The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella) novel Chapter 1830

Then his phone rang. Martin glanced at the screen, and saw it was Louisa calling.

"Mrs. Collins," he answered, his voice laced with fatigue but nonetheless respectful.

"Martin, after all the trust the Collins family has placed in you, how could you do something like this? Did you ever intend to deliver Erik to us alive?"

"What are you talking about?" Martin's gaze darkened with surprise and gravity. "How did Erik die? When?"

Before he had handed Erik over, the man had been perfectly fine.

"Don't play dumb with me. Now, I want his daughter back—alive or dead, I need proof!"

"Ma'am, could there be some misunderstanding?" Martin quickly tried to clarify. "When we captured Erik, we indeed used a sedative, but it was only meant to knock him out for a few hours. My team just knocked him out, nothing more. How he died, I implore you to enlighten me."

He had thought that if Erik ended up in the Collinses' hands, his fate would be rough, but at least he'd still have a breath in him.

But he hadn't expected to lose the man overnight.

If Serena ever woke up and asked about her father, how would he ever explain.

"Are you sure you didn't have a hand in this?" Louisa clearly didn't believe him.

"If I had meddled in this, then I, Martin, swear I shall never be with Serena in this life or the next!" He believed it was the most binding oath he could make.

Louisa, hearing this, started to waver in her suspicion. "If it was not you, then who had done this?"

Who would want Erik dead?

"Mrs. Collins, I don't have all the details. Erik is Serena's biological father; I would never harm him behind her back. I therefore request your clear judgment. I would stake my life, even the lives of my entire family, to swear that I have no involvement in this matter."

He was innocent!