Jacob snatched David’s unfinished steak and cut a piece for himself. “See? I can take his food, and all he does is whimper.”
“That’s his dinner.” Cora grabbed David’s plate, pushing it closer to David.
Jacob did the same, dragging the plate towards him in a messy tug-of-war. The situation would be laughable if not for Jacob’s absolute seriousness. It certainly was ridiculous.
Jacob cut another piece of meat. “If the rat wants his dinner, he’ll have to take it from me like a man.”
David shivered, staring at his hands on his lap.
“Stop hiding behind your mother’s skirts.” Jacob tossed the steak to David, hitting his face and spraying drops of juice everywhere.
David groaned when the steak slapped his cheek.
“Jacob.” Cora shoved to her feet.
David ran away from the room as his father laughed.
“Shut up,” Jacob said among bursts of laughter.
“David.” She started to follow him, but Jacob yanked her back.
“See what he has become?” There wasn’t a trace of his beauty left. He was all demon.
“You terrorise him instead of nurturing him and loving him as he deserves.”
Jacob gripped her wrist hard enough to make her whimper. “I swear I’ll turn him into a man, or I’ll kill him.”
She cried out when she wrestled her wrist out of his steely fingers. They would leave her bruised. Not that it would be the first time. She rushed to follow David, anger bringing hot tears to her eyes.
“Darling.” She barged into his room and hugged him, kissing the top of his head.
He clung to her like a vine, shivering. But he didn’t say anything.
“Forget what he said. He doesn’t know you.” She scattered kisses on his face, tasting the steak. “My angel.”
He took in a shaky breath, and she waited for him to say something, yell, or insult his father. But nothing came. He didn’t rant or vent his frustration at his father. She wished for a reaction, an outburst, or a cry. His calm meant he believed what Jacob said.
“You aren’t weak.” She hugged him harder before wiping his face with a handkerchief. “You aren’t weak. You’re a brave, beautiful boy.”
Again silence. She held him until his shivers died down. No matter how many times she told him he wasn’t weak, he didn’t say anything.
“Talk to me,” she whispered.
He curled up on the bed and pulled up the cover to his head. She sat next to him, stroking his hair and growing angrier with Jacob.
After David refused dinner and fell asleep, she tucked him into bed.
As she dragged herself to her bedroom, her temper boiled. Her only solace was the money she’d put aside and Ethan’s promise for more. She locked the door and waited for any sounds that might inform her Jacob was coming. No noise came. Hopefully, he’d gone to his study. She opened the wooden box hidden underneath a loose floorboard and watched the coins she’d so arduously collected, just watched them. She added the penny she’d found and enjoyed the clinking noise it made when it tumbled over the other coins. Two hundred pounds. If Ethan could lend her another couple of hundred pounds, she and David would leave immediately.
She sat at her writing desk and started to write to Mrs. Delois. Tears welled in her eyes, but she wiped them mercilessly. She refused to consider herself a victim.
She was fighting back, one pound at a time.
Ethan groanedand bent forwards when Fraser punched him in the stomach. The blow emptied his lungs of air and shot pain into his head. He held up a hand to signal he needed a breather. Likely, a week of rest. Bloody hell. Sparring was becoming increasingly difficult for him. Every time he fought, pain burnedhis shoulder, distracting him. The blade that had cut his ear had slashed his shoulder as well. A sloppy stitching job done under a rain of bullets and the lack of carbolic acid had done the rest. It was a miracle he hadn’t died of blood poisoning.
But he needed the exercise and to think about what had happened with Cora, about why she’d left so abruptly. Hadn’t he proven to her she could trust him?
On the other side of the fighting ring, Fraser jumped from one foot to another, light and quick. Sweat glistened over his skin. Considering he had only one eye, his speed and precision were impressive.
