Page 58 of The Duke's Hidden Scandal
Every investment I have made with him has come to nothing. He is a thief and a liar—a cold and heartless man. You will recall Lord Watson’s tragic death some weeks ago. I believe Lord Kilby has also led him to despair.
I beg you—as a friend I might have had and as a gentleman—to investigate Kilby in the strongest terms. I will send youthe papers I have collected tomorrow, and I pray that you can discover the truth and expose him where I could not.
My health is failing me, and I do not have the strength to tell my wife and son how foolish I have been. I implore you to spread the word and expose Kilby for the liar he is before more lives are destroyed by his hand. I am sorry, old friend. As my life fades before me, I have seen the error of my ways and the hurt I have dealt you, and for that, I beg your forgiveness…
There, the letter broke off unfinished, never to be sent, lost in a ledger until this moment. Colin was on his feet, staring at the final paragraph with rage whirling through his mind.
Kilby.
He had seen that name a few times in his father’s correspondence but never in any capacity as an investor. Kilby had sent several letters, but Colin had dismissed them as mere trivia.
What a fool I have been.
With renewed determination, he dove back into the papers upon his desk, poring over the documents and cross-referencing their names and dates.
Slowly, a picture began to form as though a candle had been lit in a darkened room where he had been fumbling about for weeks. There were many letters that had been exchanged between his father and Lord Kilby, yet it seemed that anydetailof what they were discussing was omitted.
Colin searched frantically for anything that might have included Kilby’s name, certain now, from his father’s own hand, that he had found the answer to this impossible riddle.
Suddenly the picture that had been forming was becoming clearer and clearer.
Lord Kilbywasthe third-party investor who had worked with his father. Lord Kilby had sent him down every wrong turn available to him.
But why did my father not expose him sooner?
Colin shuffled through the papers on his desk until he found the ledger. It was the only record where he had kept track of the number of withdrawals his father had made from all his assets. They were not always the same amounts, but they came out of his bank once a month without fail.
Blackmail.
He picked up page after page of accounts, seeing the regularity of the loans now, not as investments but aspayments. They could only have been for Kilby’s silence. Kilby had taken the late duke’s money and continued to promise him returns. It could only have been a matter of time until his father grew wise to the scheme and confronted him.
If the investments had been made against suspect organizations that might have implicated his father in illicit activities, he would have been terrified of exposure—just as Colin was now. Kilby had clearly taken advantage of that fact and forced the duke to pay him to keep quiet about where his money had ended up.
Colin collapsed into his chair, his hands trembling violently, as a final thought occurred to him.
Since she had returned to society, with barely any time to grow accustomed to this new world thrust upon her, Kilby had been there to woo her. Colin’s jaw clenched as he imagined the motivations behind such a scheme. Lady Wentworth was beautiful and accomplished, to be sure, but a man like Kilby would only see what he could gain from such a match.
Percy's pursuit of Lady Wentworth was not just a matter of romantic interest but part of a calculated scheme to secure his own financial future and protect himself from the fallout of past misdeeds.
He does not want Lady Wentworth for anything more than securing his future.
***
For the following few hours, Colin compiled every piece of evidence he could find against Lord Kilby.
Now that he understood it, the code in which they spoke in their letters was obvious. Kilby wrote to his father with the façade of pleasantries, but, in reality, it was merely to remind him of the sword that was dangling over his head and to ensure that the duke would make his payments.
His father’s responses had started with outrage and slowly moved to acceptance over a number of months. Whatever hold Kilby had over him must have been strong indeed.
Colin knew he was at a crossroads.
Either he could confront Kilby himself or alert Lord Wentworth to his misdeeds in private. Both were equally unpleasant tasks.
He put his head in his hands. The information before him could have far-reaching consequences but Colin feared a public exposure would be needed. If Kilby were half the blackmailer he appeared to be, it was unlikely he had only been blackmailing the late duke. He might have many noblemen singing to his tune all over London for all Colin knew.
He sat back in his chair, thinking of Lady Wentworth with a burst of wretched hope in his heart, yet he was also filled with despair at what he would have to do. Lady Wentworth may not care for Kilby, but Colin did not know what damage a scandal like this might do. He did not wish to cause Charlotte any pain.
But to allow Lord Kilby to continue unchecked is unthinkable.
