“Your little scheme didn’t work,” Nathan said, and his eyes glowed with anger for a moment. “Lord Redfield and I were able to figure out what was going on and who the real culprit was. And now, we are going to make sure that you spend the rest of your life in prison for your crimes.”
Lord Redfield and Nathan are working together now?! How was that possible?Rosalie made a mental note to find out exactly what her husband was talking about as soon as this was over.
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lord Cain stammered, but Nathan’s lip curled, and he fell silent at once.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Cain, and now, I’m going to make sure you also know I am a man of my word: you are going to regret everything you have ever done to hurt my wife.”
Cain, however, seemed to have regained some of his confidence. “You can’t hurt me,” he sneered. “Not without proving thetonright about you.”
Nathan froze, and Rosalie knew that this had hit close to the mark. He didn’t want to be known as the Beast of Carramere anymore, and harming Lord Cain meant keeping that reputation intact.
It wasn’t worth it. Not to her, at least. It was more important that Nathan felt comfortable in Society and respected by his peers.
“Don’t,” she murmured, and she laid a hand on her husband’s arm. His eyes darted to hers, and she smiled softly. “He isn’t worth it. Don’t hurt your reputation for him. Not when you’re already going to make sure he goes to jail for—well, whatever it is you and Lord Redfield discovered.”
Very slowly, Nathan nodded. “You’re right,” he said at last. “I won’t hurt him, but I will make sure that he goes to jail. There are Bow Street Runners and Scotland Yard officers outside, Cain, and they’re going to?—”
Nathan looked up to address Lord Cain, and his expression once again froze. Rosalie whipped around to see what was wrong then she understood.
Lord Cain was gone.
“No!” She whirled around, looking in all directions, her eyes scanning the room, but there was no sign of Lord Cain anywhere, nor of people looking shocked or annoyed, as if a man had just sprinted through the crowd through them. “Where did he go? How could anyone disappear so quickly?”
“He probably knows a secret way out of here,” Nathan said. His voice had once more turned cold and stiff, and she knew he was disappointed. “He was close to your father, and I’m sure the old Viscount showed him secret ways out of here.”
She shivered.That makes me extra glad he didn’t get the chance to try and kidnap me
Nathan took her arm and drew her away from the middle of the ballroom to a small alcove where they couldn’t be obseerved. Once they were sure no one could hear them, she turned to face him.
“I’m very sorry he escaped,” she began. “I know you wanted very much to see him behind bars. But what exactly happened? You have to tell me everything! He said that he’d planned everything, that he was trying to get me back. Does that mean he was the one behind the opium trading after all? Is Lord Redfield innocent?”
But her husband was no longer smiling. Even his eyes had lost any of their warmth or humor. They had become dark and emotionless. His body had also become rigid, and he was staring beyond her, as if unable or unwilling to meet her eyes. It was as if he had been turned to stone. In fact, he reminded her of the man she had met in the library all those weeks ago. The thought made her shiver, and she drew closer to him.
“What is it?” she murmured, trying to take his hand. But he wouldn’t squeeze her hand back, so she gave up and let go. “What’s wrong? Is it Lord Cain? I promise you, we will find him! We’ll have all of Scotland Yard after him.”
But when Nathan finally met her eyes, the pain and anguish in them seemed far beyond what could have been caused by Lord Cain’s escape.
“I heard what you said to Lord Cain,” he said, his voice low and brittle, almost too quiet to hear. “And you are wrong.”
“What? What did I say to Lord Cain? Wrong about what?”
“Wrong about me. I am the Beast of Carramere, Rosalie. The rumors are true.” His eyes flamed. “I killed my father.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Ikilled my father.”
The words hung in the air between them like a death knell. Rosalie sucked in her breath, but no air seemed to come. She felt lightheaded and dizzy. What was he saying? Surely she had misheard him. He couldn’t have said that he’d killed his father—could he?
She blinked and shook herself and looked back up into his eyes. He was staring at her now, his expression unreadable. It was almost as if he were begging her to forgive him.
“I don’t believe—” she began, but he interrupted her.
“Not only did I kill my father,” he repeated, “but it is because of me that my brother is dead.”
“What? How can you say that?” she breathed. “I know that you feel responsible because your father held you back, but it wasn’t your fault, Nathan! You are not the reason he died!”
“I am the reason he died,” he said, and she had a horrible realization that there might have been more to the story than he’d let on. But even if there were more, she had a hard time believing that he had purposefully let his brother die.
