"I have not come here to hurt your wife, but I will be honest that the conversation will be hard. It’s important you hear it from the court before you hear it from whispers around the town," said Mark.
Mark had been around Kate before when he looked into the abuse Alessandra endured at the hands of her family.
Mark was also present when Kate was married to Simon and lost her mother. He wasn’t a stranger to Kate, but he knew his visit wouldn’t be welcomed.
"You still haven’t told me what it is. No one has come to see Kate in years, so you don’t know the state she is in. She’s not ready to hear any bad news, so please, spare her from it," Noah said, slowly inching the door to close it.
Mark placed his shoe to stop the door from closing. "I will be far more polite than the other men who will come to speak with her. The order was for her to visit the court, but I insisted on coming here. If I don’t see her now, she will have to go there."
Noah gritted his teeth.
Why couldn’t they just leave Kate alone?
After all these years, Kate had not gotten any better, so why did anyone from the court think it was good to come to her now?
"Is this about my son or something else?" Noah asked.
Mark raised his brow, interested in the son. "It concerns only your wife, but is there something about your son that I should know? Why would the court come looking for him?"
"No reason," Noah replied, stepping aside to allow Mark in. "Just you. I don’t want her to see so many of you."
Mark looked back at Declan, a man who worked for him. "I can take this one alone," he said.
"As for you," Mark turned to Noah. "I’ve heard parents give that response many times, only for their children to end up in court to receive a judgment. I would like to avoid that."
"I will handle my son by myself," Noah replied.
Noah led the way to where Kate waited for him in their quarters.
Kate was thrilled to see Noah was still around, but her mood changed when she saw Mark.
"You," Kate said, surprised to see him. "You were no longer a man of the court. You left."
"I did. I deserved a break from it, but the king has brought me back for good reason. If you want, anything concerning your family will be dealt with by me," said Mark.
"There shouldn’t be anything concerning me. Where is my son?" Kate asked, seeking answers from Noah. "Did he return?"
Again, Mark was curious what trouble the son could have found himself in for both parents to be so worried.
"This isn’t about your son. It has not gotten out yet, but there was another death around the town. A young lady was left for dead recently and dressed like the lady who died at the ball," Mark shared.
Kate was stunned. She hated the reason she believed Mark came to her.
"What does that have to do with my wife? As you can see, she cannot walk. She didn’t have any part in it," said Noah.
"That’s not why you are here. It reminds you of him, doesn’t it?" Kate asked in a soft tone. "I told you that he wasn’t gone."
"Simon is gone, Kate. This person is mocking what Simon did, but he’s targeting your sister or rather, her husband. It is possible that this person doesn’t have any ties to Simon, or they might. If you would be so kind as to tell us anything you learned about his family or friends-"
"No," Kate interjected. "I don’t want to think about Simon or anyone close to him. It is your job to find out who is doing this."
"I want to move on," Kate said, her gaze settling on Noah. "And I am not going to be able to do that if I speak about Simon. I have not gone one day forgetting his voice, and I don’t want to hear it anymore."
"I understand. If you ever change your mind, then I will come here to speak. You both need to be careful. Since we don’t have a clue who is doing this, there is no telling if they might come to you," Mark said.
Noah saw this as even more reason they should leave Lockwood. Once these murders got out and Simon’s name came up, then the town would start speaking about him and those who were close to him. That meant Kate as well.
"Are you certain he is dead?" Kate asked, needing to hear it one more time.
"I witnessed them dispose of his body in the cruellest ways you could imagine. I made sure to see that he was gone for all of you to be at peace," Mark replied.
"I have not been at peace. I am no longer in his home, but I fail to find peace. There must have been something wrong with me before Simon. I have always heard a little voice pushing me to do things, and I did them. Perhaps I was drawn to Simon because I was just like him," Kate noticed
"You are not like Simon. You haven’t killed anyone-"
"But I wanted to. I wanted Alessandra dead. I wanted the ladies stealing my moment to die, and when Simon showed me who he truly was, I wanted to drag Alessandra down there with me," Kate confessed.
Kate’s eyes filled with water as she recounted her youth.
"I didn’t love him," Kate admitted. "I only wanted his title. I knew nothing about him and thought I could use him, but he was planning something sinister for me. He was drawn to me because of the lady I was. I know that."
Mark remained silent to let Kate address her past. She didn’t want to speak about Simon, but it suddenly started to flow out of her mouth.
Kate covered her face with her hands to hide her tears.
Out of all the ladies Simon could have married, why did he come to her?
Kate could only think that Simon saw a bit of himself in her. She couldn’t think of herself as a victim like Bella. Kate wanted Simon to bring Alessandra to where he had placed them and kill her.
That was what she thought of alongside wanting freedom. Perhaps she wanted Alessandra’s downfall more than her freedom.
"Please go," Kate urged Mark. "I only want my husband at my side."
Mark nodded, seeing this as enough for one day. "Good day," he bid farewell.
Noah didn’t see Mark out and instead went to Kate’s side. He was proud of her for the things she admitted.
Kate tugged on Noah’s shirt to keep him from packing. "Don’t leave me."
By some miracle, Kate had someone who loved her despite her ways. She did not want to lose him. Hopefully, if she were nicer to him, then Noah would stay even if she didn’t say she loved him.
"I won’t," Noah promised.