Mr. Spencer flashed his eyes as excitement brewed in him. “I might be an old fool – again, my apologies. I was nowhere near as thorough with Lord Livingstone’s documentation as I should have been. Or Lord Ashcombe, as it is. When this is done with, if you feel the need to terminate me from your employ, I will understand and –”
Sebastian held a hand up to silence him. “That will not be necessary. Assuming this news is as good as you claim?”
“Ah, yes!” He gave his head another shake to clear his thoughts. “I might be an old fool,” he said again. “But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Yes, I do. I reached out to the so-called Lord Livingston last night, under the guise of a missing signature. I made it appear that I wished to see him first thing this morning, lest the loan you promised him die on the vine.”
“You did?” Sebastian nodded his approval. “And he has sent a response?”
“It was here when I arrived,” Mr. Spencer said, which had Sebastian sighing with relief. “An assurance that he will be here within the hour. Which gives you and me time to plan how we should tackle this situation.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…” He sucked through his teeth and began to fidget. “Unfortunately, simply tearing up the contract will not solve the issue. This Lord Ashcombe is smart, and he must have known the ruse would be discovered. Consequently, the loan technically isn’t in his name – not in legal terms. The loan was given to his company, one which is very much legal, one which I have since looked into and learned to be owned by Lord Ashcombe.”
“Ah…” Sebastian’s stomach dropped. “So legally speaking…”
“Legally speaking, the loan you made was to Lord Ashcombe, not Lord Livingston. Which means that he is within his rights to deny the cancellation of the contract.”
“But he lied!” Sebastian cried. “Surely that justifies termination?”
“It does.” Mr. Spencer nodded furiously, his eyes wide. “But such a thing will take time. Fraud needs to be proven, which in turn will require much legal work. It could take months before this is all sorted through.”
Sebastian groaned as the bad news piled on.
“The only way we can possibly solve this is at the root of the problem. Which means we might have to…” He swallowed and then looked at Sebastian with a sense of warning. “If we mightperhapspersuadehim to cancel the contract on his own.” He cleared his throat then. “If my meaning is clear?”
Most strangely enough, Sebastian found himself smiling at that. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”
“How convincing do you think you can be, Your Grace?”
“As much as is needed,” Sebastian said with a growl.So, assuming that Lord Ashcombe is not a reasonable man, I might be required to take a more aggressive action in convincing him. Let us hope it comes to such things.
Sebastian was angry with himself for having gotten into this situation. He was embarrassed by the way he had treated his wife. He was furious that he had been tricked and made to look a fool. And he was torn with guilt that he’d seemingly blamed Margot. A torrent of emotions swarmed inside of him, all of which could be laid at Lord Ashcombe’s feet.
It might not have been the most honorable thing to do. And it might not have solved his marriage problems. But the idea of beating a confession out of the trickster lord was one that Sebastian latched onto because in times like these, small victories were all he had.
“Shall we…” He indicated toward Mr. Spencer’s office and the two men walked inside, closed the door, and got to waiting.
And there, they continued to wait.
And then they waited a little longer.
The hour came and left, and then another thirty minutes passed, and still Lord Ashcombe did not show.
“Are you certain of the time he gave you?” Sebastian asked, his panic growing as he began to suspect that Lord Ashcombe wasn’t going to show.
“Without a doubt.” Mr. Spencer checked the time. “He ought to have been here thirty minutes ago. Perhaps he is running late? Or became lost? Or slept in.”
“No…” Sebastian thought through the situation the best he could, the pieces slowly falling into place.
Lord Ashcombe was smarter than he had initially assumed, more cunning and far more devilish. Likely, when Mr. Spencer had reached out to him, he’d understood immediately that the ruse was up. A smart man would use the opportunity to flee, which was possibly where Lord Ashcombe was now – halfway across the country, eager to put as much distance between himself and Sebastian as he could.But Lord Ashcombe isn’t the type to run. In fact, he must have known we would figure out who he was. Why else would he have come to my home and risked being seen?
Sebastian’s face tightened as he continued to think… Lord Ashcombe had wanted to be found out. He had wanted Sebastian to try to lure him here. And if that was the case…
Sebastian’s eyes widened, and he jumped to his feet as it all came together. “Oh no…” A stone dropped into his stomach, and he very nearly doubled over as if he might vomit.
“What? What is it?” Mr. Spencer asked, looking about as if expecting the answer to appear in the room.
“My wife…” Sebastian’s body ran cold. “She’s in danger.”
