Chapter 302: Breaking away [3]
Reece walked out of the room with each step echoing the weight of his decision. He longed to leave it all behind, yet Agatha followed closely, her presence clinging to him like a shadow he could not shake.
Agatha’s hand shot out, grabbing his hand to pull him back towards her. "I am not done speaking to you," she said, demanding he stay a moment longer.
Agatha wouldn’t be well unless Reece helped her. She needed money to survive, but she didn’t have much. She couldn’t afford her room for much longer.
"But I am finished speaking to you," he replied, prying her hand from his arm with force. "Forget that you have children and think only about yourself. You’re good at it."
Agatha smiled, but it was one filled with bitterness. "I didn’t go through all the trouble of sending for you just for you to walk away from me. Until I say so, I am still your mother. I was not finished speaking to you. I need more money from you."
Reece’s patience was long gone. "There isn’t any more money. It keeps slipping your mind that there is a home to repair, all because you set fire to it."
Agatha didn’t think the blame should be cast onto her. "I didn’t have a choice but to set it on fire. You don’t have the faintest idea what your precious cousin Eloise did. She sent a countess to take our home from our hands. All along, Eloise knew a countess but didn’t speak of her."
Agatha still burned with hatred after knowing that Eloise had someone with status at her side, then married a lord. Why couldn’t it have been Iris who attracted such people to her side?
Why wasn’t life fair to Iris?
Reece’s lips twisted into a grim smile. "If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t have spoken a word of it to you. It would have been another reason for you to be jealous and make Iris compete with her. Though you tried hard, you could never stop the love others had for Eloise."
Reece approached Agatha and said, "You didn’t expect anyone to have faith in a young girl who lost her mother, but they did. You hated that your daughter, who had everything Eloise didn’t, was seen as equal to her."
Agatha shook her head. "It is not so. There is plenty you didn’t see about her, and she proved it when she married Damien."
Reece rubbed his temple. "I can’t, for the life of me, understand why you were so concerned about Eloise when I never heard her speak of wanting to marry. She was focused on her father in all the letters she sent to me."
Agatha stiffened as she was surprised by this news. "Why did she send letters to you? Did she know all along that you were married with a child? It is just like her to be so sneaky, keeping secrets from me."
Reece sighed, his shoulders sagging under the weight of her accusations. "Eloise didn’t know about my marriage since I didn’t tell anyone until I returned. I’m the wrong one. I’m the one you should be upset with, so why turn to her?"
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "As I said, I see that you are well enough, so I don’t need to worry about you. I don’t have any money to offer, so don’t ask for it. Iris doesn’t have money either."
Agatha ignored Reece and continued with her plans. "Your father left me with a mess. I didn’t want to destroy my home, but I cannot settle the debts alone and would not allow that woman to take it from me. If I am left with nothing, then I shall take from others. I will destroy her father’s home."
Reece’s eyes widened, horror flashing across his face. He grabbed her shoulders, searching her gaze for any sign of reason. "Why would you do such a thing? You must not know that the very man your husband killed thought of his niece and left belongings to Iris. All you ever have to offer is trouble."
Agatha hated that this secret came so late. "He didn’t speak a word of leaving anything to Iris. He knew your father was in debt, yet he never offered to help us. All he did was send his daughter to us without money to feed her, without money to thank us."
Reece’s stomach churned at her words. He couldn’t take any more of her twisted logic. His chest burned with anger. His only response now was to walk away.
Agatha followed, her hand reaching for his arm again. "What did he leave you?" she demanded. "You must tell me now."
Reece stopped walking, his body tense. "If you wish to know, go to the court. They have a better understanding of it. But I suggest you don’t, because of what Father did, and because of how I’ve heard you acted."
Reece knew he had already said too much. Mentioning Iris in the will was a mistake, one that could bring trouble upon her. His goal was to protect her, not expose her to Agatha’s schemes.
Agatha gave up, her hand dropping to her side. She gave up trying to follow him, realising he was only making a fool of her. She stood alone in the corridor, watching as he walked off without her.
Though she hated how her children refused to follow her lead, there was a pain that poked at her chest. She felt lonely without them.
’Why can’t they see I want the best for them?’ Agatha thought, her eyes filling with water. ’I can’t leave them. I won’t.’
Agatha’s bags were packed, resting by the bed, ready for her to leave town. Yet her thoughts lingered on Iris. She couldn’t bring herself to go, not while her daughter remained out there, beyond her reach.
Since Reece had abandoned her again, all Agatha could do was return to her room and be alone, as this seemed to be what her life would be for now.