Another pointed glare came his way, and he looked away.
“Well, I would have brought you a sweet treat, but I do not know your favorites, and one cannot really go wrong with flowers.” Nicholas beamed at her, then turned to Gabriel. “Can I speak with you outside?”
Gabriel nodded, his jaw working.
The two of them retreated into the hallway, and Nicholas barely closed the door before rounding on Gabriel.
“What are you doing?” he hissed. “Your wife is injured in bed, and you cannot even buy her flowers? You cannot even sit with her long enough to eat with her?”
“How can I?” Gabriel snapped. “The culprit who hurt her is out there, and I cannot?—”
“Gabriel, forget the culprit. I know that is the voice from your past demanding that you keep at it, but your wife needs you more, and you know it.”
“Nicholas, I-I cannot stand to see her like this.”
“Tough,” Nicholas almost spat, shaking his head. “No, truly, Gabriel, it is tough that you cannot because you need to. Sibyl is alone again, in pain, and her husband cannot even endure being at her side. How do you think that makes her feel?”
“I thought we were in a better place…”
Sibyl’s words from two days ago echoed in Gabriel’s mind.
Nicholas sighed, pushing a hand through his short hair. “I can help?—”
“I do not need help. I need tomove.I need to act.”
“You are being too stubborn for your own good, for your wife’s good.”
Gabriel glared at him. “Then I have only proven myself correct that I was never good enough for her in the first place.” Hestepped back. “I must meet with somebody. They can give me names.”
“More names, more goose chases that lead you nowhere except to Sibyl’s resentment.”
“She will understand when I bring her justice.”
“She does not need that right now,” Nicholas insisted. “She needsyou.”
“And I need to do this.”
Gabriel allowed himself a moment of pain over not being able to let go of his need for vengeance before walking away from Nicholas. A short while later, he found himself outside one of London’s shadier pubs, the alleyway shadowed and dark, a perfect place to drag Lord Berrington into and toss him on the floor.
He towered over the cowering man. “You’d been hard to find, Berrington,” he snarled. “You weren’t hiding from me, were you?”
Lord Berrington covered his face with his arms. “N-No, Your Grace.”
“I think you’re lying,” Gabriel scoffed. “Perhaps you have heard that I have been looking for you.”
Indeed, the lowly Viscount had suddenly left London, likely thinking Gabriel would get bored or move on to the next target.
Gabrielhadmoved on, but he had always kept an ear to the ground for the Viscount’s return.
“I swear it, Your Grace. I have nothing to do with the Duchess’s accident!”
“So you do know why I have been looking for you.” Gabriel’s smile turned wicked,terrifying, making the Viscount tremble. “You blubbering fool. We could have had a good discussion, you and I, regarding your association with the late Lord Kerrington, but you have made your own choices.
“I have hunted you down, Berrington. I have combed through dangerous neighborhoods, spoken with many men who would not hesitate to pull out their pistols and shoot me in the chest, all to find you. Do you enjoy having such a bad reputation? Rats like you live in the shadows, and I pity the family that must bear your name.”
“Your Grace, please?—”
“I am out of mercy.”
