Adeline’s father waved a hand, and a guard entered the room. The guard roughly grasped Malcolm by the arm, then twisted both arms behind his back and clamped a pair of irons around his wrists. Malcolm clenched his fists and growled, baring his teeth at Rawlings.
“All secure, my lord. Open the door if you need anything.” He walked out of the cell and closed the door.
“Now, you know what I want. Are you ready to talk after three days in the clink?”
“You won’t find her,” Malcolm spat out.
“Do you think I mean Adeline?” A dry chuckle erupted from between his thin lips. “Oh please, she was easy to flush out. She only has two friends. All I had to do was send a fake note from her brother saying that her mother was ill and needed her. She came flying home.”
No, Adeline.Malcolm closed his eyes.I said stay put.It was just like her to not think straight if someone she loved needed her.
“Did you know that Bellamy decided she wasn’t worth the trouble the minute she went out the window with you? He would have been an excellent addition to the family, but no, Adeline had to go thinking for herself and disobeying her father.”
Malcolm snorted.
Rawlings stepped closer, his breath rancid and his eyes narrowed. “It was so easy to dispose of her. A little poison in her tea, and she slipped into unconsciousness. So tragic that she caught some terrible illness on the road.”
“No!” Panic exploded in his chest. “Even you wouldn’t kill your own daughter.” It couldn’t be true.
“Daughter? Didn’t she tell you? She’s not mine. She was nothing but a thorn in my side. Too awkward and ugly to marry off, years of paying for her seasons… Bellamy took a fancy to her, though; that was her last chance.”
Malcolm stared in horror at Rawlings’s placid expression. The man’s eyes held so much malice that Malcolm believed what he said.Please, no, not Adeline.He stumbled backward as though he had been struck. His back hit the wall. An image of Adeline slumped back against the sofa cushions, her eyes shut, her chest still, flooded his vision. His legs turned to jelly, and he slid down to the floor.
“Kingsbury, where are the artifacts she stole from me? Kingsbury!”
He blinked up at Rawlings, whose expression had morphed into one of panic. Malcolm gave a hoarse chuckle. He could rot in hell. “You’ll never get your hands on them.”
Rawlings gripped the front of Malcolm’s shirt and shook him roughly. “Where are they?”
Malcolm sneered. “They are at Hartwick House.”
“Fucking Hartwick.” Rawlings let go of him with a shove. He got up and knocked on the door to leave. Malcolm barely noticed. He could only think about Adeline. His love. He was the reason she was dead. Everything he loved died.
He sat on the floor, staring blankly at the stone wall across from him. Then he heard the lock turn again. The guard came in and unchained his arms. Another guard set down a tray with a tin cup of water and two slices of bread on the floor in front of him.
“Here is your meal for today.Bon appétit.” Both men laughed heartily as they left.
If his sweet Adeline was gone, he had nothing to live for. Malcolm kicked the tray across the room with a satisfying clatter and splash as the water spilled onto the floor.
Chapter Thirty-Five
When twenty-four hourspassed and Malcolm had not returned to see her, Adeline knew that something had gone wrong. But Lord Hartwick had very rationally pointed out that Malcolm might simply be doing his job and that the paperwork or whatever task he may have been assigned was taking all his time. By dinnertime the second day, they all agreed that Malcolm would have at least sent a note by now. Lucy suggested that her husband use his contacts to find out what was happening so that Adeline could have peace of mind.
This morning, Adeline picked at her breakfast. She had gotten little sleep last night as she fretted about how her choices had possibly gotten Malcolm killed. What if he suffered the same fate as the admiral? Dear Lord, what if she never saw him again? She had been so foolish taking the artifacts with her. A tear rolled down her cheek and splashed onto her fork.
“Addy, please don’t cry. We don’t know what’s happened yet. Don’t immediately think the worst.”
She looked up at her friends. “You don’t understand what villainy my father is capable of.” She sucked in a breath. It was time to tell them the truth. “I have been avoiding telling you both something I recently learned. Partially because I didn’t want you to sever your friendship with me but also because I didn’t want my brother and mother to suffer because of my father’s actions.”
“We cannot control our fathers’ actions any more than we can change the past,” Hartwick said. “This is something I have learned. My father was not the perfect gentleman I always thought. It is something I had to come to terms with.”
“But he was not a murderer!” Adeline clapped her hand over her mouth. More tears escaped. She lowered her hand. “Several weeks ago, I went to speak to my father but there were men in his study. Rough men who demanded payment, saying he was overdue. I overheard them speak about when my father hired them to kill two toffs. My father retorted that they had messed up the job. And they replied it wasn’t their fault you were a survivor.”
She watched the realization dawn across both their faces. “Now you truly understand why I have acted so strangely around you recently,” she said quietly.
Lucy reached over and gripped her husband’s hand. Their eyes met. “Now you know. It is the last piece.”
Hartwick’s chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you for telling me. Please excuse me for a moment.” His chair scraped back, and he stood and walked out of the room.
