Once Upon a Temptingly Ruinous Kiss - Bree Wolf Page 0,62

were the one to find her, were you not?”

His hands tightened upon her wrists, and he nodded.

“Why?” Especially after what had happened to her, Leonora could imagine countless reasons for why a woman might do such a thing, for why anyone might do such a thing. Indeed, the world could be a truly ugly place, a place one could not endure on one’s own. Was that what he was blaming himself for? For leaving her alone?

After a long while, Drake all but bowed his head; although, the anger in his eyes remained. “My father had always been an unfeeling man,” he finally gritted out, every fiber of his being clenched in anger and pain that Leonora feared her wrists might snap in two. “That was no secret. My parents rarely spent time in each other’s company. Few spouses do, don’t they? It is the norm, and so, I never thought about it much.” A low growl rose from his throat. “I should have though. I should have.”

Imagining such a fate, locked in a marriage to a dangerous man, Leonora felt a familiar tremor snake down her back. It felt cold and paralyzing, overwhelming and deeply crippling.

With his hands still wrapped around her wrists, Drake suddenly stilled, his eyes going wide before he looked down to where her hands remained locked in his. Shock claimed his features, and he released her so abruptly that Leonora stumbled a step backwards. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled under his breath, regretful eyes turning to her. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” He lifted his hands and moved backwards until the window cut off his retreat.

“Tell me what happened,” Leonora urged him, not wanting him to retreat because of something that he imagined. He had not hurt her, not truly, and she was more than willing to help him through this anyway she could. “What did he do to her? How did you find out?”

“At first, I didn’t know,” he replied in a distant voice, a faraway and pained look coming to his eyes. “I found her, and I could not believe what I was seeing. It didn’t make any sense.” Leonora knew that feeling. She knew it well. “It was only days later that I all but stumbled upon her diary. I remember staring at it for hours, undecided about what to do.” His eyes closed, and he leaned his head back against the window. “Eventually, I broke down and read it.”

Leonora felt her hands begin to tremble, and she knew that she needed someone to hold onto as much as he did. And so, she moved toward him once more, her hands coming to rest upon his chest as she looked up into his eyes. “He hurt her?”

Meeting her gaze, Drake nodded. “He did, and he had for years. Yet, she was trapped with him with no way out.” In that moment, something deeply gentle came to his eyes, and he lifted a hand, tentatively reaching out to her.

Leonora held her breath until she found the tips of his fingers brushed against her cheek. He trailed them back and brushed a curl behind her ear. It was such a tender caress that Leonora felt tears prick the backs of her eyes.

“I didn’t know,” Drake continued, his gaze never leaving hers. “I should have, but I never looked beyond the surface. I never looked beyond her smile, never recognized it as a cover for what lay underneath. I saw her injured once or twice, but she always had a ready explanation. I should not have believed her.”

Leonora felt a tear run down her cheek, remembering how she too had assured her family, her loved ones that she was fine, that nothing was wrong. It was a way of protecting oneself and others as well. Drake’s mother had to have known that she had no power over her own life, that not even her son could have helped her, and she had not wanted to burden him. Somehow, Leonora knew that to be true. “You couldn’t have known,” she finally said, her gaze fixed upon his, urging him to believe her, “because she did not want you to know.”

A deep frown came to his face, and he let his hand fall. “But I—”

“You said it yourself,” Leonora interrupted him before he could dig himself any deeper into this hole in the ground, “people often do not see what is right in front of them, not because they choose not to see it, but because they