Page 59 of The Duke and the Darkness

“Then we stop Horrender and blame my father for creating the enterprise,” she said firmly. “We have him arrested, tried, convicted—We put an end to his criminal enterprise once and for all before anyone else is harmed.” She straightened her spine, and Devlin recognized her expression. He’d seen it on the faces of countless men in the wars as they prepared for battle. “We need to come up with a plan. What can we do?”

“We set a trap,” Chase said. “We offer up a bait he can’t refuse, then surround him with men and capture him when he arrives.”

“What would draw him out?” Crewe asked.

“Me.” Peyton instantly drew all three men’s attention. “That is, therealme.”

Devlin didn’t like the sound of that. “What are you suggesting?”

She slid a look at Crewe. “Can you disseminate a message to Horrender through your contacts in Seven Dials?”

Crewe nodded. “What do you want the message to say?”

“That I’m alive and back in London—”

“No,” Devlin interrupted.

“—and that I have proof he attempted to kill me.”

“Hell no.” Devlin folded his arms. “Are you trying to get yourself killed—again? We need to find a different way to lure him out.” Preferably one that didn’t dangle Peyton in front of him like meat before a beast.

“She has a point,” Crewe countered. “If we’re going to get his attention, we need to make a grand gesture.”

“Not that grand.” Devlin refused to back down. What she was proposing was far too dangerous.

“I will do whatever it takes to make him pay for harming the people I love.” She said that so calmly that Devlin couldn’t help but feel a jolt pierce him. This was the same resolute woman he met at Barton’s who would have done anything to precipitate his downfall. “Including killing him myself, if necessary.”

“Demme,” Crewe muttered, clearly stunned by what she’d just said and the coolly dispassionate way she’d delivered it. “No wonder you beat Devlin at cards.”

She said quietly to no one in particular, “It’s easy when you have nothing to lose.”

Devlin knew she didn’t mean her gambling wagers.

“Your message won’t be enough,” Chase interjected.

They all turned to stare at Chase, who folded his arms over his chest and widened his stance. It was the same position he always took right before a fight.

“You need to make a public announcement, one revealing your identity to everyone of importance in London. He can’t put together the old enterprise without protection from members of the aristocracy,” Chase explained. “If the men he’s working with think they’re in danger of being exposed, they’ll send him after you immediately. When he does, we’ll spring our trap.”

The blood drained from Peyton’s face. The false identity she’d hidden behind for the past ten years would be completely stripped away. There would be no going back then, no other name to hide behind. What Chase was asking of her…Devlin wasn’t certain she was up to it.

Apparently, neither was she. “I don’t—I don’t know if—” Her voice faltered, and she glanced warily between the three men, as if looking for any means of escape from their plan but finding none. So she jerked a nod and said, as if to convince herself as much as them, “If that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.” She paused, then put voice to her fears. “But can we be sure it will work? If I reveal who I am, and he doesn’t come after me…”

“He will,” Chase assured her.

“But if we fail to capture him,” Devlin added, giving her yet another bleak reason to back out of their plan, “he won’t stop coming after you until you’re dead. You won’t be safe anywhere.”

“Then let’s not fail, shall we?” Despite the pallor of her face, her lips twisted in a grim smile. “I’d prefer not to die a second time.”

Chapter Fifteen

Peyton sat atthe table where she, Chase, and Crewe had been working out the arrangements for their trap and taking notes of all that had to be done in the short time they’d given themselves to enact it. After all, delaying only gave Horrender more time to make another attempt on her life.

In only two days, their plan would be put into motion. She offered up a silent prayer that she had the strength to carry out her end of it. If all went according to plan, Chase, Crewe, Devlin and a half dozen of their men would be there to rush in, save her, and capture Horrender. But if it went wrong…

No.That was not an option. She’d come too far to fail now.

“That’s it then,” Chase announced.