Chapter 4: Leaving the once loved family

Roxanne muttered the name silently.

She hoped she could calm down. She felt oddly drawn to that name and she felt satisfied with the outcome of the situation. It made her lips curve into a smile and she turned to leave.

Again she was suddenly grabbed and she felt her hand being roughly pulled. She felt so scared, thinking that it was one of those who had earlier held her captive. She turned to see who it was and she was momentarily relieved to see it was nobody else but Lord Alex.

Realization dawned on her and her heart palpitated.

She looked down, feeling scared, but for a totally different reason now. She wondered what Lord Alex would do to her now. How did he even find her in the first place? 

"My lord, I...I can explain" 

Lord Alex stopped dragging her and he turned to look at her. His golden-flecked eyes always managed to catch her by surprise and it was the most commanding part of him. Those eyes were glaring at her now.

"What can you possibly explain, Roxanne? You have messed everything up, and you have managed to tarnish my reputation in the process..." 

The older man trailed off at that and he sighed. He let go of her hand.

He was angry, Roxanne couldn't bring herself to look at him. She had been expecting this, but she was not expecting it this soon, she thought it might happen, but not this soon. 

Lord Alex was somone she would forever be grateful to. He had taken her in as his. Roxannne's mother had gotten pregnant for her father while he was a fugitive. She carried Roxanne in her womb while her lover went on the run from the authorities. When Roxanne was born, it was quite obvious whose daughter she was. Her hair color proved more than enough. Her mother was cast out of the town and while they were moving from town to town, she got pregnant with Roxanne's sister. For some reason, their mother abandoned them and fled with a new lover of hers, a duke.

Lord Alex took her off the streets when she was on the brink of death. Some men had violated her and somehow her six-year-old sister had been kidnapped. Roxanne was only ten then and even now that she was eighteen, she knew she would have died if not for Lord Alex.

She knew very well that he had always been a good person to her, she felt like she had broken his trust with her recent actions. It made her heartbroken.

She wished things didn't turn out the way they did. She would have been long gone by now if not for that.

"I'm sorry my Lord, I didn't mean to lie to you. I just wanted to find my sister."

Roxanne felt no shame begging Lord Alex. She knew fully well that Lord Alex had always been there for her, especially when no one was, he was there to help her overcome all her fears. She gulped at the slight thought of him leaving her in the streets, where men could easily take advantage of her and bandits could easily destroy her.

She hated feeling this helpless, but she didn't have any other choice but to accept the harsh reality. With a pained heart, she allowed the hot tears that freely paved their way down her cheeks to flow. She needed him to forgive her.

 "I'm sorry Lord Alex. The only thing I can say is that I appreciate your efforts, the way you have always taken care of me when no one would is something i'll always be grateful for. I don't want to taint your image any further, you've been more than a blessing to me, and I can't ruin what you have spent so many years building, so I'll leave."

The words broke her heart as she said them, before she turned to leave, she noticed how he released his earlier clenched fist, his gaze had softened.

"Wait"

He actually stopped her from leaving.

Roxanne felt hope, she turned towards him with the belief that he would accept her back because if the truth was being told, she didn't even know where to turn to or who to run to.

Lord Alex looked like he was doing the hardest thing he had ever done.

"I'm sorry to let you go..." He pursed his lips and he removed a pouch of coins from his pocket. He handed them to her.

"I can't risk my reputation," he continued.

Roxanne felt hurt by his words, but she understood his intentions, she knew he had already helped her more than she could ever ask for, so the only option left was to take the money and leave. To go far from this place.

She wondered where she would go.

She was certain that she had traveled a great deal from her last village to this hell hole of a town. What was Lord Alex doing here anyways?

She wondered where she would go to that no one would recognize her as a traitor's daughter. Maybe she would start from where her sister had been abducted. It was the town Lord Alex found her in.

"Thank you very much for your help, Lord Alex, and for all your care. I'll be leaving now."

 Roxanne wanted to cry but she had to withhold her tears. She used the opportunity to hug him tightly, feeling so many emotions churning within her.

She let go of him and then she turned to leave towards the less dense part of the forest. She would find a way out, she didn't trust that she wouldn't be killed if she stepped foot in the village again.

Lord Alex was silent for a while. He couldn't bring himself to utter a single word.

He was overwhelmed by emotions and he felt the need to go back to Roxanne and stop her from leaving. He knew very well that Roxanne had tried her best to see that he became better and that his business flourished. He knew that her leaving was wrong, at least not this way and in this manner, but yet if she was to live with him, it would only cause the downfall of all his various businesses, because no one would buy from him. He had too much to lose for him to be sentimental. 

With a sigh, he turned to leave, only to hear the voice of Annabelle, his daughter. He noticed she was sobbing. Lord Alex immediately went to her and engulfed her in a tight hug, making her sob even louder. He hated this feeling.

He was selfish in thinking about him and his family.  But how would his family cope without anything to sustain them? That was what would happen if he let Roxanne back in.

"How could you have just let her go, dad? You know she has been more than a friend, she's family. Her marketing ideas managed to grow your business and you let her go, just like that dad, you know what you did is not fair. It's not", Annabelle cried.

She was almost yelling at her father. She felt enraged by the sudden emotional pain. How could he just let her go? Lord Alex clenched his hand into a tight fist in hopes of suppressing the guilt he was feeling, but he couldn't help it.

He was sad about the turn of events.

He remembered the times they had spent together and how he treated her as even more than a daughter.

But she wouldn't stop looking for her sister and he couldn't endanger his family because of that.

Roxanne didn't need to search much to find the house Lord Alex lived in. He always had his green and gold carriage parked in the yard.

She drew in a deep breath before she walked towards the door and she slid inside the room that she once shared with Annabelle when they came to this town.

She already knew that since Lord Alex was here, he would be staying at his small house in this town. The Lord had a lot of thriving businesses. She also knew that Annabelle would have probably carried both their bags on her way here.

Annabelle had to be the sweetest person alive. She had encouraged Roxanne to go look for her sister. They had known this would happen.

 Roxanne knew it was not the time to be emotional, it was the time to leave, so with trembling hands, she searched for her bag and when she saw it, she picked it up. 

She was about to leave, only to see Annabelle standing beside the door. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

 "Please don't go." she cried. Tears slid out of Roxanne's eyes in full force and she embraced Annabelle in a hug.

"I have to, I'm the traitor's daughter. You won't be safe if i'm around." 

Roxanne tried to swallow the lump in her throat but it was hard.

 "No, you are not."

Lord Alex's voice cut Roxanne's next words off and she looked at the older man to see him smiling softly at them.