark explained.

“Oh. There are scars I got when I was younger from an incident with my younger sister. They were really bad when I was younger so I wore a mask and I stuck with it,” Alessandra replied, not having any reason to protect Kate. “I am taking care of the scars now so it won’t be long before you can hardly tell they are here.”

“So the curse story was a ridiculous cover to hide what one daughter did to the other,” Declan said.

“We will make sure you get all that you deserve, Duchess. They will deny your sister being involved but there are other ways to find the truth. It may take a while but we will uncover the truth of your life in your father’s home. We won’t take up any more of your time,” Mark said, ready to leave. Just as he turned, he remembered something. “Did you happen to know anything about your stepmother before she became your father’s wife?”

“No,” Alessandra shook her head. “He just brought her home one day. I’ve never seen any of her relatives or heard her speak of her past. My uncle, Clark Barrett, might know something.”

.....

“Hmm, thank you for that,” Mark replied. He gave Declan a look before they both left.

“How is it that she can hide her life even from the courts? It is like Desmond just pulled her out of thin air. No parents, no records of her in other towns, no posters of anyone looking for her if she was running away from something,” Declan spoke, confused by Katrina’s past.

“It is obvious she had someone with skill or power to help her settle down here and catch Desmond’s eyes. He was an easy target. Having trouble with his wife and looking for other women to sleep with. Back then, he had no debt. Start looking for women involved in scams or anything of the sort. Katrina Barrett does not exist,” Mark concluded.

Meanwhile, Alessandra watched the two men walk down the steps before closing the doors and locking them. The day brought surprisingly good news for her. News that will drive Katrina crazy. If only she could be a fly on the wall to watch it happen.

Alessandra looked at the large box which was effortlessly carried inside. “You cannot lift that, Sally. It is full of money and even I can see that it is heavier than it looks,” she said after Sally tried to lift it but failed. “Keep an eye on it and when Caleb-”

“Need me, Duchess?” Caleb questioned, arriving just in time, eating an apple he snagged away from the kitchen. “Need this box taken to your bedroom?”

“Yes thank you. I am going to rest for a little while since Alfred wants to be alone. Please wake me when Edgar returns or if Alfred needs company. You can take some time off Sally,” Alessandra said then left the two alone.

“So, how are you? You know, with the whole Timothy and Alfred situation? I didn’t get the chance to speak with you,” Caleb said whilst picking up the box.

“I am much better now that Alfred is here but still a bit shaken up that Timothy is gone. I have been trying to talk to you about something but with everything I didn’t know when was the best time. Umm, is lending me your house still an offer? I can pay for my parent’s time there,” Sally said, biting her lip out of nervousness he would not want to give her anymore.

Caleb couldn’t resist smiling because Sally needed him. Backing off the matter seemed to be the best option to convince her. “You can still use it. After what happened to Alfred, I won’t have time to go home. And don’t worry about paying me. It would just be an empty house if they weren’t there.”

“They’ll keep it tidy for you and this won’t be a long-term thing. They’ll get better jobs and I will start to build our home. There’s just one thing I need you to do to help me convince them to stay in your home. You see, they will think you are trying to take advantage of me so if you could uhm,” Sally trailed off, trying to prolong what she needed. “Pretend that we are in a relationship and on the path to getting married?”

“What! Oh shit,” Caleb cursed after the box slipped from his hands but luckily, he caught it. He was certain that the excitement of her accepting his offer made him hear something about marriage. “Did you just mention getting married? I know we had a little agreement in the single’s club but-”

“No no! I said we would pretend. Just to ease their minds about you. I really need them to leave my aunt’s house. My father will be skeptical just like I was because during our early days without money, a family friend offered us help but I needed to give him something in exchange. My father will only trust you if he thinks we are getting married. I will owe you big time. Anything you want, I shall do my best to get it for you,” Sally said.

Caleb was more stuck on the family friend who tried to get Sally to sleep with him in exchange for help. With his status as someone who sleeps around, Caleb realized why she wasn’t so quick to accept his help. Someone else created a mindset for Sally that she would have to use her body in exchange for receiving help.

“Won’t it cost you a lot to build your home?”

“The Duke has offered me a piece of his land to build the house,” Sally replied, already having a solution to help her save money.

“What the hell? You accepted it quickly. Why didn’t you think he wanted to sleep with you too? Never mind,” Caleb changed his mind since this was Edgar he was talking about. He had witnessed many times how Edgar only had eyes for Alessandra and on a few of those times, he felt like Edgar was undressing Alessandra in his head or planning how he would seduce her.

“I will help you,” he agreed to the plan. “Just let me know what day you need me to meet with your parents and I will get a day off from guarding the Duchess. I look forward to having a fake fiance.”

“Thank you,” Sally replied, excited to have her parents leave her aunt’s house. She couldn’t wait to give the woman a piece of her mind. If only they could leave right now to take her parents from there.

“Don’t get so excited yet. Since you owe me big time, I should put you to some use right away. I had a rough day yesterday and my back could use a massage. Be a dear and help me,” he smiled, enjoying how her excitement quickly faded away.