Page 22 of A Raven Returns

“I had heard that, and I'm sorry. They weren’t supposed to do that. No one was supposed to get hurt. Not like that.”

“So why did you want to hurt me? What did I do to you?”

“Your father gave you everything.” Trent was shouting now, emotion making his voice quiver slightly. “Your whole life was just handed to you on a silver platter. The title, the estate, that club where you live a life of excess surrounded by extravagance and whores. He could have at least left my mother something when he died.”

Ash had wondered when one of his father’s inevitable bastards would eventually show up. He was surprised Trent was the first, honestly.

“All my mother ever wanted was for him to recognize me as his son. Instead, he left us to rot.”

Ash laughed cynically as he removed his coat. “Do you want to know what it looks like to be recognized byourfather?” He stripped off the rest of his clothing above the waist, the icy breeze biting his skin as he turned around.

Trent gasped at the sight of his mangled back. Ash simply stood, allowing him time to take in every last scar. “You think my life was so easy?” He slid his arms back into his shirt and began closing the buttons. “Well, I think you had a lucky escape, and so did your mother. Our beast of a father beat mine to death.” He closed his waistcoat and settled his coat back onto his shoulders. “And my brother, the one who was supposed to inherit all of this, hanged himself to get away from our father. Do you still wish he had recognized you as his son?”

Trent’s mouth was agape, and he was clearly at a loss for words so Ash continued. “As for my life of excess— first of all, if you ever again refer to the women who work for me as whores, I will break your jaw.” He leaned in, his face barely an inch from Trent’s. “Is that clear?”

“Yes,” Trent said quietly.

“Most of those women were on the streets before they found their way to me. I give them money, a roof over their head, and skills they can use to have a better life. They dance in my club, fully clothed, and no one is allowed to lay a finger on them. Especially, me.” Ash pointed at his own chest. “So what you see as a life of excess, is at least partly, a life of penitence. My attempt to make up for a small fraction of the evil our father, and I, bestowed upon the world.”

Trent seemed to shrink right before Ash’s eyes. A sadness settled on his features, and perhaps guilt? He was also beginning to tremble from the cold. He hadn’t put on a coat before coming outside.

“I’m truly sorry, my lord. I had no idea.” He looked into Ash’s eyes. “Did he really do all of that?” He gestured toward Ash’s back.

Ash let out a long sigh. What the hell was he going to do with this man… who was apparently his half-brother? He didn’t seem to be the villain Ash had imagined him to be when he’d set out to confront him. Just a man who was angry and hurting. And rightly so.

“Why don’t we finish this conversation inside where it’s warm?”

Trent shook his head. “I don’t want Maggie to hear about the things I’ve done.” A sad smile twitched on his lips. “She believes I’m a good man. Thinks I hang the stars in the sky.” He waved a hand across the sky.

“You still can be, you know.”

“Says the man who was shot because of me.”

Ash waved that away. “Yes, well. I wish you had just come to me, but I think I understand why you didn’t. I’m sorry for what he did to you and your mother, Trent. But I’m not sorry you never knew him.”

“Perhaps I’m not either, now that I know. Not that I had much of a chance. I was only three when he died, apparently. My mother always told me stories, though, about my father who was the earl of a grand estate.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Just tonight I have a villain locked up in my house waiting to be arrested, a maid who he”—Ash paused and swallowed down the rage that rose in his throat—“will never touch again, that I need to make sure is taken care of, an entire household of women who may have also been abused by him, some kind of fake marriage scheme that involved someone I failed at protecting, a disloyal footman locked in my bedchamber, the woman I failed to protect once, and have to figure out how to be more successful with this time around, an estate that no longer has a manager, and apparently, a half-brother I never knew existed.”

Trent blinked. “Jesus.”

Suddenly, laughter surged out of him. What else could he possibly do? Eventually, Trent began to laugh as well. None of it was funny, but the sheer amount of chaos was utterly preposterous and seemed to have knocked his senses loose.

“I know this is probably a stupid question,” Trent said after a moment, “but is there anything I can do to help?”

“You can tell me anything you know about Warwick. I saw you arguing with him this morning, so the two of you obviously have some kind of connection.”

“We were arguing about you, actually. He’s upset because he believes you came here because of my failed robbery. But he doesn’t like me, regardless. I’ve been kind of blackmailing him. Basically, he would report repairs as more serious than they were. I would do the work, and he would pay me more than it was worth.”

Ash nodded. “That makes sense. That was the original reason I came here. The books had been getting more and more suspicious over the past year.”

“I’m sorry, my lord. I don’t have the money to pay you back, but I’ll work it off any way I can.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course you won’t.” Ash didn’t care about the money. At least, not now that he was beginning to understand the reasons behind the theft. Trent undoubtedly needed it to take care of his sister. He hadn’t been making her porridge for supper because it was her favorite. He was barely getting by. “But I don’t understand. How were you blackmailing Warwick if you didn’t know about the fake marriages?”

Trent shrugged. “It started as just a bluff, really. I saw how he carried himself around this estate, how he treated people. I know his type. There was no way he wasn’t stealing from you one way or another. So I just said I had proof of his wrongdoing and threatened to send it to you if he didn’t agree to my demands. In addition to the repairs, he also told me about your club.”

Trent was clever and resourceful, and seemed to want to be good when it came down to it. There was certainly no doubt he loved his sister.

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