"I won't let her carry it to term."
"That's your own flesh and blood."
"Her womb carried another man's seed once. I find that repulsive. Besides, she spent her whole life handling corpses. Any child she bears could come out a freak."
Homer turned to the attendant standing nearby. "Tell Nora Whitfield to mix the abortifacient into the lady's meals. Be careful about it. Don't let her find out."
His friend let out a sigh. "Penelope really is pitiful..."
Homer went still for a moment. His gaze turned dark and unreadable as he stared into his teacup. "I'll let her live out her days as my lady, comfortable and provided for. Consider it compensation."
I clamped a hand over my mouth and crumpled to the ground. Under the bewildered stares of the servants around me, I scrambled back to the estate on my hands and knees.
In the darkness of my room, I wept alone.
So the man who had shared my bed that night was never Homer at all. And yet he had still married me, this tainted woman, willingly, all for Chloe Fox.
He had even accepted a child that had nothing to do with him.