The Duke's Masked Wife



Reed turned to face Katrina who was the star of the day. He was placed with a special task of bringing her to Edgar's estate so she could join Randall. "The Duke is ready for you. Let's not try to put up a fight. I have plans that I cannot miss in an hour. Come quietly and save yourself the trouble."

Katrina gritted her teeth, angered by the sight of the man who was normally behind Alessandra. "How dare you break into my home-"

"We didn't break into your home," Reed clarified before Katrina could get ahead of herself. "Well, not exactly," he added since there were a few things he needed to break to get inside. "That's not important right now. Just come with us or your little lover here will be hurt."

"People have seen you forcefully come through her gates. The guards here will alert the town guards of what you've done," James said, continuing to fight against the man who was holding him down. 

"We didn't come through the front gates or the back. All of you seemed to forget that the Duke's wife once lived here. She knows a lot of secrets about this home. Perhaps more than you since the two if you did not use that entrance to get out of here," said Reed.

Reed was not sure when but Edgar had let it slip to Alessandra that he had Katrina's home surrounded and was waiting to take her. He was waiting for night when he was hoping Katrina would try to run away so he could take her. Edgar did not want to create a big scene by fighting his way inside Katrina's home. His men surrounding it were already gaining a lot of attention. 

Alessandra then revealed to Edgar that he could use a hidden path to get inside. Alessandra wasn't certain what the path was created for, but she recalled playing with it as a child. She accidentally found it when she was bored and was exploring the home. There used to be a small crack in the door she could squeeze through when she was young and after a long walk, she ended up in a small grassy area. 

Her travels through the path stopped when she stumbled into Desmond. Alessandra recalled how furious he looked to see her there. He wasn't happy to see that someone had discovered the path he made for himself. She was warned to never come back or tell Katrina about it. Alessandra didn't listen and after returning to the path, she found it sealed up.

"Your sly husband had a secret path down in the cellar where he kept his wines.  A door that took so much effort to break open. It leads a little bit outside your land. I wonder why he needed a secret entrance. Hiding secret businesses or maybe he moved around a mistress while you slept," said Reed. 

Katrina didn't believe in a secret path. She would have known about it by now. "You're lying to me," she said, believing they had fought with her guards at the gates. Desmond wasn't smart enough to hide something like that from her. 

Kate, on the other hand, believed Reed's words. She remembered when her father would speak of going to get a wine, but then he would lock himself in the cellar for hours. She used to stay close to him because she wanted his attention and would sit outside the cellar waiting for him. Kate would eventually get bored of waiting and run off elsewhere to play until he was finished. 'Why would he need to be so secretive?' She wondered. 

"I have no reason to lie to you and I also have no reason to explain that path to you any further. The point is, we're inside and you need to come with us. Edgar didn't specify if I had to bring you alive or dead. Run and it will be the latter," Reed said, looking at the men who came with him, giving them the signal to take her. 

Kate stepped in front of her mother to block the men from touching her. "If my mother needs to be punished, the guards-"

"The court has allowed Edgar to do as he pleases before he must hand her over to the guards. Why do you think with all the shit that is being said in town, no one has come for you? Did you think the guards would overlook it? I'm tired of this," Reed snapped his fingers.

From the crowd of men, three moved to grab Katrina and Kate.

Katrina panicked and pushed Kate to the side to get her out of the way. This had nothing to do with Kate. They should not take her daughter. "I will come willingly-"

"Mother!" Kate yelled as one of the men covered her mother's face with a rag and her mother's body slowly relaxed. Before Kate could make a move to help her mother, she was grabbed and just like her mother, there was something placed on her face. "You cannot do this…" her voice trailed off as her eyes closed.

Reed waited for a few seconds until Kate's body was still. He went to where she was lying on the floor and picked up the rag. He gave it a sniff and looked away immediately to get a good breath of fresh air as his head instinctively felt light. On the rag was a strong concoction to make someone pass out.

"The world is becoming dangerous with all these new weapons," he said, handing the rag off to someone. He already felt lightheaded and wanted to return. 'Why the fuck did I smell that?'

"Do not touch her!" James yelled when the man who had done something to Katrina, bent down to pick her up. 

"Edgar didn't mention anything about you, but I say we should take you," Reed said, looking down at James. James would be a nuisance to Edgar if they left him here. "Leave the daughter. We are only here for the mother, but bring the butler too."

James struggled to get free from the person holding him down. He only needed to make it to the door and yell out what had been done here.

"Stay still."

A rag coming close to his face was the last thing James saw before his sight went dark.

"Ugh," James groaned as he started to wake up. He rolled around on a surface with had something sharp stabbing him in his stomach when he moved. He heard something scurry the moment he moved. "Where," he opened his eyes and immediately noticed what looked to be a cell door.

"Good. One of you is awake. It's been getting a bit boring waiting. Reed, how much did you pour on the rag?" Edgar turned to the said man leaning against a wall. It was because of Reed and the men who followed him that Edgar had to wait hours for someone to wake up. 

He was starting to believe the two people Reed brought were dead. 

Reed's response to probably using too much when an hour passed and no one had woken up was simply, "Problem solved."

"It was a small amount that they should be awake by now. Since the butler is up, she should soon wake," Reed glanced at Katrina who laid on the dirty floor of her new home.

"You," James tried to reach out to Edgar, but his body felt sluggish.

Edgar didn't see why Reed brought along James, but since he was here, this would serve as a nice wake up call for the butler who thought he was in love.