Page 65 of Chasing Benedict
Alex had found that the mad doctor wasn’t purposely malicious, but simply a man whose methods were fading out of practice. He was a relic of a dying generation of doctors, his brutal methods the only thing he knew.
“Pruett!” Viscount Sterling exploded. “What the devil are you doing here? You have been handsomely compensated to adhere tomycommands, and I gave you strict instructions to stand by in London and wait for me to send word!”
Clapping the viscount on the shoulder, Alex shoved him down into the nearest chair. “That was true until a few days ago when Dr. Pruett’s response to my letter arrived in the post. You see, the good doctor here wishes to retire, but finds that torturing people at the behest of their family members too lucrative to quit. His livelihood depends on it.”
Dr. Pruett raised a bony finger. “See here, my lord … as I have explained, my methods are scientific in nature and not meant to harm the body but to purge it—”
“Yes, yes, and I’m the bloody queen of England,” Alex groused. “Do let me finish.”
“Of course, my lord. My apologies, my lord.”
“As I was saying,” Alex said, turning back to the viscount. “I have offered to grant Dr. Pruett his wish, purchasing a cottage in the county where his daughter and grandchildren live, and paying a generous settlement for enjoying his twilight years. However, my generosity has a condition, one that the doctor is willing to fulfill. This agreement is only binding if Miss Milbank can be convinced to do her part.”
Ben had drawn closer, his initial shock at seeing the mad-doctor abated. He looked as if he were taking in a riveting play at the theater.
Cynthia stood with her arms crossed defensively over her chest. “What more do you want from me? You’ve taken everything else.”
“Just this final thing.” He gestured toward the final remaining chair, upon which sat a writing box and a fresh sheet of paper. “You will sit here, with the four of us as your witnesses, and offer written testimony of the events that led to you sneaking into Ben’s bed while he was drugged and using him without his consent.”
Ben flinched at his side, but Alex stayed him with a steady hand. Cynthia looked to the viscount, who appeared to be on the verge of spontaneous combustion.
“You said he wouldn’t remember!” Cynthia accused. “The opium was supposed to make him forget.”
“I could never forget that I wouldn’t willingly touch you if my life depended on it,” Ben snapped. “The rest came back to me eventually.”
“It was for your own good,” the viscount growled. “Marriage could have changed you, stoked your natural urges. But you were too content to wallow in vice and sin. Too busy chasing this one’s arse cheeks all over London instead of shaping yourself into the son I deserved!”
“You deserved nothing!” Ben roared, lunging at his father until they stood almost nose-to-nose. “You had everything a man could want—the perfect wife, three healthy sons, more money than you could possibly spend in your lifetime. And still, it wasn’t enough! Mother wasn’t good enough, so you broke her spirit. I wasn’t good enough, so you beat me, berated me, and treated me like a dog! Yet you wonder why I hate you so much it has become like poison in my veins … but no more. I was done wanting you to love me and accept me years ago, but now, I’ve decided I’m done allowing you to occupy space inside my mind, to haunt me from a distance, and force me to live in fear. As of this moment, you are dead to me.”
As if to drive the point home, Ben went to the other end of the room and turned his back.
The viscount tried to follow, but Alex impeded him, pushing a firm hand against his chest.
“You are as much a fool as I always thought if you ever believed I could love a worthless, twisted creature like you,” the viscount spat. “What a sight the pair of you make—a deranged sodomite and his foppish mollycot.”
Alex reacted before he could think, sending his fist flying at Sterling’s jaw. The man staggered against the wall, then slid to the floor, dazed and bleeding from the corner of his lip. Alex felt the eyes of the others on him, but spared them no mind as he loomed over the person who had tried to destroy the man he loved.
“You don’t have to love him, because I do,” he said, shaking his aching left hand. “And I will continue to love him in a way you never did, starting right now. Miss Milbank—”
“I’m nearly finished,” she called out, much to Alex’s surprise.
Alex hadn’t noticed that during the exchange, she had already sat to begin composing her statement. He turned back to Sterling. “My lord, did you know it only takes the word of two physicians to declare a man insane and have him committed? Considering what you did to Ben, I assume you do. You see, it has occurred to me that only a madman would arrange for his son’s rape. No sane man would do such a thing to his own flesh and blood. Why … I do think that would make you a prime candidate for Bedlam.
“You sniveling little—”
The viscount’s outburst and attempt to rise was quelled by Alex’s foot against his chest. He pinned Sterling down, not bothering to stifle the primal urge to inflict pain. The viscount grunted and squirmed beneath his shoe, but was unable to free himself.
“I may be a fop and a molly, but I will break every bone in your face for what you’ve done to Ben,” Alex rasped. “Now pay very close attention. If you so much as sneeze in Ben’s direction, I will inform anyone and everyone of influence the contents of Miss Milbank’s letter. I might not be able to have you prosecuted for such a foul act, but I can ensure that no one of society will see you as a gentleman ever again. No decent home will be open to you, and what little power you possess will evaporate in an instant.”
The viscount sneered, his eyes dancing with mocking amusement. “Have you forgotten that I have insurance of my own? A certain collection of letters that would prove the ruination of not only Benedict, but yourself.”
Alex rolled his eyes at the predictable threat. Reaching into his breast pocket, he came out with the bundle of old, wrinkled pages tied together with twine. “Are you referring to these letters?” At the viscount’s grunts and rumblings of outrage, Alex laughed. “You aren’t the only one who knows how to throw his weight around as a peer, and in case you have forgotten, the Vautrey earldom and Osborne name are older and more esteemed than your own. If I was able to convince and pay someone to steal these letters from your home, what else might I be capable of?”
“I don’t need the damned letters,” the viscount growled, all traces of his amusement gone. “The mere whisper of your nature into the right person’s ear would be enough.”
Alex inclined his head toward Dr. Pruett, who had watched this entire exchange in curious silence. “That’s where Dr. Pruett and his colleague come in. If you breathe a word about Ben or myself to anyone, I will call upon them to declare you insane. You will be left to suffer a slow and painful death in Bedlam, where you will find no sympathy or mercy. If you value your freedom as well as your life, I suggest you return to Norfolk and never show your face in London or Kent again. I will take it as a personal threat if you do, and I’ve been known to act irrationally when threatened.”
“I’m finished,” Cynthia said from her corner of the room.
