There was a scuffle, a groan, beyond the front doors. Max’s friends were close. Fascinating as Molly’s mental defect was, it was time to wrap up this chapter in Max’s life. “We have the church surrounded. You have to know the Crown won’t let you escape.” He cocked his head. “Why did you engage with us? Why not take your ill-gotten gains and buy a villa in Tuscany?”
She jumped to her feet, shaking with fury. “What gains? Six months ago, you and your friends laid waste to my network, froze half my net-worth.”
Yes, and if their calculations were correct, the remaining half was still more than most earls could hope to see in their lifetime.
She advanced a step. “I always return a favor. A cut for a cut. I owe you for the trouble you caused and it’s time that I delivered.”
She was mad. Max could see that in her eyes. He wondered if Liverpool would account for her illness when he decided her punishment. “My friends are waiting at the front door,” he said gently. “Come with us quietly, and let’s avoid further bloodshed.”
“Isn’t that sweet?” Running her palm down the ermine trim of her cloak, she smiled. “You think it’s your friends at the door.” She flicked her fingers in a shooing motion. “Well, go check. Let’s get that last bit of hope of yours out of the way.”
Max stepped back, uneasy, and glanced at the double doors. Of course, it was his friends beyond it, waiting in the narthex. Molly might have a lot of men under her control, but Max and his friends had all the resources of the Crown behind them. Liverpool wanted Zed caught; he hadn’t been stingy in the amount of men he’d sent.
“Go on.” She bit her lip, looking coy and girlish, and nothing like a criminal mastermind.
Keeping an eye on her, ready to pounce at the first sign of her flight, Max made his way to the doors. It was time to end this charade. Maybe once Molly saw she was surrounded she’d give up her delusions.
He flung open the left door, ready to ask his friends what had taken them so long. An unfamiliar male face stared back at him. Max frowned. Liverpool had many men. It could be someone Max hadn’t met.
It wasn’t until Max had convinced himself of that fact that he saw the arm the man had a grip on. The body attached to that limb was hidden behind the second door. With a tobacco-stained smile, the man tugged on the arm and Colleen stumbled into the doorway. Her face was pale except for the purpling between her left eye and temple. Her hair had long ago escaped its pins and flew about her head in a crimson tangle.
Instinctively, Max reached for her. The man holding her took a step back and pressed the edge of the blade he held with his other hand beneath her breast.
Max’s feet rooted to the ground. He swallowed, his mouth dry as the desert, and let his arms drop to his sides.
Understanding crashed on him likes waves, swamping his brain, making him dizzy. His friends wouldn’t be coming. If they’d been able, they would have rescued Colleen already. He was all that stood between the woman he loved and the vengeance of a lunatic.
“I must admit I don’t understand what it is you find appealing in her,” Molly said from behind him. “But I’m so glad that you do care. It makes it that much more satisfying killing a person when someone who loves them is there to watch.”
Chapter Eighteen
The man holding the knife to Colleen jerked his head, indicating Max should step back, and he obeyed. Max’s gaze was transfixed on the knife, that three-inch length of steel that could destroy his future.
“It’s going to be all right,” Max said. Trying to reassure Colleen or himself, he didn’t know.
She nodded and lifted her chin. If Max didn’t know her better, he would think she wasn’t afraid. As though having a man hold a knife to her was an everyday occurrence. But he did know her better. Saw the slight quiver of her lips before she set them into a firm line. Saw her hands clench into fists beneath the cuffs of her cousin’s old coat.
The group of them marched to the altar. Molly, Max, Colleen and her captor. “This church, hell, this entire city block, is surrounded by government men,” Max said. “You’re only rational choice is to give yourself up.”
“All those men are currently battling my own.” Molly stepped up on the altar and lifted a taper from a three-pronged candelabra. “I practically have my own army. But thanks for your concern. Besides, I love this church. It’s so peaceful.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “Even after your men blocked off all the underground tunnels that I used months ago, I still came here for the quiet.”
“You worked at the club.” Colleen tugged at the arm her captor still held, but the man jerked her back into his chest. She frowned. “Why write to me asking for information on the members? You most likely knew more about them than I did.”
“Why not?” Raising the candle high, Molly stepped close, the flame throwing flickering shadows on Colleen’s face. “You annoyed me, so it seemed fitting to involve you. Also, if the manager of The Black Rose was giving me information, no one would wonder how I came to know the secrets that went on behind those walls.”
Max nodded. “Putting Madame Sable, and then Colleen, on your payroll deflected attention away from you. Smart.”
Molly dropped a low curtsy. “Why, thank you, my lord.”
“Trying to kill her when you invited her to this very same church would have ruined that deception, however.” Glancing at the front doors, Max prayed for a miracle to burst through. They remained shut. “That wasn’t so smart.”
Molly snorted. “When I sent her that note?”
Max nodded and inched closer to Colleen. The man holding her adjusted his grip on the knife, and the blade twisted against her waistcoat. Max’s lungs froze.
“I wasn’t going to do her in then.” Molly ran her fingers through the candles’ flames, her gaze transfixed on the flickering fire. “My man was just going to offer her more money for information.”
Colleen dipped her chin and raised an eyebrow, giving Max a look.
