The Duke Who's Devilish (Higher Court I)

XXVIII. Opening Up

The pregnant silence was deafening as Rafael and Russell were staring at the Davis sisters that were trying to humiliate each other. Niklaus noticed that neither husband was making any statement to make sure that their wives would not bully their youngest sister again. But what Niklaus did not count for when Lord Rafael Douglas was getting up from his seat and tugged his wife with him.

"Apologize, Your Graces. I did not think  that my wife was disciplined enough for talking in that tone to you, even though you're family. I believe we have extended our invitation to this dinner," Rafael said as he was pulling Rosa to follow him. Becca blinked at her brother-in-law and reading between the lines of his firm lips and hard eyes, she knew that Rosa will be suffering on her account.

"Please, Rafael, that would be unnecessary. I did not take any of that statement personally and to be quite frank, I have always been speaking with Rosa that way. It is our...um...affection to one another," Becca said as she was smiling at Rafael. Niklaus was sipping on his champagne as Rosanna and Rafael were blinking their eyes at his wife. He smirked behind the flute and caught the attention of Russell as their gaze clashed for a moment.

"It is simply just another one of our gestures. Please, brother, I'm sure it would be okay for you to wait until we're finished with our dinner," Rose, being the responsible one between the three of them, asked Rafael not to ditch their dinner, and Rosa, thankfully, knew how to keep her mouth shut. She knew that she had screwed up big time in front of her husband and being the intellectual she was, Rosa sat down again as she was looking at her plate. Becca noticed that Rafael's hand tightened against her sister's arm in a warning for not causing any more trouble in front of the duke of Belikov and his duchess.

"Pardon us, Your Graces. I will teach my wife to be respectful in the presence of polite company," Rafael said before turning slightly toward Rosa as he released his hand but his hard eyes were giving enough warning should Rosanna did anything out of hand again.

"Forgive me, Your Graces," her sister said before Becca nodded at her and Niklaus was clearing his throat, putting down his flute as he was regarding Russell at the head of the table.

"I believe family drama would never cease to amaze us," he said as Niklaus smirked before Russell joined in.

"Indeed they are," the lord of the estate was saluting his flute to Niklaus as they were talking and the energy flow was back to normal but Rosanna was keeping her mouth shut and Becca did not know what would have been done if she left with her husband earlier if not for her interruption. She just hoped that her sister was not being abused by her husband.

*****

"Well, you have certainly made yourself looked like a duchess earlier, my love,"

Becca turned away from the window as she was looking at the gleaming estate that her sister Rosetta and her husband resided while she tried not to feel her heart constricted for their relationships were still restrained even when they were all married well and lived away from each other. Becca smiled before she was smoothing her skirts over her legs as she turned to focus her green eyes toward her handsome husband. She arched her eyebrow.

"Are you saying that I am not acting like the duchess that I am whenever I was not under threat? My, my, my lord, it has been a poor assessment of my personality if you think that I only act as if I am the Duchess of Belikov when I was threatened by my sister," she teased Niklaus as her husband was arching his eyebrow at her. Becca sighed.

"Okay, fine. Maybe I did act haughtily when they were being such bullies and mean to me. I guess Rosanna was still holding some grudge against me," Becca said as she was leaning her hand over the sill of the window as she rested her chin in her hand. "Do you think she would ever forgive and forget what was happening during our childhood?" she asked as Niklaus was blinking his eyes at her.