"I will not be pushed around by you anymore, nor will I ignore your treatment of me. The truth will come out one day, and you will have to face it then. For Iris’s sake, so she doesn’t lose both parents, you should do what is right. Excuse me," Eloise said, bending down to pick up her bag.

Eloise did what she planned with Damein, which was to announce her engagement, speak with Iris, and reveal what happened to her father.

There was no need to stay in her uncle’s home. Even if Agatha allowed her to stay, Eloise wouldn’t have accepted it. They would only try to silence her and marry her off to someone else.

Eloise walked around Agatha and returned to where Damien waited for her.

Damien stood up when he saw Eloise and walked towards her to take the bag. "Are we done here?"

"Yes," Eloise answered.

Damien stared at Eloise for a moment before touching her face. "Who struck you?"

The three words made Agatha panic. She sought support from Clive, but Clive didn’t know what to do.

"Agatha did, but I slapped her in return. You don’t need to step in now," Eloise said, touching Damien’s arm to calm him.

Damien looked away from Eloise to Agatha and examined her face. There was a red mark forming, which meant Eloise had gotten her good.

"I want to leave," Eloise spoke softly, but Damien heard her.

"Very well," Damien said, taking hold of Eloise’s hand to lead her out.

"Lord Hawthorne, Eloise cannot live with you before you are married. You two will cause a scandal. She must stay here," Agatha said, trying to reason with Damien.

Agatha didn’t want Eloise in her home, but she didn’t want Eloise to go with Damien.

Iris hid out of sight to listen to the conversation. She hoped that Eloise would see her actions as wrong and stay behind or end the engagement.

"I know better than to live with a man I am not yet married to. Considering what you did to my father, it is not right for me to live here. I shall find boarding elsewhere," said Eloise.

Agatha wished she could go to Eloise and slap her again. Family matters shouldn’t be spoken of before guests.

"E-Eloise," Clive stuttered, afraid Eloise knew what he had done. "It is not-"

"I heard the two of you speaking about it. How you killed him because he wouldn’t give you the house, and how your wife would help you to hide it. I also heard how you burned his body to hide what you did. That means you harmed him and didn’t want anyone to see the bruises," Eloise said, staring at Clive.

"Look at me, uncle. Don’t look away from the face of the daughter whose father you killed. Not only did you kill my father, but you killed your little brother. All for a home which I would have handed you in the end had you asked, because what I cared about was my father. I pray he haunts you," Eloise said.

Clive couldn’t bear to look at Eloise.

Guilt flooded Clive’s mind as he thought of what Eloise felt when she overheard them. He was going to take care of her so she wouldn’t be left with nothing. He was going to make up for his actions by marrying her off, but he didn’t get the chance to since Eloise was leaving.

"I," Clive started to speak up.

"You must stop with the accusations. I don’t know what you speak of when you say you overheard us. Why weren’t you where we left you at the ball? Why can’t you see your mistakes?" Agatha inquired, stepping in to save Clive.

"How could sneaking off at a ball to see her ill father be the same as killing your brother to use his home to cover your debts? I worry about how you have raised your children. To be fair, we shall leave this in the hands of the court," Damien said.

Clive finally looked in Eloise’s direction. He feared the matter going to court, though he had changed Thomas’s will, and the body was burned. Since Eloise now had Damien’s support, there was a chance for her to tip the scales.

Then, Clive would have killed his brother for nothing.

"Fine. Go to the court, but you will regret doing so. When you realise that you were wrong to accuse us, I hope you do not come running back to us. When you are abandoned, and I know that you will be, you will not be welcomed here," said Agatha.

Damien smiled since it was unlikely Eloise would be abandoned. It wouldn’t be long before this family would try clinging to Eloise to save themselves, and when it started, Damien would enjoy every bit of it.

"The carriage is waiting for us," Damien informed Eloise.

"I am ready," Eloise replied.

It infuriated Agatha that they could do nothing but allow Eloise to leave with Damien.

’She will not know peace,’ Agatha thought, planning to spoil the engagement.

A lady who stole the man her cousin wanted to marry could never know peace in this town, and Agatha would make sure of it.

Eloise followed Damien out the door and toward the carriage. Her bag was handed off to Damien’s guard while Damien held the door open for her. Eloise entered the carriage, followed closely by Damien, who shut the door so the carriage could start moving.

"I am surprised you only had one bag," Damien commented.

"I took what was important, but I didn’t have many of my belongings there from the start because I didn’t want to take up too much space. Are we going to the court now?" Eloise asked, wanting to act fast to expose the truth. "Iris didn’t believe me, and I expected her not to."

"Because you stole me from her? Someone should have informed me that I belonged to her. I feel hurt to not have been told," said Damien.

Eloise sighed. "I understand that she didn’t own you, but there is a line which shouldn’t be crossed amongst ladies who care for each other. I hope that once her anger about you calms down and the truth about my father is revealed, we can move forward."

"I fear it might take your cousin a while to warm up to you, even after your father’s cause of death is revealed."

Eloise frowned, confused as to why Damien spoke so confidently as though he noticed something she did not. "Why do you say so? Is it because I will have her father arrested?"

"No, because it is not easy to simply move on from me," Damien explained.

Eloise scoffed. "I forgot this is how you could be. I am certain Iris will move on from you in due time. There are other men in town."

"But you would have to agree that none are like me. In this one lifetime, you will be marrying me twice," Damien pointed out.

"A marriage between children does not count," Eloise replied, wishing Damien would forget the past.