The Forsaken Heiress

EDITED.

"They have taken my heart, and I shall take their mighty name." ~Araneae Ruber

~

LUELLA SIGHED, realizing that she had forgotten about what she had just seen of her sister and fiancé. She pulled her hands from her face as she stared at the man in front of her. 

She wanted to find the right word to say to him. 

'Should I yell at him?' she thought to herself. But she mentally shook the thought from her head. 'He had done nothing but help me'.

She had taken his presence as a helping hand to herself. Luella sighed as she lifted her gaze to him. 

He was tall.

He really was‌ a tall, large man.

"Thank you," She whispered with a soft smile. What she had said satisfied her and him. 

He stepped close to her. "May I hold you?" He asked, and she found herself nodding to his request. 

With no second thought, or second guess, he wrapped his large arm around her soft body. Her head laid on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his back.

Comfort.

She found a weird comfort with this stranger. She didn't want to let him go. It really felt like she knew who he was.

But she didn't know.

Suddenly becoming at alert, he felt her body shake beneath his hold.

Crying.

She was crying. How long had it being since she cried?

The man said nothing as he used his other hands to stroke her head.

"Everything will be alright," He reassured. "Even the strongest hearts can break, but from the cracks, light seeps in. And with time's gentle touch, even the deepest wounds would heal".

Luella smiled within her tears. It seems like her odd stranger was a poetic lover. From the words of the poem, it appears he thinks she is crying from the overwhelming emotions she had bottled up from the cheating betrayal between her sister and fiancé.

But that is not the case, as she cares very little about what she saw. They could be together for all she cares. Instead, she cried because, hugging this strange man, it felt like a complete piece she had being looking for has finally come back to her.

After a few moments of embarrassingly crying on a stranger's chest, she pulled away from him, feeling shy and self-conscious.

Looking away from him, her eyes stayed on his chest. Luella's eyes widened as she saw the patch of stain her tears had cause on his cloak.

"Oh, goodness me! I am truly sorry for this," She whispered apologetically. He watched her squirm around, trying to fix her supposed mistake.

He placed his gloved hands over hers and shook his head, "It is of no fret"

He dug the side of his cloak for a handkerchief, wiped her tears away. 

The man took her hands and folded the handkerchief in hers. 

She finally lifted her eyes at him. "I wish to see your eyes," she said subconsciously. But she immediately caught herself before he could reply.

"I mean, face! I wish to see your face".

"Why?" he said in a playful tone.

"Be-Because I would like to repay you for your kind gesture," She stuttered.

"Oh? A repayment? And here I thought it was because I looked suspicious?"

Luella eyes widened as she realized her minor mistake, "Yes! Yes! Yes! And that too". 

She breathed inwardly, realizing she was just humiliating herself the more.

"What I want, I don't think the Van-Rensselaer dukedom can give it to me"

His statement immediately turned Luella from the shy and humiliated lady she was seconds ago to an attentive business like lady.

"There are very few things the dukedom can't offer. I repeat very few things".

"Yes. I know that… but what I want is not the dukedom," He said, leaning close to her ear.

"What I want is #####" His 

He pulled away from her as she let his words sink into her brain.

"You think the dukedom can't offer me that?" He asked, but she was deep into a dazed state that she couldn't respond to him.

So he continued, "But I am sure that with these escapades between your sister and fiancée, I could get what I want." 

He moved past her, walking away from her presence. Luella immediately whipped her head back at him as she watched his retreating figure disappeared into the shadows of the hallway.

She crumbled to the floor, red in the face, as she blushed profusely. 

"Just who is that man!!" She screeched to nothingness.

.~.

The cloaked man walked toward the room, in which Louisa and Chandler were having their escapades. He made sure to make his footsteps loud to alert them. 

But it seemed to do the opposite, as they were still going at it. This time, they had progressed farther than what Luella had seen.

His hand tightened, hand on the doorknob as he tried to contain his anger. 

'This was the cunt she was supposed to marry?' he cursed inwardly at the man.

Without thinking, he angrily threw the door opened, startling the naked couple. The force he used to throw the door open broke the hinges at the top.

They scurried like rats trying to cover up themselves. Chandler, being the gentleman that he was, stood in front of his love as a shield while he held the quilt over his bulging torso. 

Even with his presence, Chandler was still shamelessly hard. Louisa squirmed behind Chandler, perfectly hiding herself from the cloaked man's gaze.

"State your name!!" Chandler demanded as he tried using the superiority he didn't have.

But the cloaked man only stood at the door and said nothing. This only infuriated Chandler the more, as his question was being ignored by some poorly dressed and suspiciously looking person.

'Who is this man? How dare he ignore me and my question.' Chandler thought to himself.

Clenching his hands with the quilt, Chandler spoke again, "If you have no reason for being here. Leave the same way you came. As you can see, the room is occupied."

"Chandler Havemeyer, aren't you engaged?" The cloaked figure asked. His eyes lingered on him till it moved to Louisa. 

"And is his fiancée, not your sister?" He fired the question at Louisa.

'Does he know Luella? How?' Louisa now wondered. As they were, very few people who knew her sister. And the ones that did, didn't look like some haggard commoner. 

She knew her sister, Luella, only surrounded herself with sophisticated, smart and business-like people, not someone that looked like they snuck into earth.

This man was tall and muscular. Compared to Chandler, he was clearly more physically fit than him. Chandler looked like a stick in comparison.

'And this sort of man knew my sister?'

Chandler flinched at his words. 'Was he going to report to Luella?' He wondered as he began to contemplate on his next move. 

Luella wasn't like Louisa, who would get flustered by a little compliment. She had even turned down a handful of my business ideas, 'saying it's not worth doing OR it would only lead to a loss' She wasn't someone who would even appreciate jewelries or delicious candies. If this cloaked man were to report him to Luella, it would make her more suspicious of him than she already was. 

He had to find a way to prevent that. He just had to. Then a brilliant idea lit in his head. 

It was very simple, very easy. It was something everyone wanted, even commoners, like the stranger who stood in front of him.

Money.

"Name your price. Like you said. I will admit it but, yes, I am engaged to Lady Luella, which means I will be the duke of Van-Rensselaer once we get married. So name your price and I will deliver it."