She shook her head, so violently it threatened to bring down the intricate braids she’d carefully pinned up.“It’s not too late.We can end it before it begins.”
He sighed.“You would give all this up now, after the effort you have put in?”There was frustration in his voice that only intensified as he asked—nay, fairly begged, “Why?”
Why?Because I love you.But she could never say those words to him.She didn’t have the right to say those words.
“It could ruin everything you have built,” was her logical but completely lacking answer.
She could fairly feel him shrug.“If that happens, so be it.In truth I’ll have deserved it for what the club has done.”
She hugged herself about the middle, closing her eyes against the pain in his voice.“It’s not your fault.”
“Perhaps not.But that does not mean I should not take responsibility for it.I have to make things right.”
She shook her head again.“No.I won’t allow it.”
He huffed a soft laugh.“You cannot stop it.”
“Try me.”
Again that laugh, though with some humor to it thistime.“If you insist on this, I’ll have no choice but to tie you up to make certain tonight happens.”
Which brought about an altogether different picture in her head.But she could not go down that path, now or ever again.“But—” she tried.
“Nobuts,” he declared firmly.“We shall see this through.Now, let’s finish what we’ve started and save your sister-in-law and I expect many others as well.”There was a heavy pause.And then, “Including me.”
She looked at him, only to see her own pain mirrored in his dark eyes.
He gave her a sad smile.“Go now, and prepare the others for tonight.”
What else could she do?Giving him one last mournful look, she turned toward the door.His sudden hand on her arm, however, stopped her feet in their tracks and her breath in her lungs.Her gaze flew to his, shock making her heart pound in her temples.
His eyes were back to burning again.No, they didn’t just burn.They blazed with fire.Without realizing it, she swayed toward him.
“But first, promise me you will be careful tonight,” he said, voice hoarse.“That you will not do anything unduly dangerous, that you will fetch me the moment something occurs.”
Tears threatened and she blinked them furiously back, for it sounded almost as if he cared what might happen to her.But he was waiting for her to reply.She swallowed hard.“Very well, Ethan.I promise I shall be safe.”
“Thank you,” he whispered.And then, giving her one last scorching look, he released her and left the room.
28
Heloise tucked her arm about Julia, keeping her close to her side as they hugged the wall of the boxing venue.Around them patrons crowded the space, vying for the choicest seats, the best vantage.Spirits were high, the excitement over the coming match reaching a fever pitch.
“Should we attempt to secure seats?”Julia fretted, hand shaking as she checked—for quite possibly the hundredth time that long night—that her mask was still secure on her face.
“We won’t be staying in this portion of the club for long,” Heloise reminded her in a low voice, lips close to her ear.“Once the match begins we shall all take our places on the casino floor.We need to be ready before the culmination of the fight, for once the lights sputter, everything will happen very quickly.”
“Oh dear,” Julia moaned under her breath.She swayed, and Heloise feared she would faint.
Iris and Sylvia approached then, slipping among the thickening crowd like fish swimming upstream.Though Iris fairly twitched in her anxiety, her fingernails relentlessly scratching at her wrist as proof of her nervousness, she nevertheless forced a falsely bright smile beneath the edge of her floral mask.The Widows as a whole hadconsidered whether it might be best to leave her home for this evening’s plans.Crowded social events, after all, were a source of great stress for her.
Iris, however, had been adamant that she attend, refusing to sit out any longer.
“It is all quite exciting, isn’t it?”she proclaimed now in carrying tones.At any other time Heloise would have winced at her horrible acting—Iris, while a genius with all manner of flora and fauna, was decidedly lacking in anything remotely approaching stagecraft.But her gratitude to Iris for braving something she feared so much, not to mention her relief in having someone to assist her with Julia in that moment, was too great.
“Immensely so,” Sylvia proclaimed, sidling up to Julia’s other side, tucking her arm through hers.To anyone observing them, it would have seemed the affection of a dear friend.Heloise, however, could see it for what it truly was: extra support for Julia should she fail to gain control of herself.
Blessedly, it was enough to snap her sister-in-law back to the present.Shaking her head, she straightened, quickly following their lead with a shaky smile.
