LOGINAngelina, her eyes still teary, took a step toward him.“I saw the way you looked at her, with a tenderness you never showed me. Your smile always widened when she appeared, and I wondered how that was possible. I was courted by many men, and I chose you, but you never truly chose me. You never truly loved me. You loved an orphan, a poor wretch.”“My heart has always belonged to Meg, since childhood,” he confessed. “But I would have been faithful to our marriage until death.”Angelina’s rage exploded. She threw a vase onto the floor, shattering it.“We are married! Until death do us part,” she screamed desperately.“The fake doctor was arrested. He gave a statement and named all the names. If you think I’m bluffing, go to the police station and confirm.”“But I didn’t do anything. It was William who did everything. He hired the men to kidnap Meg. He got the baby. I didn’t do anything.”“We will tell everyone that you died in childbirth and that our son survived. You will leave on the
James knew it was wrong to disrespect Angelina’s mother, a respectable lady of society. However, at that moment, the rules of etiquette seemed irrelevant. He ran his hands through his hair several times, as if trying to calm himself before continuing.“Did you know that the women who enter there never come out?”“And how would I know?” his wife asked.“Because that was the reason you and William put Meg there. So that she would never leave. So that she would die inside.”Angelina’s thoughts spun at an incalculable speed. All her cunning and intelligence abandoned her at that moment, and all she could do was mumble meaningless words.“I...”“You asked Meg to fetch your dress. You could have asked any servant, but you chose her.” James crossed his arms, staring fixedly at Angelina, his gaze intense. “It was you who called the rental car, but that day there was no request to our address. None.”He paused, taking a deep breath, as if trying to control the frustration growing inside him.“
James collapsed onto the sofa with a heavy thud, his usual composure disintegrating like wet paper. His head fell back, revealing a rare vulnerability that contrasted violently with the image of the polished gentleman everyone knew. After a few moments of near immobility, he recomposed himself in a quick movement, his spine erect again and his sharp gaze fixed on his wife - a predator merely feigning weakness.“These days have left me with too much time for reflection.”His fingers drummed on the arm of the armchair, an irregular rhythm.“I went personally to the pharmacy. Something unusual for me,” he pronounced, each word spoken slowly. “The pain was so great that I could not wait for one servant. The pharmacist, a curious man, asked questions. Many questions.”“Ava always takes care of these...” she began, her voice a barely perceptible thread.“I always slept deeply,” he said, his voice oscillating between incredulity and contempt. “Like a stone, they would say. Until that night.”
It was already night when they arrived at the mansion with a newborn son in their arms and a few lies to tell. Despite the commotion of their arrival, none of the staff came to greet them, not even Ava, the oldest servant, appeared in the room.Angelina shook the dust from her clothes, looking around. Everything was quiet and disturbing, only a few candelabras were lit.“Where is everyone?”Her mother, a high-society lady who valued the subservience of the household staff, frowned.“This is unacceptable.”They remained still until they convinced themselves that no one would help them with the luggage.“Something must have happened,” Angelina tried to justify, although unease grew in her chest.Silence prevailed until James appeared at the top of the staircase; he was especially handsome, wearing a black tailcoat of matte silk. He descended without any haste, each step creaking under his slow footsteps. There was a sinister aura around him, something in the intensity of his gaze that i
The persistent fog covering the fields around the country residence seemed to mirror Angelina’s state of mind. More than fifteen days had passed since her arrival at that bucolic refuge, and longing for London was becoming an increasingly oppressive presence. The days dragged on in a torturous mixture of boredom and anxiety that consumed her from within, undermining her strength.On the other side of the room, the wet nurse rocked a small bundle that would not stop whimpering. The woman, with deep dark circles marking her exhausted face, struggled in vain to calm the child. Angelina watched the scene with a mixture of poorly disguised revulsion and impatience.“You need to at least pretend some happiness, my daughter,” her mother whispered, approaching with silent steps. “Walls have ears, even here.”“How can I pretend anything when I haven’t slept in five nights?” retorted Angelina, running her fingers nervously through her disheveled hair. “This incessant crying is driving me crazy.
The guards and nurses tried to control the inmates.“Lock them all in solitary confinement!” the mother superior shouted.When Sophia managed to lift her head, the image she saw was of the patients eating all the food like a small anthill around a grain of sugar, and the staff using extreme violence to restrain them.She knew it was only a matter of time until they were all subdued. They were greater, but they were hungry, malnourished women against trained, well-fed men. Soon they would be locked in their cells, without food, without water, and without dignity.Then she looked at the lit fireplace. The flames warmed and illuminated the place; she grabbed a torch and ran to the curtains, setting them on fire.“Run outside!” Sophia shouted, throwing the torch onto some books on the bookshelf.“Put out the fire!”The Mother and some employees tried to extinguish the flames, which spread faster than they could put them out. In a few minutes, the entire office was ablaze in a huge incande






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