Matteo frowned. He didn’t like the idea of Alia hanging out with Aiden in any capacity, let alone under false pretenses. Alia saw his reluctance and changed her line of questioning.
"If I don’t et Aiden, is it possible for you to see if Catherine had her blood drawn instead?" Alia asked. "Surely Aiden must have left a mark sowhere. He’s not a trained nurse."
"Not unless Aiden screwed up so much that he drew it from her eyeball," Matteo confessed frankly. "If he was so bad at it, I highly doubt my stepmom would have taken it lying down."
"Maybe she couldn’t feel anything," Alia said. She and Matteo exchanged faint glances of horror. Hopefully, Aiden did not do sothing as horrific as drug his own mother to extract her blood.
Unfortunately, it did not bode well for Aiden that Alia couldn’t even find the strength to defend him from the accusatory thoughts in her head. He had already done so much harm, what was one more minor offense in a laundry list of cris?
"Darn," Alia cursed softly. She was beginning to feel tired, and she tucked her mother’s diary and all her letters into her purse. There would be more ti later to dig through it.
"Do you want to tell your grandpa about this?"
"We have no concrete proof yet, and he just fell asleep," Alia said. "Maybe next ti."
"Fair enough, let’s go back now," Matteo said. "You need your rest. Is there anything else you wish to take from your mother’s room?"
Alia shook her head, but just in case, Matteo began to scour the room with a fine-tooth comb, trying to search for anything they might have missed the first ti around. Alia wanted to help, but Matteo made her lie on her mother’s bed to rest while he held out random items for Alia to judge, as though she was a queen and he the loyal henchman.
"Your Majesty, what do you think of this piece?" Matteo cleared his throat, pretending to be a dieval salesman. "It looks like a bracelet with... red beads on it. The clasp looks like it’s one knock away from disintegrating, but the jewels are... shiny."
He paused awkwardly. He had no flair for describing jewelry and trinkets.
"Hand it over," Alia said imperiously, and she tucked it into her bag. Truthfully, it wasn’t anything special, but Alia felt like she was collecting the lost vestiges of her mother’s girlhood. Did she buy this on impulse? Did soone give it to her?
It would have been so nice to see her mother again to get the answers to these questions, Alia thought sadly to herself. Then her eyes roved over Matteo, who was now checking the cupboards with a pursed lip, an expression of grave seriousness on his face.
Matteo’s deceased mother didn’t even have a room like this for him to explore. The realization made her heart ache, yet Matteo was still standing resolutely as he held up two different skirts, wanting nothing more than to help her.
"Do you want to keep any of these?" Matteo asked.
"No need," Alia said as she sat up and reached for him. "I want to keep you instead."
Matteo blinked in surprise before he unceremoniously dropped the two skirts on the floor and leaned forward to embrace Alia, pressing soft kisses all over her face. The ticklish sensation made her giggle, and their close proximity caused butterflies to flutter in her belly.
"You already have ," Matteo said simply. "And now that the world knows the truth, I cannot wait to marry you again."
Alia bead and flung her arms around his neck, returning his fervent kisses. Under the twinkling of the fairy lights, Matteo and Alia’s kisses grew more heated, and their hands began to roam all over each other.
Things would have proceeded further, but then Alia realized where they were and reluctantly pushed Matteo away.
"We can’t be doing this in my mother’s childhood bedroom," Alia said regrettably. She already felt guilty enough when she and Matteo defiled Isaac’s guest room.
Matteo licked his lips, his eyes still dark with want as he gazed down at Alia’s breathless face, the red flush on her cheeks along with her swollen lips. The bed was perfectly lovely, but the thought of Elaine Hawthorne’s spirit possibly watching over them made his blood freeze.
"...You’re right," Matteo nodded somberly. "Let’s continue this at ho."
***
"Mom, are you serious about letting Emline live in the mansion?" Aiden asked, his eyebrow twitching as he sat down with his parents.
At such a late hour, they should have already gone to bed, but recent revelations had made it impossible for them to get a peaceful rest.
Emline Hawthorne’s baby wasn’t Matteo’s! This was the equivalent of getting struck by lightning multiple tis over!
When Charles Montgory heard the news, he nearly collapsed in shock. He wanted nothing more than to haul Emline and her mother right in front of him for a proper explanation, but Catherine hastily reminded him that Emline was still under observation in the hospital.
"I want her out of this house imdiately!" Charles Montgory bellowed, his face a ruddy red.
He had consud an entire glass of whiskey the mont he was inford of the news. There were a few things Charles hated more than being made a fool of, and Emline’s lie had hit him hard.
Part of him was genuinely pleased that a woman as accomplished as Emline, of incomparable breeding, would join his family in marriage and strengthen it. He liked the thought of her being the mother of his future grandchild.
But now it turns out that the entire family had been cuckolded! Who knew who she was spreading her legs for― to think that she had the audacity to live under their roof and take advantage of their hospitality, while a stranger’s baby grew in her body.
Did she think the Montgory household was a charity for holess won?
"No, you can’t throw her out!" Catherine protested, much to the surprise of both n. They stared at her, stunned at her uncharacteristic behavior.
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