Hart recognized his calling card. “Mr. Seaton?”
The man nodded. “Yes, Rhys Seaton. What news did you hear?” Then he held up a hand. “No, let me guess, something scandalous about your dear old da?”
“How do you know that?” He rose to his feet. How would this man know that?
“Because you have just come from Blackpool’s residence. And I know all sorts of secrets. It’s part of what I do, sort of my currency, you could say.”
Hart clenched his fists. “So, you deal in blackmail? Is that why you have approached me? To threaten to expose my family’s secrets?”
Seaton threw his head back and laughed. “No, in quite the twist, I’m here to watch over you. I have been hired to protect you.”
What? Protect him? “Who hired you?”
“That I cannot say. The party is aggrieved at what happened to you and wishes to protect you from further harm.”
“Are you a Bow Street Runner?” Hart asked.
Seaton looked positively offended; his lip curled in disgust. “No.”
Hart was confused and honestly bone-weary tired even though it was the middle of the afternoon. “What do you want, Mr. Seaton? Because I don’t think I have the wherewithal for this mental chess.”
Seaton shrugged. “You called for me, remember?”
Oh yes, he had asked for Seaton to contact him. What about again? Hart tried to get his thoughts together. The Knot of Isis. “Uh, yes, we were… I mean, I was interested in the history of the building you own. The one that houses the Blue Angel. I recognized the symbol above the door. The Knot of Isis.”
“Is that what it’s called? Hmm.” Seaton tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “The building came to me through family. Our family, little brother.”
Chapter Sixteen
Hart sucked ina ragged gasp of air. What had he said?Brother?
“W-what do you mean?” he stuttered.
“I said it came to me through family. Surely, you’re not that dense. My mother was your father’s mistress.” His lips thinned. “For a time.”
His head reeled. “When?”
“Between you and your brother.”
It was too much to believe. These things being said about his father. He wouldn’t believe it. “No, my father wasn’t that kind of man. He loved my mother; he mourned her death deeply.” He took a menacing step forward, but Seaton just stood there with a mocking smirk on his face.
“Believe whatever you wish, little brother. It doesn’t change the facts.”
“Don’t call me that.” Hart shoved the bastard in the chest. “You’re lying. You must be lying.”
“Don’t make me regret taking this job.” Seaton grasped the front of Hart’s jacket. He leaned in close. “I could kill you just as easily as breathing.”
A familiar voice pierced through Hart’s fog of rage.
“Get your hands off of him!”
He turned from Seaton.
Lucy was barreling toward them at full steam. She snatched up his cane from where it rested against the bench, and in a move smooth and practiced, she whipped it around so that the tip pressed against Seaton’s throat. “Step back, you fiend.”
Seaton’s eyes widened, but he was surprisingly calm. He let go of Hart’s jacket. His lips curved up into a smile. “A friend of yours?”
Hart took a step back and closed his eyes as he tried to rein in his emotions. Tried to find some balance in a world turned upside down.
