The man turned to face him and this time there was no mask obstructing his face. Godric could not help but take note of the man’s features as anger welled up in him.
He looked old, quite old, as though life had not been kind to him. His grey mustache looked wispy, and his lips were cracked and he was missing an eye.
This was the man who had killed his parents. The figure who had haunted his nightmares for years and years.
Godric felt consumed by rage, the urge to strike the man before him until he was bloody and broken swirling around within him. He wanted to cause him so much pain, even though he knew it would not amount to even a fraction of what he had suffered as a child.
But that was not why he was here in any case. Godric needed information and unfortunately, only this man knew the answers.
“Anthony Brown, you were a hard man to find. You have taken far too much from me already. If you are smart, you would know better than to claim any more of my time. I will as you one simple question and you will answer. Do you understand?”
The man nodded and Godric tossed a bundle of money to the ground, watching with disgust as Anthony scampered on his hands and knees to retrieve it.
“Who hired you to kill my parents?”
The man looked up from his newly attained wealth and said, “Gregory Millington.”
“You are lying,” Godric said in disbelief. “I believe I warned you not to waste my time.”
“I speak the truth, Your Grace,” Anthony swore, holding the money close to his chest. “It was the baron of Gramfield. He envied the wealth of your parents, wished to somehow covert the family fortune by killing your parents and adopting you.”
“That cannot be the truth. Because Gregory Millington never made any attempts to even speak with me after the passing of my parents. He was too occupied with keeping his own family afloat.”
Godric took measured steps to the man, his voice becoming dangerous as he added,
“Do you think me a fool because I offered you money for your information? I simply did not wish to get any blood on my hands. It was either this, or I cut of your limbs with a rusty blade and have you pay for your actions in blood. That does sound much fairer, doesn’t it?”
Anthony had the sense to look nervous, and Godric decided an act of grace would be enough to get him what he wanted, tossing more money to the ground.
Then he dropped down into a squat, holding the man’s gaze as he demanded one last time,
“Who was it?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Take me back to Hadleigh manor.”
The coach man bowed as Godric climbed into the carriage, saying as he snapped the reigns of the horses.
“Right away, Your Grace.”
Godric leaned against the plush velvet cushions behind him and tried to get his racing thoughts to calm down for a moment.
He had come searching for answers and now that he had attained them, he wondered for a moment what he would do next.
“Stick to the plan. There is no need to change anything anyway,” he muttered, willing his mind to clear out the nagging sensation brewing within.
His problem no longer lay in his plot for revenge but rather in the bridges he had burned to get where he was now. Godric could only imagine how Nora felt after she had heard his admission, and somehow the expression on her face had kept him stuck in a state of guilt.
He had expected it to let him be, but it had continued to eat him up gradually, stifling him until he felt the only way he would obtain any relief was if he saw her face.
But Godric knew that she would not want to lay her eyes upon him – not if she had anything to say about it.
The ride to Cecil’s house felt long and endless and the mere look of the building he had dwelled in, caused a pit of self loathing to form in his gut. There were too many memories here now, many moments that had been spent fixated on thoughts of her.
Getting to know her, being bothered and haunted by the thoughts of her. Ultimately, he had gotten to taste her here as well, and that was when he knew for certain he had bitten off more than he could ever hope to chew.
Tiredly, Godric disembarked from the carriage once it had come to a stop in front of the house, and walked up to the front door with a growing heaviness in his heart.
