Elias hit the bag with another series of rapid-fire blows, envisioning passages of law regarding entailed properties, primogeniture, and the punishment for fraud. All those damnable things had ripped his beloved Celia from the life he had envisioned for them. He attacked the bag again, knocking Monty back several steps.
Monty pushed away from the bag, yanked off his coat and waistcoat, and rolled up his sleeves. “Either talk to me or fight me.” He held up his fists in a vulnerable pose that Elias would never use against him. “Talk or fight, little brother. What will it be?”
With an enraged roar, Elias tore into the heavy leather punching bag with renewed fury. “I signed a contract with Satan, damn you, and have yet to find a loophole.”
“What the deuce are you talking about?” Monty let his fists drop.
Elias turned away from the bag and thumped Monty in the chest hard enough to back him up. “What I am about to tell you does not leave this room. Do you give me your word?”
Rubbing the spot Elias just hit, Monty scowled at him. “Of course.”
“I mean it, Aurelias Montseton Raines. I will have your word!”
Monty lifted both hands and retreated another step. “You have my word. Just don’t use my full name again. You sound like Father.”
“Calling me that will not help your cause.” Elias strode over to the worktable and started unwinding the strips of cloth he used to protect his knuckles. “I met the Duke of Hasterton.”
“Truly?” Monty joined him at the table. “The famed duke no one has ever seen? What’s the fellow like?”
Elias locked eyes with Monty. He knew he could trust his brother—but this damn secret was dangerous. “The duke is Celia.”
“You mean he looks like her?” Monty shrugged. “Stands to reason, old boy. They are twins.”
Elias shook his head. “You misunderstand me. HeisCelia. CeliaisHasterton.”
Monty squinted one eye shut as if trying to sight a pistol. “What do you meanCelia is Hasterton? That is impossible.”
“Why? Because the man can do no wrong when it comes to investments? Because none of his many businesses have ever failed to turn an astounding profit?” Elias propped his hands on the table and bowed his head, still amazed at the duchess and Celia’s ability to manage such a grand scheme with such extraordinary finesse and precision. He turned and thumped Monty again. “They made him up, man. Charles was never born. Never existed. Lady Cecilia is the only child of the Duke and Duchess of Hasterton.”
Monty’s expression turned incredulous. “What are you saying?”
“The duchesspretendedto have a son so as not to lose everything and end up a pauper, because the funds guaranteed by her marriage contract and her husband’s will were far from adequate. The brilliant woman ran the estate herself until Celia took over seven years ago and increased their wealth and holdings tenfold.”
“Gads.” Monty scratched his head as he meandered over to a wooden stool and plopped down on it. “How bloody brilliant,” he said with a snorting laugh.
“How bloody fraudulent,” Elias snapped. “Fraudulent enough to see them both hanged.”
“Only if they get caught.” Monty thoughtfully pursed his lips and shook his head. “My dear brother, I see your overactive sense of morality rearing its ugly head.” He rose to his feet. “Good heavens, man. The duchess is already dying, and the other cunning criminal is the woman you love.”
“This farce cannot go on.” Elias threw his hands in the air. “Someone will discover it, and then I will hang with them. Such a scandal could bring down the entire firm.”
Monty scratched through the morning stubble on his chin. “As I see it, old boy, the scheme has survived quite well for twenty-odd years now. Why should it not continue to thrive?”
“I am a solicitor. A partner with a prestigious law group.” Elias snatched up a generous square of linen off the table and scrubbed the sweat from his face and chest. “How can I knowingly condone such a thing?”
“Because if you love the woman, you will do anything to keep her safe.” Monty scowled at him, slowly prowling closer like a predator about to attack. The nearer he drew, the more he tilted his head to one side. “What have you done?”
“Behaved like a complete ass,” Elias said as he hung his head.
His contempt for his father’s questionable dealings and lack of morals had caused him to become a self-righteous devil determined to see that the dishonest got what he felt they deserved. His pompous sense of proper ethics painted everything black or white. There was no middle ground. No shades of gray. No justifications for any choice or action. It was either right or wrong. Legal or not. And those who shunned the law deserved the damnation they received.
He huffed a bitter laugh. “I begged her to trust me. To tell me what was troubling her so I could help her and her mother.”
“And when she did?” Monty’s hard-jawed look said he already knew the answer.
“When she did, I turned on her. Reacted like her assigned solicitor instead of the man who loves her with an all-consuming fury.”
Monty clasped his hands to the small of his back and meandered back and forth in front of him. “You mentioned signing a contract with Satan?”
