Wrong. This is wrong.
Yet it had to be the address she was given. There were no other houses in the stretch of green fields that seemed to bleed straight into the cliffs. She had left Farley and the carriage quite a ways away, hoping it had not been spotted by Evander’s captors, and had made her way up the winding footpath leading to the cliff the cottage stood on. She had wasted precious minutes confirming that she had the right place before giving up. This was where she would rescue Evander from captivity. It had to be.
Her hand clutched around her mother’s brooch, the other wrapped up in the sack of jewels and money she brought. Bridget walked over the cracked stone flags, past the overgrown garden, and pushed open the scuffed and peeling large white door. For some reason, her heart spiked when she took in the long crack that moved from the left top to the right bottom. It felt foreboding, as if that door was telling her that she, as well, would soon be nearly torn in two.
As she stepped into the small, dingy, and dimly lit foyer, Bridget’s eyes roamed the peeling walls, the winding staircase that had steps missing, and the chandelier that hung at a severetilt—all but one of its suspension ropes snapped no doubt long ago. There was a broken green velvet couch with two missing legs to her left, as well as a small wooden table accompanied by two wooden chairs—the only part of the house so far that did not appear broken or diminished in some way.
Something rustled from the second floor; tiny legs running suddenly, followed by something that sounded heavier and bigger.
A predator that found its prey,she thought, then shivered.
“You came,” a man’s voice erupted into the silence.
Bridget gasped as she looked left then right, trying to find where the voice had come from. There was no one.
“Yes,” she stated loudly, praying her voice did not quake. “As you requested, I brought your payment. Now release my brother-in-law to me, and you shall have it.”
“I am surprised you came that far,” the voice said. “Would you risk it all for a man you do not know?”
That voice is familiar. I know that voice. Where do I know that voice from?
“I will do whatever it takes to get my brother-in-law home!” she shouted with more bravery than she realized she had. She then walked to the table and threw the sack of money and jewels down atop it.
“Now give him to me!” she shouted, looking into the rooms beyond the foyer, trying to find the man taunting her. “If this is handled properly, I shall promise to leave my husband out of this.”
“Husband?” the voice barked, followed by a bellowing laugh. “That man is not your husband.”
Bridget gritted her teeth as she continued to turn a slow circle, trying to find the man behind the voice.
“He became my husband before the Lord and the Vicar, sir,” she shouted back. “How dare you say otherwise!”
“Fascinating. Where was such dedication when it came to me, I wonder?”
Bridget whirled around as the voice erupted right behind her ear. Her eyes went wide with shock, and her stomach tightened into a knot as she took in the man before her. It was not Evander, but another man who was supposedly dead.
“H-how?” she asked, taking a step backward.
Warren’s smile was purely devilish as he took a calm step toward her, his hands behind his back.
“You were relieved when you thought I was dead. Weren’t you?”
Bridget shook her head, her senses clashing into one another wildly as she tried to find reason. Warren had been dead. Victor had identified him himself, or so he said.
“I tried to find you,” she whispered, taking another step back. “Ask the servants. Ask your brother! You betrayed our vows over and over, yet I came looking for you!”
“You have much to apologize for, Bridget,” Warren sighed, as if her words had no effect on him.
He pulled his hands from behind his back and looked down at them as he flexed his fingers. “You have broken so many vows. What would your guardians think?”
“I do not care what they think any longer!” she snapped, then drew in a shaky breath. “And there were no vows broken on my part, Warren. That fault falls fully upon you. Now, where is Evander? What did you do to him?”
Warren’s eyes darkened as his hand shot out and wrapped around her throat.
“You dare speak to me in such a fashion?” he asked, his voice a deadly whisper.
Bridget spat at him as she gripped his arm and tried to pull away.
“What did you do to Evander?” she demanded, choking as Warren’s grip grew tighter.
