Scandal with the Duke

Chapter 3

|Mirrielle Elizabeth Rivantroz|

“Uncle Alfaro,” I whispered his name as my voice quivered.

The hunch that crossed my mind when his personal guards pointed their rifle at me the moment they entered my bedroom finally kicks in. And the expression printed on his face wasn’t the expression I wasn’t used on seeing. It was lurking with evil, far from being calm and collected.

I quickly shook my head and shut my eyes.

No.

I refused to believe the reason why uncle Alfaro is here. I refuse to believe that he was behind all of this. The truth was shouting directly in my face yet I continued to shake my head, never believing what I had deducted.

Uncle is here to save me. He’s here to save me. He loves me. I am dear to him. Abducting me was never his plan.

“Hello dear, Eli,” he said with a devilish grin plastered on his lips. His eyes were as dark as the night sky, with no stars and moon.

“U-Uncle,” I called out. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat before I continued. I blinked and started blabbering without thinking. “Thank goodness you’re finally here. T-These soldiers, dressed as one of yours, abducted me. But I know that they are not you people. They might have disguised themselves as--“

Uncle Alfaro let out a chuckle which made me stop from what I was saying, the lies I was trying to save.

“Eli…Eli, Eli,” he said, his voice lowering as he mentioned my name and he shakes his head like he couldn’t believe that he heard those words from me. He squatted, leveling his eyes to mine. With my mouth half-open as I looked back into the depth of his eyes, a tear stream down my cheeks when I realized…this was really not a dream. The triumph plastered on his expression, his belittling gaze, and his intimidating aura was the trigger to my fear and breaking down.  

“A-Are you...behind all of this?” my voice give way to what I was feeling at the moment.

“What do you think?”

I swallowed the lump forming on my throat. My heart continued to throb in deep pain, still in disbelief of witnessing my uncle doing all…this. But…

“Why?” was all I could say.

His expression changed instantly from a mocking face to stern and cold. I could suddenly the evilness emitting from his aura. And all I can do was stare back at him.

“Because everything that is now yours were supposed to be mine,” he said.

What does he mean by that?

Uncle Alfaro seemed to sense my confusion. The smirked on his lips went back. He lifted his one arm, moving his index finger like he was telling someone to come near him.

The soldier, who was with uncle Alfaro, walks toward us with a chair in one hand. He handed the wooden chair to Uncle. Uncle quickly used its function and leaned his back on the backrest. He crossed his arm on his chest and looked back at me as if he was now in his comfortable condition and he is in the mood to start telling me stories.

“Tell me, dear Eli. Do you trust me that much?” he asked out of nowhere. I bit my lower lip, refraining myself from uttering an answer to his question. If he asked those words earlier before this happened, I might answer him right away with my truest intentions. Yet…now that I knew that he was behind this a*******n, I couldn’t trust him anymore.

How could Uncle Alfaro do this to me?

“Well. I think I knew the answer. You didn’t even read the contract I handed to you earlier. What a dumb lady you are. Do you really think that those documents are what you asked for?” he started telling. The grin in his lips grew wider and wider. The mock in his eyes was too powerful that all I could do was cry.

Cry. When will I even see myself stopping from crying?  

“I never approached the King,” he started.  “And I don’t have an intention to. Your plan for the wine business was great, expanding it gradually from country to country. It’s great. But those dreams of yours will never be achieved. I have different plans on my winery now,” he continued.

My mouth fell open at the last sentence he had said. My winery. I blink. My mind processed each word he was saying. And it took me a couple of minutes before I realized the plot he just did.

He never approached the King. So what’s the document I signed for? Fear started to creep within me. I continued blinking, now realizing what uncle Alfaro was saying.

“Now, did you finally realize what I did? You signed the contract without reading it. And the content says that everything you possess will be transferred into my name. The mansion, the winery, and every fortune your parents left for you,”

Tears trickled down my cheeks. The betrayal he was throwing into my face was too much. How…How could he! He’s blood of my blood! My parents treated him with great care. I trusted everything to him. But now…how could he do this to me!

 “And since you’ll die anyway, why not I tell you a secret?” he said with an amusing tone.

My body went rigid upon hearing the word die. What? H-He…will…kill…me?

Then it hits me.

He wanted everything I inherited. Uncle Alfaro is doing all this for money. He has those, but why would he but why does he need to go to such lengths?

“How c-could you do this to m-me, uncle? You are far from the person I knew,” I manage to utter. But Uncle was seemed too preoccupied in his own thoughts, ignoring my pleas.  

“I killed your parents,” he said mercilessly. My eyes widen in shock. The faces of my parents flashed into my mind, but only to be splattered with their own blood caused by their own kin.

“And you’ll be with them now,” he added and stood from his seat. Horror washed over me especially when he lifted his one hand into the air and a soldier handed him a rifle.

“Uncle…please, spare me,” I managed to beg. My voice is quivering in fear. The thought of dying suddenly scares the hell out of me.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. Even my parents had already left me in this world; I still wanted to continue living.

“I’m your n-niece. Blood of your b-blood,” I begged once again. But uncle was too heartless to hear any of my explanations.

“And I don’t care,” he said heartlessly and then he aimed the muzzle of the rifle on my head.

“Uncle….please. I will give you everything I have. Just spare my life,” I begged for one last time. But his decisions had seemed to set in stone already. Uncle laughed like he find everything I bargained ridiculously.

“You lose your worth to me now, Elizabeth. In order to finally possess every fortune you had, you must die,”

I stared at his face. His expression was too far from once I knew. This Alfaro Rivantroz standing in front of me is pure evil. He was drowned in his greed for power and wealth. And I didn’t even notice that the entire years I’ve been spending my time with him.

I shut my eyes. Tears continued to stream down my face.

“Any last wish, Eli?” I heard him ask.

But I remained quiet.

I didn’t know how everything ended being like this? I couldn’t still accept the fact that my parents had left me in this world. Their deaths were still were fresh to me like everything just happened yesterday.  I still mourn for them, miss them every day. But they were the reason why I wanted to continue living.

My parents always lecture me that I should cherish my life even when a time would come I suddenly was at my lowest. I need to survive, for the family, for the business, for the future generations.

Yet...I couldn’t seem to fulfill those wishes and duties. And it was just because I put my whole trust in the man I thought of as my family, the man who killed them.

Anger and hatred started to engulf my entire emotions. How could he do this? How could he do this to his own brother? His own niece? How could he stomach everything he did and act as if nothing happened? How? Why?!

The only family I have was capable of cold-hearted murder.

I continued to cry. My heart is breaking into pieces. I could feel the muzzle being pressed a little harder every second passed. I even heard how the bolt was being pulled.

So...this is the end?

I bit my lower lip until I could taste the metallic liquid in my mouth. I surrendered to the fact that I will really die right now.

If ever I survived this nightmare, even though I know I wouldn’t, I promised to myself that I will avenge the people who played me for a fool. I will avenge my parents’ death. I will have my revenge.

I heard the trigger click and the sound of the gunshot. After that, everything went black.