“The second lad you delivered to Ettie Trewlove’s door,” Finn said.
The older man shook his head. “I don’t recall.”
He almost identified himself as Aiden’s brother but each of the earl’s by-blows could fit that description. “The one who was to be transported to Australia. You made an arrangement with Aiden Trewlove. In exchange for using your influence to keep me here you would share in his profits from the Cerberus Club.”
“Ah, yes.” Finally, he took his gaze from his scotch and focused it on Finn. “Got yourself in trouble with some earl’s daughter as I recall. He was not at all pleased with my interference. Lucky for you, he was someone I didn’t much fancy, so I took pleasure in proving my power exceeded his. Have you gotten yourself in trouble again? It’ll cost more. The whole point in dispatching with my bastards was to avoid the irritation of having to deal with them.”
He’d never before met the man or spoken with him, but he was coming to loathe him more than he had. To think of Aiden humbling himself before this maggot to ask a favor of him on Finn’s behalf caused his stomach to roil. “Who is my mother?”
Elverton laughed, an ugly, hideous sound, the sort Finn had once heard lads making as they pulled wings off flies. “How the hell should I know? Boy, do you have any idea how many bastards have come into this world because my impressive cock plowed into a woman?”
Fury erupted within Finn, swift and hard, and it was all he could do not to attack the creature sitting there all smug.
“I keep a drawer filled with adverts from baby farmers promoting their services. When a wagtail comes to me in tears, blubbering that she’s carrying my child, I hand her a clipping and a pouch of coins and tell her to see to it herself.”
He was sickened to know this man had sired him, that he showed such unkindness to promiscuous women who found themselves in trouble. Still he shook his head. “No.Youdelivered me to Ettie Trewlove’s door.”
Shrugging, he took a sip of scotch, licked his lips. Finn could see none of himself in this toad. “Then perhaps she died so it was left to me to handle what remained. Or perhaps I cared for her a bit and wanted to spare her the humiliation. There were a few I saw to, especially if I didn’t think the woman would rid herself of it.”
“So you might have taken me from her.”
“If it was the only way to ensure I wasn’t bothered by the brat.”
Finn was barely aware of launching himself across the space separating him from the vile insect. The glass of scotch went flying. Pressing his knee to the man’s chest, his shin to his belly, holding him in place, he closed his hands around the man’s throat until Elverton was gasping for air and his eyes were bulging from their sockets. They were equal in height, but the earl lived a slovenly life of vice and laziness. He didn’t possess Finn’s muscles or strength. “Look closely at me, you swine. Do you see no woman from your past in my features?”
The loathsome pig frantically shook his head, and Finn accepted that he was never going to learn anything at all about his mother. What did it matter? Ettie Trewlove was his mum. Perhaps he was simply striving to understand what his daughter might feel when she learned the truth of her parentage.
He gave the earl a shake, watching as his face began to take on a purple hue. “Listen well. You are done taking any more money from Aiden. If I hear differently, I shall take those rings from your fingers after I’ve separated the pudgy things from your hand.”
A gurgling came from the gent who had sired him as he struggled to say something. Finn loosened his hold and bent his ear toward the earl. “Pardon?”
“I’ll see... you hanged.”
Finn gave him a wolfish grin. “Think you that your influence or power is greater than that of either the Dukes of Hedley or Thornley or Mick Trewlove or the entire Trewlove clan? Facing them together, you’d find yourself little more than a gnat against lions.”
Shoving hard on the man, Finn released him, straightened, and stepped back. “Your bastards are no longer youths of the streets with no recourse. We can stand on our own, but when family stands with us, we are unstoppable.”
Spinning on his heel, Finn began striding from the room, stopped, and glanced back. “Which arm do you favor?”
Finn brought his horse to a halt outside a rather ramshackle house and tethered the gelding to a post, knowing no one in this run-down area of London would dare steal from a Trewlove. He strode up to the door, didn’t bother to knock, but simply walked into the residence that had been gutted and rebuilt for the woman who lived here.
“Finn, love,” Ettie Trewlove said as she got up from the cozy chair before the fire and approached him.
He bent his head to make it easier for her to press a kiss to his cheek, the way she always greeted him. After visiting with his vile sire, he was in need of a good deal of comfort, of a visithome.
“Mum.” His voice sounding scratchy and raw, he enfolded her in his embrace, hugging her tightly, welcoming the comforting feel of her arms cocooning him in love.
He held her securely for several long moments before easing back. She patted his cheek affectionately.
“I’d put on the kettle, but you look to be in need of something a bit more bracing. Gillie brought me a fine cognac. I’ll pour us each a drop.”
Standing there, he watched as she efficiently went to a sideboard and poured more than a drop into two snifters, stirring to life the warm memories of all the times she’d done for him, never expecting anything in return.
He took the glass she offered and sat in the chair opposite the one she took. She lifted her snifter. “Cheers.”
They both sipped, studied the amber liquid, waited.
“What troubles you?” she finally asked.
