He inhaled sharply. Perhaps it was the lighting, but he even paled. “I was going to tell you everything.”
“Really? When?” She demanded. The seconds started to tick by when he offered no reply. So she gestured to his chair and then took a seat of his own. Back straight and hands perched in her lap.
It was not going to be a pleasant conversation. The twist in her stomach made sure of that. She could feel her body shaking still. She felt out of control. Was this what Dominic had wanted to happen? She pushed him from her mind to focus on her brother. “I’m waiting, Cassian, ever so patiently.”
He grunted like he knew it to be a lie. Of course she wasn’t going to be patient. But she would force herself to if that’s what it took to gather the answers here.
“Fine. I…” Cassian seemed to lose some of his usual confidence as he started to move back into his seat. He clutched at the furniture like he was afraid of falling out of it, only to spring back up. Around the desk he came, pausing suddenly, before sitting in the chair next to her. “I was.”
“Was what?”
He made a face. “I was going to tell you. I mean it.”
“Then you are in luck because I am right here and I am not going anywhere.” She braced herself for the worst.
Already she was beginning to be haunted by awful thoughts. It had been a musing during the first scandalous journal piece. She had thought maybe it was a ploy. He faked his death to escape punishment or because he had been framed. For a second, she had dared hope Uncle Will still lived. But then the doubts came. Her worries had come in, making her wonder if someone could have hurt him. If something dramatic and darker had gotten hold of him.
“I only… I only want you to know…” Cassian rubbed his hands on his pants as though doing this might shake out his nerves.
When he couldn’t continue, Verity forced out a large exhale. “I know it wasn’t a sudden illness. His casket was closed. We never even got to see him again.”
He suddenly blurted, “because he wasn’t in the casket.”
The sudden revelation had her choking on her breath. “Then he wasn’t…?”
Grimacing, Cassian looked away. His hands gripped his knees so tightly that his knuckles were white. The truth was never a pretty thing. And he had been holding onto it for so long. Verity would have thought…
No. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know him like I thought I did. I don’t know Dominic at all. I hardly know anyone.
“Blast it. Verity, how am I supposed to explain this to you? It was never supposed to… It wasn’t…” Cassian slumped into the chair suddenly. He let out two shuddering breaths like he was collapsing in on himself. Then he forced himself to straighten up and look at her. She’d seen that bleak look before. Just before he had left for Uncle Will’s burial. “Once you know, you will never forget.”
“I know.”
Finally, Cassian seemed to accept that she wanted the truth and would take what it took to learn it. Enough time was wasted. Enough mistakes had happened.
“Uncle William was forced to go into trade when our father cut him off when he was a young man. He was well-educated and wanted to do some good in the world. He started with good intentions to become a banker. That much is true.”
She nodded. “Very well.”
“Over the years, he began to explore gambling dens. They held his attention for only a short time, but it was enough for him to learn about underground dealings. Shady financial dealings, to be specific. He learned about illegal schemes, bribery, and established dangerous connections.”
Frowning, she shook her head. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“He didn’t have to. Uncle Will believed that if he could start all over again, anyone else could. When a deal went wrong, he didn’t blame himself and he didn’t feel guilty,” Cassian explained. “At the start of last year, he spread word about a promising investment with a coal company.”
Verity frowned and asked, “Which one?”
“One that didn’t exist.”
“But…”
“He lied and stole the money from many people. Many important and dangerous people,” he added and gave a frustrated shake of his head. “He was a fool. Uncle Will understood money but he had no sense. He was taking more money to close out old debts. It was a never-ending pattern. But this was the worst one. Fortunes were lost. Someone began to threaten Uncle Will. They started leaving letters here at the house, and that’s when I began to investigate what our uncle was doing.”
Slowly, she shook her head. This didn’t make any sense. Uncle Will had been a good man. He wasn’t perfect, but surely he hadn’t hurt anyone.
“I met him coming back from a duel where he shot someone who accused him of such misdeeds. The Baron of Levoy.” He paused for her to gasp as she recalled the older gentleman who had left behind a penniless daughter and son. It had been a tragic story. The children, barely adults, had fled the continent to America.“Dominic was close by when I stopped William to confront him. He had given over his carriage to the second, a friend of his, and they needed it to… Well, you can assume. He had come to see what was taking so long and came upon William and I.”
Dread settled in Verity’s gut as she realized that this story was beginning to take a turn she didn’t like. Maybe she didn’t want to know the truth after all.
