He looked at her through eyes that had seen a thousand pains and threats. He shrugged. “Perhaps you have at that. Now let me arrange for your carriage to be brought around and escort you to the safety of it.”
She nodded, and he left to make the preparations. She sat back down in the chair and closed her eyes. Whatever happened next, she was diving far deeper into this world. And no matter what she said to Ellis or Rivers about it, it was a place she knew she didn’t belong.
But there was no going back now.
Chapter 11
Ellis sat on his mount, peering through the spyglass at the fine home across the park. His stomach churned at the false veneer of decency and value there. One that had given power to a man who lived to damage everyone around him.
“So he has not returned to his townhouse for three days?” Ellis asked.
The man on the horse next to him glanced at him like he had gone daft. Golden Mitchell was one of Ellis’s network and had been for years. He’d left the Royal Navy injured and been all but abandoned by King and Country. He’d gone underground with Ellis and was the best man to gather information.
Well, second best. Rook had always been the best.
Ellis flinched at the sense of loss that internal caveat caused and glared at his partner. “I asked a question, Golden.”
“Aye, I heard you,” Golden grunted. “But I guess you didn’t hear my answer not three minutes ago, so let me say it slower. He ain’t been seen by anyone since that night you spied him at Donville. He ain’t come home. Servants are tightlipped as fuck about it, too.”
“He’s gone to the wind again,” Ellis muttered.
“Perhaps,” Mitchell said. “Don’t know why you didn’t go after him when you saw him. Could’ve had it all done before sunup.”
Ellis didn’t respond, but continued to stare through the spyglass at the unassuming home. Mitchell didn’t know about Juliana. No one in his circle did. Mitchell also didn’t know what the plan was when it came to Winston Leonard. He thought Ellis intended to rough him up a bit, frighten him and that would be it.
It was better that way. When it was over his little motley crew would either stay in formation and choose a new leader from their ranks or disband and disappear into the underground to pickpocket another day.
“Track everything,” Ellis said softly as he handed the glass back over. “Any information, even something small, should be brought to me.”
“Aye.” Mitchell looked off at the house. “Your cousin is searching too, you know.”
Ellis shook his head. “Of course he is. He still thinks a man like Leonard might be bargained with. Hanging about with too many fops now that he married into the upper crust.”
Mitchell nudged him with a lewd grin. “But the woman is comely enough, eh?”
Ellis scowled. When anyone discussed Anne in that tone, they were, in effect, also discussing Thomasina and Juliana. He found he didn’t like that so very much. But there was no use causing a tiff, so he ignored the opening. “Have you had any luck with the code?”
He scowled as he thought of it. Rook had found a coded message that could lead them to the gem Leonard wanted desperately enough to kill for it. But his cousin had always been rubbish with code. Ellis knew he could break it if only he could get his hands on it.
If he had the gem, that meant he had the power. He could lead Leonard right to him then and end this with one strike.
But Rook had partnered with the Earl of Harcourt now. Both men wanted to do this the gentlemanly way. Whatever that meant.
Danger. That’s what it meant.
“Naw,” Mitchell said with a laugh. “Been trying to find a way in to that Harcourt stronghold for weeks now. Rook’s still crafty. Don’t know where he has it or what he’s done with it.”
“Well, I might have to take care of that part myself, it seems,” Ellis said. He wasn’t looking forward to that encounter. He hadn’t spoken to Rook since the afternoon Juliana was attacked. His cousin had been enraged with him.
He’d known their long friendship, their bond, was broken. And that brokehimin ways he didn’t want to consider.
He turned his horse toward the road. “Keep me apprised on Leonard. His father fears him, so keep a close watch on the duke and his other children, too. Thank you.”
Mitchell grunted a response, and Ellis sighed as he rode off. None of this was going according to plan. In fact, that had been the problem with this entire mess since the beginning. He’d always been a strategist. Always known exactly the path he had to take to remain safe and dry and rich.
But the moment Winston Leonard had been allowed into his circle, this fancy fop with his promises of money and security and access to a whole new level of mark…
Well, from that moment forward, it had been anarchy. Leonard wasn’t about strategy, he was about pleasure. Not in sex, not in fortune, but in pain. He took because he liked to cause pain. He broke because he liked to watch things break. He killed and threatened because the fear gave him power. Ellis and Solomon had discovered that too late.
