Wicked Deception (25 page)

She knew too much to leave alive and
killing her would be the last thing he could afford to do now. The
irony of it didn’t escape him. As much as he would have liked to
kill her; she was the only one who could keep him alive.

The information the Duke held over the
public officials was what made him so untouchable now. Van Ryker
had no idea what he was up against when he confronted the man with
what he knew of his past. Lord Rudd owned most of parliament, many
in the courts, as well as the magistrate and beyond. It was for
that reason Nicholas’s letter had never been acted upon when his
brother’s arrived to push the issue for an
investigation.

Rudd held too much power
over the authorities. They could not afford to act against him. He
would never pay for what he had done. Dartmouth was bitter when he
took rooms and paid for a month in advance.
Where are you, Lilly?
He thought
dismally. He stared down into the dirty streets with burning
eyes.

Dartmouth had nothing to hold against
Lord Rudd unless he found the Countess. The money and items he
purloined from his own home would not last long. He couldn’t go to
any of his estates either for they would expect him to do that now.
He was very much a hunted man.

He knew Iverleigh was involved somehow
and cursed the man for undermining everything. But he would get
back at him. He smiled darkly when he thought of Catherine Van
Ryker.

She was still in mourning and managed
to elude him for many weeks. He would do as he liked with her, some
consolation for losing all. How Lilly must be laughing now. She
knew she was his only hope now against Lord Rudd’s
vengeance.

He sighed as he looked about the small,
depressive room where he had only a bed, a chest, and a dilapidated
table in the corner. They would not look for him here, he thought
smugly as he set down his bag.

~ ~ ~

The magistrate was a quiet man in his
mid-fifties whose only weak moment was to take bribes from time to
time. Had he known those few breaches of character would have him
forever owned by Lord Rudd, he would have abstained from buying his
wife such costly gifts.

Leland Newell was weary of the Duke and
his demands. He glared at his trembling hands, thinking of all he
had done to help the man or be exposed. He eyed the packet of
papers on his desk with interest and picked it up.

He opened it, reading the brief note
that was attached. His eyes grew wide as he leafed through the
damning evidence against him. Relief was evident in his features
and he hurriedly replaced the papers. He would not ask who sent the
papers to him that branded him guilty of collusion and bribery,
only thanked them silently for releasing him from Lord Rudd’s
insidious hold.

His eyes darkened as he thought of the
years he allowed killers to go free and punished the innocent to
aid in Rudd’s schemes. No more. He was now free to act upon his
conscience once again. He rifled through his papers and found the
letter he received from the Van Ryker family.

They were demanding an investigation
into their dead brother’s claim’s of murder and child-trafficking
within a local brothel. His lips flattened with displeasure. He
could now accommodate them with pleasure.

Lord Dartmouth was Rudd’s
brother-in-law and had connections to all who were now missing. The
Hart woman had never returned from her errand to his country
estate. Lord’s Weldon and Billingsley were still missing. He smiled
tightly. Doing his job seemed more than appropriate now. He called
for his secretary. The excavation of Lord Dartmouth’s gardens would
commence and whatever secrets buried there, revealed
forthwith.

~ ~ ~

Catherine oversaw the packing of the
downstairs and sighed as she sat on the stairs. Tulley and Martha
were seeing her to the island and would return to London to collect
her son for her allotted visit. They insisted upon handling the
transfer of the child and she knew Martha had orchestrated
it.

Her old friend knew her well, decided
the less she saw of Gabriel in the future, all the better. She
thought of Gabriel with a pang. With Nicholas gone, the door was
open to them to return to one another again.

When she thought of the all-consuming
love she had for him once, she sighed depressively. He would not
see her. She sent notes that all went unanswered. It was a blow
that hurt her but she understood how she must have wounded
him.

Where had love like that ever gotten
anyone but in more trouble? She received the papers from his
barrister but had not seen him. He was hurting and pushed her away
now, hating her for bursting his illusion of how perfect their love
was.

It was far from perfect to her
recollection. She pretended to be something and someone she wasn’t
for him to love her then. Now that he knew the truth; he couldn’t
abide the sight of her. It was just as well he knew the truth. She
was tired of lying to him.

Losing Nicholas had taught her much
about herself, what was within her heart and she realized she could
not go back there. Gabriel would always hold a special place within
her, but it wasn’t what she wanted anymore for herself. She was
wistful as she thought of her widowed status.

Nicholas would roll with mirth to see
her still wearing black. She wrinkled her nose as she looked down
at the ugly black skirts. He would be right. They made her look
like a crow. She found it ironic it took losing him finally to make
her realize how much she truly loved him.

It was enough to follow through with
his wish for her to leave here now, knowing in his own way he asked
her to give up Gabriel. He couldn’t have known how it all would end
when they left the Clairemont hand in hand the day he died, hopeful
of their future, renewed in their love. She felt fortunate to have
loved two such men in her short life and reasoned it would sustain
her for years to come.

Nicholas gazed through the bars and
rolled his eyes as he saw the Countess in all her regal finery. She
was bathed, buffed, and all her needs met. She looked delectable in
the dark blue velvet gown adorned with frippery and
lace.

She nibbled upon crackers and caviar as
she sat at the small table in the center of the cell. A bottle of
fine Madeira was at her elbow. Her white blonde hair gleamed and
was held back in a loose ribbon. Her spirits were much improved.
Her heated gaze slid over him insinuatingly, her blue eyes filled
with invitation.

“
Would you care to join me,
Nicholas?” she said with a soft, sultry smile, remembering their
time together in the past fondly, eyes glowing within. “I won’t
tell Catherine, trust me.”

He chuckled delightedly at her words.
Now that she had at last given him her written accounting of Rudd’s
activities; he felt no need to maintain such a cold demeanor
towards her. It didn’t erase what she had done to his wife by far,
but he hardly hated her anymore.

He rather pitied her. With her beauty
and wit; she could have had everything she sought and more rather
than steal it from others. Lilly would never change, he thought
sadly, depressed at the thought of unleashing her upon an
unsuspecting America.

“
I fear I must decline your
gracious offer, Lilly,” he said with a grin, seeing her full pout
with a shake of his head. “We are well past that point in our
relationship, my dear.”

“
A pity, I always liked a
good fucking after my bath,” she disclosed wickedly with a sigh.
“You seem well pleased this night, Nicholas,” she noted as she set
down her fork, her dark blue eyes meeting his knowingly. “Have you
succeeded in your desire for revenge at last?”

“
It is more than revenge,”
he said quietly, disturbed at the way her words rubbed at him.
“Rudd and the others will never be able to hurt another child. It
is fitting they turn upon one another now. Revenge is the very
least of it. They can hurt no one where they go.”

“
Oh, Nicky, you’re naïve,
aren’t you?” She trilled in merriment, and poured herself a glass
of wine as she eyed her former lover with a full, pitying glance.
“Do you think they are the only men who engage in such loathsome
activities? The world is full of them.”

“
I’m satisfied these ones
have been stopped, Lilly,” he replied in irritation, mildly angered
at her reminding him of how many more like Rudd hunted the
innocent. “I do not seek to solve the world’s problems, only my
own.”

“
How I wished someone
protected me so long ago,” Lilly said quietly and drank her wine,
her eyes meeting his with a revealing look. “My father was wrapped
up in his own grief when mother died. He hadn’t a clue what my
tutor Mr. Dixon was doing to me then. He left me there alone with
him. I think all would have been quite different in my life had I
had someone to fight for me. Mr. Dixon had a dreadful accident and
was found floating in the pond behind the Hall. I handled that
rather nicely.”

“
I’m sorry, Lilly,” he said
with an honest regret to learn of how she was defiled by one she
trusted and received much insight about what goaded her actions
now. “So you of all understand why I do this now?”

“
I understand, Nicky, only I
fail to see how you can succeed at it,” she said with an idle
shrug. “Men like Rudd do not hang for their crimes. He is of the
nobility, Nicholas; quite beyond your reach.”

“
You surely would have hung,
my lady,” he pointed out smugly and her face filled with fury at
his reminding her.

“
Perhaps it should enlighten
you to know that had you not gone to Lord Rudd then with your
accusations; I would have surely hung as planned?” she reminded him
and chuckled at his angry expression. “It was he who arranged it. I
should thank you, my love, but until I’m sailing away from here; I
feel it premature to boast to the success of your
venture.”

“
Dartmouth wanted Yvetta
dead and it was just a means to an end,” Nicholas pointed out in
disgust. She chuckled in delight at his words. “Rudd had nothing to
gain keeping you alive, Lilly.”

“
Wrong on both accounts, my
love,” she cooed brightly and laughed at his frigid look. “I was
taken out of prison to distract you and my husband from what
Dartmouth was really seeking. We both know what that was? Yes, my
dear little sister again. It’s truly dreadful how she keeps
entering the tale, just when it gets more interesting.”

“
What are you rambling on
about now, Lilly? Dartmouth is on the run. In a few short hours
every runner in the city will be out looking for him. I hardly
think his unrequited lust for my wife will make him set aside time
to indulge his desire for her now,” Nicholas scoffed, despite his
sudden panic at her words.

“
I was to reveal myself to
you at some point and lure you away to catch me, while Dartmouth
satisfied himself with Catherine,” she said aloud, and tapped her
cheek thoughtfully. “No, I think he said I could watch him while he
had his way with her; no matter, I rather forgot the plan now. I’m
sure he has not, Nicholas. He was quite put out when Lord Rudd
decided to pardon both Gabriel and Catherine, and settle for your
blood instead.”

“
What are you saying?” he
asked as the blood drained from his face, seeing the way she smiled
at him, feeling dread fill him.

“
I’m saying while you and I
have been here all this time talking of old times; he has been
still rather determined to have your wife,” Lilly informed him with
a look of mock sorrow. “And now that he is backed into such a
corner; I fear he thinks he has nothing to lose now. Poor little
Catherine. She wouldn’t endure very long in his arms. You should
have seen what he did to Annabelle. I fear pieces of her head quite
ruined the bed hangings during his passionate embrace. I shudder to
think he even continued his efforts, even after she was quite
dead.”

Nicholas was no longer listening to her
as he turned and ran. He heard her laughter and her last words,
before he routed his men from his ship to go to his residence to
guard his wife.

“
Nicky, you didn’t hear the
end of the tale!” she shouted, her face flushed with delight. She
pouted when she saw he deserted her. “I do hope another has the key
to my cell.”

~ ~ ~

Dartmouth laughed at how easy it was to
blend into the rabble that lined the streets as he walked as far as
he could before he finally hailed a cab. He got out and stared at
the Van Ryker residence. He saw the coach out front and
lingered.

Phillip watched an old woman leaving
with an even older man at her side. He waited until the coach drew
away and crossed the street. After he slipped around the back of
the house, he found a window unlocked. He sighed as he pushed up
the window and slid inside. He listened as he heard movement about
the house.

Phillip looked around his dim
surroundings. He was in a sitting room that looked rarely used,
seeing boxes stacked in the corner. He was content to wait until
darkness fell. Peering through a crack in the door, he counted
passing servants.

Lord Dartmouth determined there were
six working this day, not including the coach driver who was now
gone with the couple who left. He closed the door, removed a long,
wicked blade from his vest. He stared at his own reflection in the
steel of the blade, mesmerized by the power he wielded.