Page 58 of An Unbending Lady for the Desperate Earl
“What about it?” Victoria pressed.
He lowered his gaze. “As you know, I worked tirelessly on that case, trying to chase down the culprit. I told you, one night, that I’d managed to narrow it down to one suspect. Do you remember that?”
She nodded. “A Duke, was it not? Although, I cannot remember his name.”
“Yes, a Duke. Conveniently, he died two years ago, so I suppose it does not matter who he was, as it will never amount to anything. The ton will lie for his legacy, as they lied when he lived.” Her father’s expression hardened. “I mentioned my suspicion to other investigators, and they advised me not to say a word. When I persisted, the ton closed ranks and wouldn’t speak to me, or any investigator regarding that demon of a man. No one among high society cared that there were dead prostitutes washing up on the banks of the Thames. They only cared for their own, and how they could defend him from scrutiny. No matter what I did, I couldn’t make a case against him.”
“Thatis why you staged your own death?” Victoria didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, there was nobility in his purpose. On the other, he had abandoned her and her mother for the sake of strangers.
Her father sighed. “There is more. One of those prostitutes was my sister. I hadn’t seen her in many years, after she refused to allow me to help her. But, when she washed up, I knew it was her. And when I asked around, witnesses confirmed they’d seen her leave with a gentleman matching the Duke’s description. That abomination murdered her in cold blood, and not a single member of the ton cared enough to help me bring him to justice. Instead, they pushed me out, and cast aspersions on my reputation. I had to stage my death in order to gain a clean slate, from which I could begin my revenge against them.”
“My aunt… was killed?” A lump formed in Victoria’s throat.Thatmotive, she could better comprehend.
His shoulders slumped. “She was, all because that Duke deemed her to be an unworthy creature, who deserved nothing but death and suffering. That was when I knew I had to make the ton feel the same fear that the rest of London felt, while they protected that wretch.” He cleared his throat. “I knew that Ben would take care of you, in my absence. And I knew that you and your mother would be better off, without the rumors and gossipmongers casting a shadow over you both, because of me.”
“But we needed you,” Victoria whispered, her head spinning. She had to cling to the doorframe in order to prevent herself from crumpling.
“You didn’t need me. I’d have stood in your way. I’d have stopped you from having any credibility of your own. Without me in your life, you stood to have a remarkable future. And I knew Ben would see to it that youdidhave a great future,” her father replied softly.
“Ben has been as a father to me, but he’s not you. I could have had a fine enough future, if you had remained.” Victoria stumbled forward and sank down in the chair, struggling to catch her breath. This was all too much to bear at once.
He reached across the desk for her hand. “I know you believe that, but it isn’t true. I had the anger of the ton hounding me. They would’ve chased me out of London, had I not acted of my own accord.” He paused. “But it also gave me the opportunity to carve out a path for you, which would lead to your success. I sent money, anonymously, to Ben, instructing him to keep it safe for you. It was my hope that I’d have sent enough, when all of this was done, to ensure you could have a comfortable life. And so you could leave investigating whenever you pleased, without having to put yourself in danger or ever be forced to marry someone you didn’t want.”
Victoria felt suddenly sick. “With the money you were going to extort from the families of these ladies?”
“Yes.” He grasped for her hand and held it tight. “But I planned to open orphanages and safehouses for lost children and fallen women with that money, too. I have already opened several in Scotland and Ireland, with the money I received from the families of kidnapped ladies.”
“You have done this before?” Victoria stared at him in abject horror.
“I needed to make sure it worked before I began on my primary target, London. It did, very successfully. The elite of Scotland and Ireland got to know what it felt like to be fearful, and the poor benefitted. Of course, their self-preservation provided me with an easy escape from any pursuit—no one wanted to admit that they had allowed this to continue, and so they buried the entire event. Leaving me free to move on to my next opportunity.”
Opportunity? These are people, Father!What had happened to him, throughout these missing years, that had turned him into… this. A man whose morality she did not recognize, for he had been the one to instill a sense of right and wrong in her. And, going by that particular code, her father was certainly erring on the side of wrong.
“And what of the captives?” She didn’t know if she wanted to hear the answer.
He smiled. “I kept the ladies safe, as I am keeping these ladies safe. They are fed, watered, clothed, given comfortable bedding, and books to pass the time. No harm comes to them. When the time is right, I make my demands, and they are returned to their families, unscathed, in return for the right price. The price of all those murdered women, and the price of protecting their killer.”
Victoria sat there, stunned, unable to say a word.
How can he be the one behind this? Moreover, how can he be alive?! How can he have kept this secret from me and Mama, all this time? Could I not have helped? Why did he not tell me of his plan, so that I could have aided him… or dissuaded him? Perhaps that is exactly why—because he knew I would not allow him to frighten and extort innocents, no matter where they came from, not even for the purpose of revenge.
Then again, she couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said about her aunt, and the tragic end that had befallen her, at the hands of a murderous Duke. A Duke that high society had protected, simply because he had wealth and a title.
The Duke of Rowntree,she recalled, the name coming back to her. Even now, she did not know anything about him. He was merely a horrific tale in her father’s repertoire. And, if he was dead, she supposed that the Duke had died without any repercussions for the evil he had done.
But does that give my father the right to strike terror into the hearts of high society? And these poor souls, in particular, who have been taken from their homes in fear?Her father had assured her that no harm befell them, but that didn’t erase the panic and despair they must have been feeling. Even if he had assured them that he didn’t mean them any ill-will, they would still wonder if they would be ruined, or hurt, or worse. That was a woman’s primary fear in this world.
As a child, Victoria had always been under the impression that her aunt had died of some ailment or another. That was what her father had told her, likely to spare her from finding out that his sister toiled away as a woman of the night. But, to find out that she had, indeed, had an aunt living, and that aunt had been so cruelly destroyed… well, she supposed it altered her perspective somewhat, even though she was struggling not to think of those innocent girls and their ongoing trauma.
How could it not alter my perspective?It certainly went some way toward explaining why her father had gone to this extent. She may have been the sole child of her household, so she didn’t understand how it felt to have a sibling, but there was nothing she would not have done to defend the honor of a family member, if anyone tried to harm them.
Including you, Father…
Now that she had heard more of his reasoning, she could see that his intentions had been good. But he spoke of paying a price as though he hadn’t paid heavily, himself, in order to make this drastic vengeance happen. What had it cost him? What had it cost her and her mother? What would it cost him, when Bow Street finally caught up to him? He had said it himself; the ton looked after their own. They would be sure to see him swing from the gallows for the terror he had wrought upon their private realm.
“Now, if I may ask—what are you doing here, dressed in all that finery? And how on Earth did you come to be captured by my men? Last I heard of you, and I do hear of you where I can, you weren’t some lady. No, you were righting the wrongs of those who need it most.” He paused. “I confess, I never expected you to continue in my line of work, though you always had the knack for it. Sometimes, I used to think you were better suited to it than me, even.”
Her father seemed eager to change the subject, given the sensitive nature of what he had just revealed to her. No doubt, the shocked expression on her face had also urged him to say something more, in the hopes it might make her talk again.
