“That he was paid to forge the letter, and he revealed the name of the man who bought his services.”
Then he gave Leo a folded paper with a single name on it. When Leo saw that name, he felt vindicated.Aaron Fletcher,Marques of Redfield.
A wild smile spread on his face. Finally, he got what he needed to put a stop to Aaron’s plans. He gave the man a hefty envelope and closed the door. Edwin was already looking through the papers.
“This is definitely a gold mine,” Edwin commented. “The stolen correspondence, the original draft to that first letter...”
“Let me see that,” Leo said urgently.
He studied that letter and his face, perhaps that of peace in the middle of turmoil. This was all definitely Aaron's handwriting. From what it seemed, this was all a plan from the same man, and he acted alone.
“So,” Edwin must have thought the same thing, “your mother had nothing to do with this.”
Exactly like Prim said before he accused her of disrupting his privacy. For a moment, everything else faded into insignificance. His thoughts went back to Prim, how her instincts got her where he was now, way before.
“Finally, Leo, you have what you need,” Edwin said, interrupting his thoughts. “What are you going to do about it?”
A smile spread across Leo’s face. He had plotted and dreamed of this day for quite a while. He was not going to waste any more time.
“You know what, Edwin?” He smiled a smooth, cold, scary smile. “I think it's high time I visited my family for a little chat.”
Leo didn't sleep that night. He stayed up and reviewed the documents again and again, trying to find connections, things that he might have missed. He wanted all the loose ends tied in the perfect little bow. He wouldn't allow Aaron to slither away from this like the snake that he was.
The sun was up when Leo gathered the evidence and called upon his carriage.
He said nothing to Prim since he didn't know what was going to happen, how his family was going to react, or what the implications of what he was about to do would be.
On the way to the Covington Estate, Leo could barely contain his anger and his resentment. It was one thing to have your suspicions and another to see so clearly laid out that his half-brother would even conceive such devious plans. Let alone go through with them not once but four times.
When the butler answered the door, Leo simply pushed through, and then he walked down the corridor under the surprised looks of the staff. He followed the voices in the house till he burst into a drawing room.
Even if he had planned for the three of them to be at the same place at the same time, he wouldn't have done it in such great coordination. In this drawing room, there were Bridget and Winston, and of course, his prey, Aaron.
“Good morning, everyone,” Leo said, with a voice so fakely chirpy.
“Leo?” Bridget’s teacup rattled. “What is the meaning of this?”
“How dare you enter my home unannounced?” Winston’s face mottled with outrage. “Have you forgotten all courtesy?”
“But if I were to announce myself,” Leo said, strolling into the center of the room, his smile a razor’s edge, “it would ruin the surprise. And I have such a delightful gift to share.”
The only one that didn't have any kind of response was Aaron himself. He just kept looking over the newspaper he was reading as if he saw a ghost. It was here in his family's house that he had dared Leo to find evidence against him.
“Leo?” his mother asked. “Why are you here?”
“I am here for clarification. It would be a pleasure for me to enlighten you on what filthy vermin you have been nurturing all these years.”
Without any pretense, Leo’s eyes fixed on his half-brother. Aaron must have felt that there was something different that morning. He would love to drag this on to make it a totally humiliating experience, but Leo realized that he had better things to do.
“Let's see. I didn't come empty handed in the house.”
Leo reached into his jacket and procured the documents that he needed to corner Aaron, to prove to Bridget and Winston that their son was not as innocent as they loved to believe.
“Perhaps we should start from the beginning. Who is the mysterious person who wrote that first letter?
Leo took out a thick, expensive paper in ivory color and just placed it on the little round table that sat between the members of this family. Winston was the first to react. He took that paper in his hands and stared at it for a few minutes.
“The letter that was reprinted in the sheets, that was the hardest one to track down. But if you're stubborn enough, rich enough, there is almost nothing in the world that you cannot obtain.”
