Elizabeth headed through the door with Griffen pushing Stella behind her.Out in the hallway, the pitiful mew of Stella’s kitten echoed.Its yellow eyes glowed in the dark hallway.She reached down and scooped Pitter-Patter up.Then she turned left toward the stage.“There are back stairs, where we can go out to the alley.”
When they got to the back doors.Griffen muscled past her and out onto the small landing.He looked down and spotted Mrs.Langley and the other women.Then he looked up.“We will climb to the roof and go over to the next building.You first.”He jerked his head to the shadowy stairs that led up to the roof.
Elizabeth glanced down and contemplated screaming to call attention.
“Don’t even think of screaming if you value her neck.”Stella let out a gasp as he tightened his hold on her.Elizabeth held up her hands to stay him.She grasped her skirts and began to climb the wooden stairs.
At the top of the stairs, they stepped over a low ledge and onto the rooftop.Smoke rose from the front of the house.She moved slowly to the middle of the roof and spotted a plank of wood lying nearby.Stella began to struggle against her brother’s grip, kicking her legs back against his shins.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Elizabeth dropped the kitten and stumbled to grab up the plank.Turning, she swung it with all her might at the back of his legs.With a yelp of pain, he dropped Stella and fell to his knees.His hand snaked out and grasped Elizabeth’s skirt, pulling her off-balance, and she fell onto her backside.She twisted to Stella.“Run!”she screamed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Matthew kicked hishorse into a gallop as they turned the corner.Jesus Christ.Smoke and fire poured out of the front of his club.He leapt from the saddle after coming to a stop in front.Ben stood in the street with little Robert in one arm and the other wrapped around Mrs.Todd.
He raced over to them.Seaton was hot on his heels.“What the hell happened?”
“We was ambushed, boss.”Ben’s face was twisted in anguish.“They threw firebombs through the front windows.The men are inside with the buckets.Someone’s run to get the fire brigade.Elizabeth went into the theater to find Stella, but they haven’t come out yet.”
“No, no.”He twisted to look up at the house.
Seaton’s heavy hand clapped onto his shoulder.“They probably went out the back stairs.That’s why we had it installed.I’m sure they are safe in the alley.”
A shrill scream from above their heads rent the air.He tipped his head back and saw shadows struggling on the roof.A low male shout was followed by Lizzie’s voice screaming, “Run!”
Matthew’s heart dropped to his stomach.They were on the roof.Trapped.He ran to the corner of the building.Ignoring the smoke billowing out, he began to scramble up the wooden drainpipe.One hand over the other, he climbed.Fear clogged his throat, mingling with smoke and making his lungs burn.Still, he climbed.He had to get to his girls.At the roofline, he flung himself over the ledge.It was so much worse than he imagined.Jonas had Lizzie pulled flush against him with his arm around her throat, his back to Matthew.
Stella, her eyes streaming with tears, was on her knees in front of them screaming, “Stop!”
Matthew slid his knife from his boot and took aim.Throwing it with accuracy born from pure fury, it sank into Jonas’s shoulder.With a howl of pain, his brother let go of Lizzie and swung around, trying to reach the knife with wide, desperate grabs.Lizzie scrabbled on her knees over to Stella, throwing her arms around his sister.
Matthew strode over, pulled his knife out, and tossed it to the ground.Then he grabbed Jonas around the throat in the same hold he had just had on Lizzie.He pressed his forearm into Jonas’s windpipe, cutting off his air.“How does it feel, you bastard?”
Jonas scratched at his arm, his movements jerky and uncoordinated as he ran out of breath.Matthew spoke low, right in his ear.“This is how your victims felt.Desperate for air.How does it feel to know your life is draining away?Just like you drained so many others.”
“Matthew,” Lizzie’s voice cut through the haze of his fury.He looked over at her.Eyes wide and frightened, she held his sister in her arms, cradling Stella’s head as she sobbed against her shoulder.
What was he doing?He wasn’t like his brother.He didn’t kill.Matthew shook his head to clear the madness that had filled him with such rage and loosened the pressure on Jonas’s throat.
Seaton’s lithe form emerged from the smoke.He pulled a knife from its holster.Without pausing, he strode up and shoved it right between Jonas’s ribs.His brother gasped and let out a wet gurgle.Blood began to trickle out of his mouth.Matthew released him, letting Jonas’s body slither to the ground.
He met Seaton’s flinty gaze.“Thank you.”
Seaton nodded.“Go take care of your family.”He looked down at Jonas’s lifeless body at their feet.“I will handle this.”
Matthew walked over to his girls.Falling to his knees in front of them, he gently grasped each of their chins.“It’s over.He’s dead.”He swept his thumb across Lizzie’s cheek as she nodded.Then he switched his gaze to Stella.
His sister’s dark eyes were filled with tears, but her jaw clenched.“I’m glad.He was going to kill us.”
“You’re both safe now.Except we need to get off this roof.”He stood and reached down for each of their hands, pulling them to their feet.
Stella glanced around.“Where is Pitter-Patter?Come here, girl.”
Elizabeth stood there, shaking, her eyes focused on where Jonas lay behind him.Matthew enfolded her in his arms.Kissing her hair, he held her tight, letting the solid feel of her seep into his bones.She was alive and unharmed.
She tipped her head back to look up at him.“I’m glad he’s dead too.Now he can’t hurt anyone else.”
“Come, luv.Let’s get you safely downstairs.”He led the way down the wooden staircase.Lizzie behind him, Stella cradling her cat, and Seaton bringing up the rear.At the bottom, Mrs.Langley was waiting anxiously.She enveloped Stella in her embrace.“Girl, you’ll be the death of me.Why did you run off?”
