The door opened and a tall, thin man with brown hair and eyes stepped into the office. He held himself ramrod straight, rather like a soldier, as he closed the door behind himself.
“Mr. Paul Abbot,” Marcus said with a slash of his hand toward the intruder.
Ellis glanced at Rivers. “Did you…did you plan the timing of this?
Rivers chuckled. “I planeverything, Handsome. Abbot, will you share your report about Lord Winston’s home with our guest?”
Abbot inclined his head and then focused his attention on Ellis. “I delivered the missive about the club myself yesterday afternoon. I found the household in some upheaval. They were clearly preparing for something.”
“The return of Winston Leonard,” Ellis breathed as he pushed to his feet and moved toward Abbot a step.
Abbot nodded. “That was my guess. When I mentioned Rivers’ name and the club, the butler suddenly took great interest and said he would deliver the note to his master the moment he returned. I didn’t get any other information about when that would be, but based on the state of the house? I’d say no more than a week.”
A week. Ellis sank back into the chair as the air left his lungs. It seemed like a lifetime to wait. And it seemed like nothing more than the blink of an eye. In a week, this would be resolved at last. The way it always should have been. And everything would be over, the bad and the good.
Regret washed over him, but he shoved it aside.
“You don’t look as pleased by this news as I thought you would,” Rivers said.
“I am,” Ellis said softly, and glanced up at Abbot with a grateful nod. “I appreciate your intervention more than I could express. I realize this puts you both out.”
Abbot’s forehead wrinkled. “Doing my job doesn’t put me out, Mr. Maitland, I assure you. Is there anything else you require, Rivers?”
Marcus motioned him to go and he did so, leaving the two friends alone again. Marcus leaned across the desk, his dark green eyes holding Ellis’s without letting go.
“What are you going to do, Handsome?” Ellis flinched before he could stop himself, and Marcus’s expression fell a fraction as understanding dawned. “You’re going to kill him.”
Chapter 6
Ellis had been formulating the plan for weeks, since the encounter back in Harcourt when Juliana had been injured. But this was the first time it had been said out loud and those words rang in his ears like a gunshot.
He could have denied the charge. He could have told his friend to bugger off. He could have lied. But he didn’t do any of those things.
He shrugged his good shoulder. “I don’t have a choice.”
Rivers was silent for what felt like a lifetime. Then at last he said, “Why?”
Ellis shook his head. “I knew exactly what Leonard was when he approached me. I’d heard the same rumors everyone else had. But he offered easy money.”
“And your worst impulses kicked in.”
Ellis nodded. “They always do in the end. I’ve never been able to stop them from doing so. When he double-crossed me, I had to retaliate, or risk being seen as weak. More than that, I wanted to make him pay. I wanted him to fear someone else for once. I decided to…to steal something Leonard wanted. My partner and I—”
“The previous Earl of Harcourt, Solomon Kincaid,” Rivers interrupted.
Ellis stared at him. “That’s well known?”
“Only by me,” Rivers said. “I always know everything. It’s my business.”
“Jesus, you should have been a spy. Well, Kincaid was reckless, inexperienced. And…” He trailed off as he pictured Kincaid’s blank eyes that horrible day when his life had been ended. “And a good friend. When Leonard came for us, I realized what a calculated mistake we had made, but Kincaidrefusedto return what we’d stolen. He thought it could be handled in a gentlemanly manner. He didn’t believe someone of his own rank could be so vicious. Because he’s never lived like you and me and seen these toffs at their worst. He hid it before he died and I’m still trying to figure out where.”
“Fuck,” Marcus grunted. “No wonder Leonard is out to get you.”
“Not just me,” Ellis said. “EveryoneI love. He threatened my cousin, he’s been following my half-brother, he injured—” He cut himself off. There was no reason to bring Juliana into this mess. Not even with Rivers. “Leonardwon’t stop. Even if I can find the item we stole, he might still exact revenge just because it pleases him. And if I can’t find what he wants? He will absolutely destroy my world, and any innocent in his way, to punish me.”
Marcus’s mouth was a thin line. “The tales about his violence are widespread.”
“I swear to you, I tried to reason with him, Rivers. Back at the beginning.” Ellis sighed. “I tried to manage. I tried to give him what he wanted, at any cost. But now I realize there’s only one way out of this for my family, for the ones I care for. And it’s for Winston Leonard to die.”
