The Duke's Masked Wife

"Right on time," Mark glanced at the large clock in the room. "No one else will be allowed to come inside now that the meeting has started. Declan, Zachary, and I have been in charge of this case so we will make the final judgment here today and then send it to the King for him to look over and make it official. Desmond Barrett has a stack of crimes he would have been locked away for or even hung if he was still alive-"

"My son was not involved in any business that his peers were not already involved in. I don't see you trying to ruin their name," Greta argued.

Mark side-eyed the mother of Desmond and found her to be one of the people he greatly disliked. A mother who didn't know when to admit her son had done something wrong. "Just because his peers did it does not mean it was alright for your son to be a part of these businesses. We are already investigating your son's business partners and friends. Two are already in the palace dungeon but please, if there is something you wish to tell us about his peers, please speak now."

Greta grumbled something under her breath which Mark was not able to make out. He assumed she was cursing him.

"The court has had an eye on Desmond for months now and it was actually Duke Collins who gathered all the information on Desmond before we could. Before I get into Desmond's title, we will deal with the complaint from the Baroness about the Duke killing her husband," Mark said, choosing to do this first as it would end quickly.

Edgar playfully tapped his fingers on the table, awaiting what foolish complaint Katrina had come up with.

Mark looked to his right at Edgar who appeared amused by this. "The Baroness believes you killing the Baron had nothing to do with her husband's crimes. You killed him in a fit of rage for his daughter. Before you give an answer Duke Collins, I would like to hear from your wife," Mark said, briefly glancing at Alessandra.

He was curious from the very beginning of this case what Alessandra thought of her husband being the one to kill her father. Their marriage seemed perfectly fine despite this but then again, he didn't know what was happening behind closed doors.

Alessandra looked at Mark, not knowing what exactly he wanted to hear from her. Did he want to hear what Edgar killing her father made her feel? Did he want to hear how happy she was when her father died?

"What reason would the Duke have to kill your father for you? As you are in the court, it is important for you to be an honest Duchess. If we find out you lied to us today, you will be punished. Speak only the truth, Duchess. Even if it will benefit your stepmother," said Mark.

"Edgar did kill my father because of me," Alessandra admitted and for a second, she saw Katrina trying to hide a smile. "He had no choice but to kill my father to save me. There is something I want to say but you must promise not to let it get out of this room," she requested.

Mark looked at Declan and Zachery who gave him a nod. "You have our word no one outside of here will hear what you are about to say. Go on."

"The night my father died, I had locked myself in my room because I had a feeling like something bad was going to happen. Edgar and I were already engaged but my father wanted me to marry someone else-"

"You!" Katrina interrupted Alessandra. "That has nothing to do with this. Speak only of what happened the moment your father died."

"Baroness, you do not control the court. Need I remind you this is being discussed because you claim your husband was wrongfully killed? The court was not aware the Duchess had another man to marry other than the Duke. Let the Duchess speak without any interruptions. Everyone will have their turn to tell their side," Mark said, hoping this would keep the bunch silent. "Who were you meant to marry aside from the Duke?"

"An old family friend, William Lancaster," Alessandra revealed.

"The same William Lancaster your husband reported dead to the town guards," Declan spoke up before Mark could.

"Yes," Alessandra replied.

Mark glanced at Edgar who was acting nonchalant about the matter. "He is close to your father's age. Are you certain it was him that your father planned to marry you to?"

Alessandra continued, "It is not the first time a father has given his daughter away to an older suitor. I am still uncertain if it was meant to be a wedding. I ran into William maybe two times and he made wanting me to be something sinister. You can ask around about the man who died with my father that night. I can't remember the name but a man came in a carriage to take me to William."

"I didn't want to as I had accepted Edgar's proposal and also the fact he was near my father's age but they wanted to drag me to William. Had Edgar not shown up, I would have ended up like those women you found in his home," Alessandra said, repeating what little Edgar told her about William's death before they left home. "My maid can tell you about my father trying to force his way into my room to send me to William. She used to work for the Baroness before I brought her with me."

"Given some of the businesses your husband was involved in, I can see why no one wanted to mention the Duchess was to go to William Lancaster. He is a man your husband had a debt with or am I mistaken?" Mark looked at Katrina.

Unlike a few minutes ago, she was quite silent. Perhaps she thought Alessandra would have been ashamed to say someone more than twice her age wanted her. Incidents like these weren't talked about every day as the town would never let Alessandra forget about it by either talking about it when she was near or throwing it in her face when they wanted to ridicule her.

"I don't know much about what Desmond and William agreed to. I found out about it around the same time she did. Desmond didn't tell me about his meetings with William. He would get up in the middle of dinner and go to William. The only reason I know where he was going was through the butler. I can have my butler here in the next hour," Katrina replied, not completely telling the truth but there was no way to prove she was leaving out bits and pieces.

Desmond and William were dead so now it was just Alessandra's words against Katrina's.

"Still, you were aware of what was happening that night with your stepdaughter. It is understandable why the Duke would step in to help her. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about your complaint about Edgar. Your husband's hands were not clean and if the Duke wrongfully killed an innocent man, he would not be sitting here with us. Let's move on to your husband's crimes and his title," Mark said, ready to get to the bottom of why he brought them here.

"It is preposterous for you to disrupt my son's rest with this. He is already dead, why do you have to take more from his family? Desmond was a good man easily swayed by the people around him. His peers lent him money and then got him involved in bad businesses. You should focus on them instead poking at a dead man," Greta said out of frustration.

"I wouldn't describe my brother as someone easily swayed. He was always looking for ways to get money. Is this the part where you ask the family about what we know concerning his crimes?" Clark rubbed his hands together. "I would like to go first."