Josephine suffered a lot of mixed emotions during the days that followed her eldest daughter’s visit to the family home. Of course, she was pleased for Beatrice, she felt glad that things had worked out much better than expected with her husband, but she still could not shake off the sensation that she had let Annabelle down. That tainted her happiness, she could not shake it off however hard she tried.

When she reassured Annabelle that Otto would not pick a husband for her anytime soon, and particularly not one with a bad reputation, she had meant it. She certainly did not think anything would happen behind her back with Lord Ashdown. To find out that he had agreed for their child to spend time with a man that was known to be a brute shocked Josephine to the core. She did not know what to do about it.

She did not take the news lying down, Josephine told Otto what she had heard and she suggested that they wait until Annabelle was older and more mature, but he stubbornly dug his heels in the ground and said he knew what was best.

She knew that her husband would not do anything to taint the family reputation, which admittedly made Josephine question the validity of the rumours, but still she knew that this was not what Annabelle wanted.

She had promised to help her daughter and she had failed.

As Josephine watched Annabelle shift awkwardly in her seat, refusing to make eye contact with Watson as they sat down to an extremely uncomfortable meal, the sense of failure utterly crushed her. She hoped that her husband would sense the discomfort and he would put an end to it before the wedding plans got too far, but as Otto’s expression had been nothing but happy, she did not hold out any hope.

“It is wonderful to see you again,” Otto declared loudly and happily. He looked so pleased with himself, it was almost unbearable to the women at the table. “It is good of you to join us for a meal, Lord Ashdown.”

“Oh, please, call me Watson.” He gave Annabelle’s father a charming looking grin, reminding Annabelle of the first night they met. Only she was not silly enough to fall for it, she was not sure that she could say the same for her father. “And thank you very much for inviting me.”

As he did his best to win over Otto, Annabelle risked a small glance at Lord Ashdown. She did not want to meet his eyes, she could not bear the idea of him looking back at her, so this was the only time she dared to really see him.

If she thought about it without her own emotions attached, she could see why her father would assume that Watson was a good match for her. He had good looks on his side, with dark hair swept to one side and brown eyes that managed to convey a warmth that Annabelle did not believe was really there, and he had youth too. Unlike Mr. Urwin, his age was far more matched to Annabelle’s, which her father probably saw as an advantage. He also spoke in a very manipulative way, charming Otto instantly. To Annabelle, every word he spoke seemed crafted perfectly, it was almost as if he knew how to work people very well.

He certainly was not saying any of the inappropriate comments that he had made to Annabelle at the party. They must have been saved just for her.

“You have a lovely home, Mrs. Hathaway,” he said, turning his attention to Josephine. “It truly is wonderful here.” Watson’s eyes drifted towards the window. “It is almost like you are not in the city at all. You truly have the best of both worlds.”

“Luckily we are in the city,” Otto jumped in, eager to keep Watson’s focus on him. “Or I would not be able to conduct my business so easily. Can you imagine what it must be like, living in the countryside?"

“Oh I know,” he chuckled. “It must be awful. I do not know how they do it.”

Annabelle’s lips pouted out, it did not sound too awful to her. Anything to escape the stifling situation she was currently in. She would have chosen a life in the countryside over this any day of the week.

“So, you must tell me more about what it is like, working with Abraham Urwin...”

As the conversation turned to work, Annabelle tuned out and lost herself in the depths of her imagination instead. She pushed the food around on her plate without eating much of it as she thought about anything and everything apart from what was actually happening around her. Her appetite had long gone the moment this dinner had been planned. The only reason she had agreed to attend was to prove to her father that this was a marriage that would never happen, but she was starting to fear that might have been a mistake.

Lord Ashdown was too charming, she needed to find a way to beat him.

“What do you think about it, Annabelle?” her father’s strict tone brought her back out from her thoughts and into the present moment. His flaming, angry eyes showed her that she was embarrassing him by drifting off into her own world. That was not what she wanted, she needed her father on her side. “It is wonderful, everything that Watson has achieved.”

“Oh, right... yes it is.”

Without even meaning to, Annabelle’s eyes were drawn to Watson’s. He gave her a bright, happy looking smile, there was not anything to suggest that he was a brutish man with loose morals to anyone else, but Annabelle knew differently. His comments would never leave her, that was the true him she felt sure of it. Again, the sensation that there was something terribly unpleasant about him circled her heart. Her instincts screamed loudly at her, forcing her to listen.

“Thank you, Miss Hathaway, it is very kind of you to say so.”

A thick silence clung to the air, Annabelle knew that it was up to her to break it, but she could not find the words, however hard she racked her brain. There was not even anything she could say just to keep her father happy.

"Right," Josephine announced coldly while pushing her chair back. She could not stand it any longer, she needed to put an end to this. She had to do something to help Annabelle out. “Well, this has been lovely, thank you so much for coming to dinner, Watson...”

“He is not going yet,” Otto chuckled, clearly bowled over by Lord Ashdown’s fake charm. “I am going to take him to have a brandy with me in the drawing room.”

A sickness swirled in Annabelle’s stomach as she let those words sink in. It seemed that her father liked Watson so much that he might not even listen to her opinion of him. She may be forced to marry him whatever she thought.

“But I am sure you have places to be, Lord Ashdown...” Annabelle jumped in, desperately needing him to leave her house. If he went into the drawing room with her father, she might never regain control. He would hold all of it in his hands, and she could not stand that.

“Oh no, it would be an honour to join you for a drink, thank you, Sir.” Watson gave Annabelle a knowing stare, proving that he knew exactly what he was doing. He understood the game, and he knew that he was winning. “Annabelle, it has been a pleasure, maybe I shall see you later on.”

No, do not do this! Annabelle pleaded desperately inside her mind. Please, someone, stop this...

But of course no one would. No one could. The men left to head to the drawing room, leaving Annabelle deflated and hopeless.

Seeing Annabelle’s sorrowful expression, Josephine parted her lips to speak, but nothing came out of her mouth. There were so many things that she wanted to say to her daughter, so many ways in which she wished to apologize, but she did not know where to start. It was hard for Josephine to admit that she had failed, especially when it was the first time that she had been asked for help in years.

Annabelle glanced at her mother, but she did not say anything either. As far as she was concerned, she was in this mess alone. There was not anyone who could get her out of it.

Annabelle leapt up from the table and she walked briskly to her bedroom. She wanted to hide, she needed to escape until Watson was gone, she did not want to see him again.

Of course, she was not about to get that lucky. Less than an hour later, the butler found her hiding place, and he said the words that would drag her unwillingly from it.

“Your father wishes you to come back to spend time with Lord Ashdown,” he told her in his monotone voice. “They are still in the drawing room.”

Annabelle had never been invited into the drawing room in her life, and to be perfectly honest she had not ever wanted to go. She saw it as a room where men discussed business, and that was dull. She would much prefer to be with her friends, discussing the things that mattered to her.

This time she wanted to go even less than usual. Her fists clenched by her side while she tried to think of an excuse not to obey her father’s wishes, but nothing good enough came to her. There was no escaping this.

“Right, I shall come now,” she said wearily. “Please tell my father that I shall be there in a moment.”

The butler did not move, he ignored Annabelle’s request. “I must wait for you, I have been asked to escort you to the drawing room.”

“Of course you have.” Annabelle tapped her foot on the ground, letting out some of her frustration in the mildest way possible. “I suppose there is no point in waiting then. Let us go, shall we?”

Every step that Annabelle took filled her heart with increasing dread. Now that the men had been drinking and the atmosphere was more relaxed, there was no telling what would be discussed. Maybe the wedding plans would be progressed, which was the opposite to what she needed. She wanted to speak with her father alone to try again to prevent this from happening, she did not want to be abandoned by plans already being made.

However, when Annabelle arrived in the drawing room, she was surprised to see only one set of eyes looking back at her. And not the eyes she wanted.

“Where is my father?” she asked curtly, not at all enjoying the idea of spending time alone with Watson. “He called me here to meet with him.”

“He is in the kitchen, getting some more drinks for us,” Watson answered with a lopsided grin. “I am pleased to get some alone time with you.”

He sidled closer to Annabelle and she felt her whole body stiffen with panic. Her eyes flickered behind her but the butler was no longer anywhere to be seen. He had deserted her just when she actually wanted him there. It was almost as if the entire world was against her.

“We had such a lovely evening at your sister’s wedding, did we not?”

“Erm, oh yes, we did.” Annabelle tried to be calm with Watson, she did not want to seem like she was being irrational, when her father entered the room again. “It was a very nice night overall.”

Watson casually placed his hand on her hip, which caused Annabelle’s legs to freeze up as if they were frozen in ice. He was not supposed to touch her like that, there was nothing right about it. Why did he not seem to care about that? And why could she not move? It was almost as if she was completely frozen in time.

“And I presume that you are very happy to hear the news that we are to be wed?” Annabelle could not answer him, there was such a massive ball in her throat that she could hardly even breathe. “I, personally, am incredibly excited to have you as my wife. I am particularly looking forward to our wedding night. After the dance I promised you, of course. That will be a joyful moment.”

The lewd comment caused a boiling hot sickness to swirl in Annabelle’s stomach. Watson was not a gentleman at all, yet he had her father completely fooled. If he could see him trying to ruin his daughter’s reputation now, maybe her father’s opinion would change. The ease that he spoke those very scary words also made it obvious to Annabelle that this was not an area of life to which he was a stranger.

To Annabelle, it was acutely obvious that he did spend a lot of time with courtesans. She hated that. It made her feel ill.

“I... I...” she stammered in a panic, praying internally that something would save her. “I...”

“You, you, what?” Watson laughed nastily at her. Annabelle got the distinct impression that he actually liked to make her feel discomfort. If her father forced her to marry him, she would be in for a lifetime of it.

“I just... I want to see my father,” she finally gasped. Annabelle’s mind spun so frantically that she could not even attempt to act strong. She revealed her vulnerabilities and weaknesses to Watson without even thinking about it. “Where is he? I should go and find him.”

She forced her legs to step backwards, but Watson only followed her. His grin had now twisted into a sinister smirk, showing Annabelle just how much evil he truly had inside.

“Your father wishes to meet you here, I think that you should wait for him where he has asked you to do so.”

“N... no, I do not think so.”

Her heart thundered painfully against her chest, she could feel it pounding violently against her rib cage. Annabelle wanted to look around the room to find a much-needed escape route, but for some strange reason, she could not drag her eyes off of Watson’s however hard she tried. She could feel herself being sucked into his nasty, evil web.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

“Oh, I think you will wait for him here, and I also think that you will tell him that you do want to marry me. I am aware that you are not too keen for our union.”

Annabelle bit down on her bottom lip as she tried not to shake with fear at Watson’s commanding tone. She would not put up with this for all her life, she had to find a way out somehow. This man was far too horrible for her.

As she racked her brain for a way to escape, she felt a sudden shift in the air. It was almost as if all the coldness had been sucked out of the room and normality and warmth had returned.

Somehow, in a heartbeat, Watson was back across the other side of the room giving her a respectable distance. It was almost as if the heated exchange between them had not happened, throwing Annabelle completely off kilter.

“Ah, there you are, Annabelle,” her father’s voice called through, clearing up any confusion she felt. “Thank you for coming to join us, I have been getting to know your future husband and I have to say he is a very nice gentleman.”

Future husband... that felt ominous, but Annabelle was too stunned to comment on that.

“Erm, yes, th... thank you for bringing me down.”

Upon his request, she took a seat and behaved like the Lady her father needed her to be, but inside she felt herself flap messily. The deeper she got into this, the harder it would be to extract herself. She needed to act now.