Hot breath hit her ear. “Another move like that, and my partner there’ll bash that baby’s skull with his hilt. Understand?”
The other man raised his knife, ready to strike.
Cold terror prickled down her spine.
Oh God, please, spare my sweet girl.
Bella raged all the more.
Kit forced her body to slacken as if the life had been sucked from her bones, which it would be if anything happened to her baby. “No more trouble from me.”
She felt more than saw the thug behind her nod at the other man. That brute carried Bella like a bundle of kindling beneath his arm as he tromped down the stairs. The beast behind her withdrew the knife from her throat then wrenched her arm behind her back, forcing her to follow or suffer a dislocation of the shoulder.
It was the longest walk of her life. From upstairs to sitting room, each of Bella’s sobs pierced her heart afresh. The man jerked her to a stop in the center of the room, where she faced a scabby-skinned fellow with a pointy nose and dark buttons for eyes. She suspected the top hat on his head was more a power statement than for fashion, as was the black cane on which he languidly propped his forearm.
By now, Bella was red-faced bawling.
Kit scowled yet forced an even tone to her voice. “Do as you will with me but let my baby go.”
“What’s this? No tears? No hysterics? How singular.” The man on the sofa twitched his head sideways, studying her. “I think I like you, Mrs. Forge.”
“I do not share the sentiment,” she snapped. “Who are you?”
His thin lips pinched. “I am disappointed you feel the need to ask. Carky esteemed your intelligence much higher than appears warranted.”
Ahh. This was the man Carky had preferred to die for instead of disappoint…the man who’d clearly double-crossed Jackson. Gooseflesh lifted on Kit’s arms. “What are you doing here, Mr. Child?”
“That’s more like it.” He grinned, exposing yellowed teeth. “Just thought I’d see for myself where Dominic Black lives. A bit shabbier than I expected…” He glanced from wall to wall. “For a chief inspector, that is. Have a seat, Mrs. Forge, before the shock weakens your knees. Can’t have you swooning on me now.”
The man behind her shoved her into the wingback adjacent the sofa, but the rough handling barely registered. He knew. Child knew! When had Jackson’s cover been blown? How? Was there a mole somewhere or—
Bella’s screeches cut into her thoughts, and she pushed to the edge of the cushion. “Please let me hold my baby.”
“I am afraid that is out of the question.” Child’s head swiveled on his scaly neck, his dark eyes narrowing on the heavyweight holding her sweet girl. “Shut the brat up.”
Kit grabbed hold of the chair arms. If that man dared strike Bella, she’d fly at him and die satisfied knowing she’d gouged out his eyes.
He reached into his pocket. Kit held her breath, praying so hard that sweat popped on her brow.
A dirty white cloth unfurled, and he shoved it into Bella’s mouth. She kicked and squirmed, cries muffled, but was no match for a grown man.
Kit skewered Child with a sharp glare. “You won’t get away with this.”
Half a smile lifted one side of his mouth as he leaned back on the sofa, rubbing his thumb and forefinger along the length of the cane. “My dear, I get away with anything I please.”
“No. Not always. Coleman is still alive and able to testify against you.”
“A trifle.” His gaze followed the movement of his fingers. “Coleman’s knowledge goes only so far as the former Mr. Blade and the bumbling Mr. Bellow, for it was Bellow who oversaw the embezzling scheme, leaving me totally out of the picture. Coleman has no knowledge of who I am.”
That didn’t add up. “Then why hire Carky to kill him?”
“Because Coleman’s testimony will ruin the beautiful downfall of Willis and Percival.” His eyes hardened as he laid the cane in his lap. “A shame that plan got foiled, but it does give me a chance to devise a new and possibly more deadly way to shut them down.”
A vendetta? That’s what this was about? But try as she might, there was no way to figure out the gist of all he’d said with Bella’s pathetic mewling breaking her heart. Fisting her hands to her belly, she eyed Mr. Child. “Did they shortchange you? Renege on a loan? Or, no, I know…Willis or Percival—both, perhaps—stumbled upon one of your dealings and cut in on it.”
“Clever.” Admiration sparked in his eyes. “But wrong on all accounts. Family honour runs deeper than money, you know.”
“So your family was somehow slighted by Willis and Percival,” she thought aloud. “They refused some funding or closed an account. Yet if so, that is hardly grounds to ruin the livelihood of two men, not to mention those who work beneath them.”
