He knew that laugh. Cage strode into the grand foyer. He must be mistaken. The ceiling soared two stories high, and an enormous crystal chandelier hung from a sturdy chain filling the space with light. A sweeping staircase flowed down from the first floor. Dark green carpeting ran down its dark wood steps. Another corridor, identical to the one he had just emerged, extended east from the other side of the stairs.
A man, his cheeks flushed red from drink, and his mask pushed up onto his broad forehead gleaming with sweat, had an arm wrapped around the shoulders of a young woman. Tall, blond hair half up and half down, she struggled under the weight of the man leaning on her heavily. She smiled at her partner while giving his chest a shove with her hand. Cage’s heart stopped. Even with the mask covering her eyes, he recognized his sister. He would know that smile anywhere.
“Grace?” He ripped off his domino.
“Cage?” Her hand covered her heart. “You’re alive? God almighty, you’re alive!”
The other man swung his head back and forth between the two of them. In three long strides, Cage crossed to them. He grabbed the man by the neck and dragged him away from his sister. “Get out of here,” he growled.
The man’s eyes bulged. “Hey now, she agreed. She’s paid for.”
Cage’s vision went red, and his fingers squeezed harder. He would squeeze the life out of this asshole. The man grabbed hold of Cage’s forearm in an attempt to dislodge his hand.
“Cage!”
At his sister’s voice, he turned his gaze to her. The fear in her eyes slapped him back to sanity. He let go of the man.“Get gone,” he ordered. The man stumbled away, muttering to himself.
Cage took two steps toward his sister and gathered her close. “Grace.”
He buried his face in Grace’s hair. He found her. Fourteen months of searching, fourteen months of fear, of guilt, and he had found her at last. He pulled back to look down into her face. “Grace, I have been searching for you. What are you doing here?”
Her eyes shuttered, the smile disappearing. She stepped out of the circle of his embrace. Grace wrapped her arms around her middle, her gaze lowered to focus on the floor. Cage took in her appearance for the first time, her dress unbuttoned to show an indecent amount of cleavage, loosely tied hair, and the simple black mask. The horrible truth of what she was doing here sank in, seeping right into his soul.
He grabbed her chin and forced her eyes to meet his. “Do you work for Mrs. Gwyn? Are you…” His throat suddenly parched; he swallowed hard. “Do you…entertain gentleman?”
The sadness he saw reflected in her deep brown eyes was all the confirmation he needed. She nodded once, then turned away, her hands clenched into fists. He grabbed hold of one hand and tugged her down the second hallway. After trying the handle on the first door and finding it opened easily, he pulled her inside the small receiving room.
Crossing to a table that held two fat candles, he found a silver matchbox. His hand shook as he lit the wicks. Grace worked for Mrs. Gwyn. How had she come to work for Mrs. Gwyn?
“Where have you been, Cage?” Grace’s soft voice echoed in the empty room. “I needed you. I needed my big brother.”
His heart shattered into a million pieces, her quiet words the hammer. He turned and found himself staring at her back, rigid and straight. Her head down, she gripped her skirts withwhite knuckles. “When I returned to England last winter, I immediately went to the Smethwick’s. They said you had run away with a man named Mr. Harlow. They said they hadn’t heard from you in weeks. I have been searching for you ever since. Why did you leave? You were safe there.”
She shook her head. “Mr. Smethwick said they had received news you were dead. That without the income you sent, they had no choice but to send me home. I couldn’t go back and live under father’s roof. I’ll never go back to him.”
He tried to wrap his head around what she said. He had sent the couple money regularly in exchange for keeping Grace as their ward. Mr. Smethwick was the vicar in Tensely. He had been sympathetic when Cage explained that Grace could no longer be under her father’s roof. He had been frank with the man about Wrotham’s abusive temperament. He thought the man and his wife to be supportive.
Why would they lie to her? Unless Wrotham had gotten to them, threatened them. No, if Wrotham had known where his daughter was, he would have come and taken her back immediately. It didn’t make any sense. And how did Harlow fit into the picture? Who was he?
Grace’s shoulders were hunched, her back still turned to him. He reached for her but paused inches from touching her. Her whole body trembled with despair. “Grace, Wrotham is dead.”
She whirled around, her eyes round in her pale face. “What? When?”
“Eight months ago. The letter said it was heart failure.”
“Dead?” She crumpled to the floor. Her chin lifted, and her lips trembled. “We are…free?”
Cage went to his knees in front of his sister. He grasped her hands and nodded. Grace let out a long shuddering breath. She looked so small and frail. That’s it; they were leaving right now. There was so much more to say, but not here. He needed to takeher away from this place. He would figure out a way to make things right. “Let’s go. You are coming with me right now.”
Her head jerked up. “I can’t just waltz out the door. I belong to Mrs. Gwyn now. I owe her money. She won’t let me leave.”
“I don’t care. I’m not leaving here without you.” He ruthlessly tamped down his anger, his panic. He needed to get back to Caroline. He’d left her alone for far too long. “Come, pretend you are entertaining me tonight. I’m here with a friend. We are attempting to free a young girl who is going to be the virgin sacrifice tonight.”
“Dorothy?”
“Is that her name?”
Grace nodded. “Yes, Mrs. Gwyn picked her up just two days ago.”
