Page 81 of When a Lady Desires a Wicked Lord
Benedict scowled. “What in damnation is this about?”
“You already know the answer to that. I trust you brought the map.”
“Yes.” Benedict did not hesitate.
Alex schooled her features, concealing any sign of her surprise at his reply. More than likely, he’d worked with Jennie and the others to put together a ruse, a way to stall Stockwell until she could be freed from her bonds.
“Put down that gun and show me the map. Now.”
“Not a chance,” Benedict said. Keeping her captor in his sights, he reached into his pocket with his left hand and produced a document. Would Stockwell realize it was a forgery?
Stockwell eyed the folded document. “Give it to me.”
“Release her now, or I’ll destroy the map.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Do you want to test that theory?” Contempt infused Benedict’s words. “It would be a bloody shame if this flimsy bit of paper was ripped to shreds. Of course, you could possibly piece it together. Scrap by scrap.”
“You’re tempting fate, Marlsbrook. Give it to me.”
“You offered an exchange.” Benedict’s eyes darkened with an anger he could not entirely leash. “I am prepared to comply with my end of the bargain. Release Miss Quinn and let her walk away. A driver is waiting to escort her from the premises. Once she is away from this place, I will turn the map over to you and throw down my weapon. But not before.”
Throw down my weapon.His words crashed into her, robbing her of breath. What was the meaning of the statement? For a heartbeat, her composure fled, and she choked back a cry of desperation.
No! This cannot be. Surely Benedict would not consider facing Stockwell’s madness without benefit of a weapon. There had to be a plan. Colton and Jennie would not endanger his life. In her heart, she knew that. But the very thought of it devastated her.
“Don’t do this, Benedict,” she pleaded.
His eyes locked with hers. “It will be all right, Alexandra. I won’t let you down.”
“Bugger it, I hadn’t expected you’d pretend to be noble,” Stockwell said. “But then again, you know this is your fault, don’t you? Everything that has happened. All of those men who died, including my dearly departed father. Their blood is on your hands.”
Benedict’s features betrayed no emotion at the words, aside from a slight clench of his jaw. “Have you been gripped by insanity?”
“No, that would be my brother. All those years, our father treated us as though we were insignificant. Nothing mattered to the man other than his blasted relics. Not our mother. Not the fortune he cast into the wind to finance his expeditions. Not his sons. And yet, Raymond deluded himself that Father held us in high regard. He pretended our father’s indifference did not exist. But I knew the truth—I saw how he favored you and the others who shared his pursuits.”
“So you murdered those men?” Benedict kept his tone level, his voice calm, but the strain showed clearly on his granite-hard features.
“Not all of them. Our mutual acquaintance, Mr. Rooney, rather enjoyed the tasks. I do believe killing was a bit of sport to him. All it took was the promise of a share of the riches I would garner from the tomb, the one you sought to plunder. My father’s guide, the man he’d trusted with all of his secrets, was not willing to take a life, but he provided the information I required to put my plan into place.”
One of the men who died, an Egyptian with Stockwell’s expedition, was working for the Crown. Matthew Colton’s words played in her thoughts. Had the operative betrayed the trust he’d been accorded by both Stockwell and the Crown?
“Hamid was involved?” Benedict did not conceal his shock at the revelation.
“The temptation posed by an incomparable treasure can motivate men to do many things they would not otherwise consider.” He slanted Alex a glance, a silent threat. “Hamid was a student of the arcane arts. He believed the stars held his destiny. Before we put our plan in place, he took pains to learn the date and place of each man’s birth. And, of course, our dear Alexandra’s.”
Benedict’s brow furrowed. “How did he come upon that information? It’s not as if it’s common knowledge.”
“Hamid had a connection within the government, a source he tapped whenever we needed. He used that knowledge to devise false clues that planted the seed of the occult in my father’s mind. With each death, we cultivated the notion that he’d brought a curse upon them.”
“Answer my question,” Benedict said, his voice unnaturally quiet. “Why did you want those men dead?”
Harold smiled, an evil glint lighting his eyes. “At first, I did not believe they all had to die. But there was no way of knowing who might locate the tomb. I could not take the chance that one of them would uncover the treasure. I’ve been cheated out of enough in life. Nothing was going to stand between me and that gold.”
“You knew Alexandra would not pursue the treasure. Why did you drag her into this?”
“Father had deemed me worthy to know of his discovery, but he portrayed it as a grand secret. He would not confide the location of his find to his own son. When I learned the old fool had actually given her the map, I had to punish him.” Stockwell scowled. “He put his trust in her, a woman who’d cast me—his eldest son, his flesh and blood—aside. I would never be able to go on if I did not find a way to destroy him. I wanted him to suffer. And what better way than to kill everyone he cared about in this world?”
