Charlotte’s hands tightened in her lap. “What sums?”
“Substantial debts,” he said. “And not to men who appreciate delay.”
Her pulse began to quicken.
“There is more,” he continued, his tone dropping, “One of the men he owed—someone who had been pressing him rather publicly—has vanished. Disappeared from the village entirely.”
A chill shivered her spine.
“Vanished?” she repeated.
“No explanation. No forwarding address. Simply gone.”
Charlotte swallowed.
“Do you know his name?” she asked.
Beatrice’s husband hesitated, then nodded. “Elias Corbin.”
The name meant nothing to her—and yet everything.
“Take me to Hawthorne Hollow,” Charlotte said at once. “And to this Corbin’s former associates. If William is entangled with dangerous men, I must understand how deeply.”
Beatrice reached for her hand. “You have just arrived. You should rest.”
“I have rested long enough in ignorance,” Charlotte replied.
Her voice did not waver.
“If William’s debts drove him to desperation … if my father’s refusal to invest further in him left him exposed …” She could not finish the thought, but the implication hung heavy in the air.
Beatrice’s husband studied her solemnly. “If you begin asking questions openly, you may alert him.”
“I will not ask openly,” Charlotte said. “Not at first.”
The fire cracked softly.
For the first time since leaving Ashford, something inside her shifted from grief into purpose.
William had believed he could ruin her and control the story.
He had underestimated her.
“In the morning,” she said quietly, “we begin.”
Outside, the wind hustled through the narrow street.
Inside, Charlotte felt the first steady thread of resolve take hold.
If William had built his schemes on secrets and debt, she would dismantle them with truth.
And she would not return to Ashford until she had something solid enough to place in Edward’s hands.
Chapter 30
Edward had been awake only moments when the door burst open.
Julian stood in the threshold in his nightshirt, hair disheveled, face streaked with tears. He clutched a sheet of paper in one trembling hand.
