Raphael
I sat in my study and contemplated the bottle in front of me filled with amber liquid in it. A tiny part of me wanted to reach out, circle my fingers around the bottle and empty it as fast as I could so the pain would stop. But there was another part, a strong one which wouldn’t let me. And that strong part sounded like my duchess, telling me in a soft whisper that I was better than that.
I wasn’t. How could I be? I hurt her.
But what choice did I have? It was the best thing I could do for her. Victoria was only a small nudge, the problem was me. I was not meant for her.
It was an opportunity, a pure luck that somehow she had ended up with me. If it wasn’t for me pretending to be Gabe, I’d never have come to know her. If Gabe had been there in New Orleans, that fateful night wh
