"No need. Louisa's the type of woman who crawled out of some backwater nowhere. If she ever found out there was money, she'd get greedy—start bleeding me dry, funneling cash back to her family."
"The only reason I picked her in the first place was because she had experience with kids, no connections, no background. Easy to manage. And she wouldn't mistreat Felix."
"As long as Louisa stays in line and raises Felix to adulthood, I'll consider giving her some kind of settlement."
"As for Audrey—I made a promise to her sister that I'd take care of her. I can't let her suffer. Besides, spending money on Audrey keeps it in the family."
Edmund and I had met by accident.
That year, my father and stepmother had tracked me down, trying to drag me back to the countryside to marry me off. They wanted to use the dowry to build a house for my younger brother.
The groom they'd picked was a man pushing sixty.
I fought with everything I had. In my darkest moment of desperation, Edmund happened to pass by and saved me.
He'd put himself between me and them, staring coldly at my father and stepmother as they writhed on the ground.
"She's a person. Not a tool for satisfying your selfish desires."