Abandoned by Her Fiancé, She Married a Feared Duke… Then Learned Why He Chose Her

Chapter 2

Eleanor Cross did not sleep that night.

The house was too quiet, too empty. Every clock seemed louder than it had ever been, ticking with accusation. Every gust of wind against the windows sounded like a judgment. The fire had long since died, and the cold crept through the rooms like a living thing that had no intention of leaving.

She sat at her father’s writing desk with Julian’s letter still open before her. Three lines. Three lines that had erased a future she had once believed secure.

Given the recent circumstances involving your family, I consider our engagement at an end.

She folded the paper slowly and placed it aside. Not with anger. Anger required strength, and she had very little left.

Outside, snow continued to fall over London, muffling the world in white. Inside, the truth pressed harder with every passing hour. She had no money, no allies, and by noon tomorrow, she would either be the Duchess of Ashworth or a woman without a home.

She thought of her father. Charles Cross had been a merchant of modest success, a man whose laughter had once filled this house. But after her mother’s death, something in him had broken. He had made reckless investments, signed disastrous agreements, borrowed money he could never repay. The weight of his grief had buried them both.