Page 13 of Zenith
Finally, he asked, “What is your relationship with Edward Rochester?”
“My relationship?” I asked, surprised at his line of questioning. “Mr. Briggs, I don’t understand why you would ask.”
“You know of my promise to your uncle, Jane,” he said. “I merely wish to keep an eye on you and make sure you are faring well. There is nothing sinister happening, I assure you. Do you understand the Rochester’s have a terrible family history and a reputation to match?”
I nodded. “I am well aware, Mr. Briggs.”
“When I couldn’t get in touch with you, I went to Thornfield,” he explained.
My hands began to tremble, and I slid them underneath my legs to keep them still.
“You can trust me Jane,” he said with a frown. “If you are in some sort of trouble, you can come to me.”
The weight of the betrayal I’d been carrying was becoming too much to bear on my own. I had no one else who knew my true identity and the fortune it bore, nor anyone who knew of my true heartache.
“I was in a relationship with Edward Rochester, it is true,” I said haltingly. “I was lied to, manipulated, hurt, and almost tricked into marriage under false pretenses.” Mr. Briggs listened, his expression stoic as he took this revelation in. “Edward has played with my emotions again and again, attempting to cover his half-truths with declarations of love,” I continued. “I cannot allow him to pull me under again. I know I have done wrong, and I am doing wrong still, but I didn’t know what else to do, so I removed myself from the situation.”
“Miss Fairfax told me as much,” Mr. Briggs murmured. “She was quite concerned as to your health.”
“Then I suppose she told you of the event which caused my sudden departure?”
He nodded and pressed his finger over his heart, mirroring the same place Bertha had twice plunged the knife into my chest.
“She told you of it all?”
“Yes, she did, though it took some forcing out of her. I know of the madwoman, the failed wedding, and the cat and mouse games. How you were attacked not once but twice. All of it.”
Sighing, I turned my gaze away, tired of the complicated chaos my little solitary life had been weathering ever since I dared to love Edward Rochester.
“Then perhaps you can understand my position and why I wanted to disappear,” I said. “At least until I could calm myself and think about what to do.”
I waited patiently to hear Mr. Briggs’s reply as he glanced out the window and studied the overcast sky beyond.
“Now I understand why you have not accessed your funds until now,” he said when he was done processing my patchwork tale.
“Edward is a cunning man,” I explained. “I did not wish to leave behind a trail, and I was unsure how to proceed, so I left the accounts alone. I’ve not had money before, so I didn’t miss it, not one bit.”
“He seems to know you are in London.”
My heart leapt into my throat. “How do you know? I only accessed my account two days ago.”
“I must be honest with you, Jane,” he replied, straightening up his robust frame in his chair. “I wished to hear your account first before it was tainted by what I am about to tell you.”
I surveyed him warily and told him to proceed.
“I have spoken at length with Mr. Rochester, and I am aware of all the circumstances, though I have made it clear I am one hundred percent beholden to you and your wishes. I take the oath I gave to your uncle quite seriously. You have nothing to fear from me. You have a loyal ally.”
“You have spoken to Edward?” I asked, my throat beginning to tighten.
He nodded once. “I have.”
I sighed, lowering my gaze. “And you have told him about my name and fortune?”
“I was not aware you had kept it secret. He seemed quite surprised when it came out.” He moved in his chair, the leather creaking as his weight shifted, and rested his elbows on the desktop. “Why did you not tell anyone, Jane?”
I shrugged, my emotions beginning to crack under the pressure of dealing with events I’d pushed aside. “I did not wish to be taken advantage of.”
“Ah, I see,” Mr. Briggs murmured. “You wanted him to love you for who you were, not what you could provide.”
