Page 68 of Four Promises to Love

Don’t make me suffer any longer. Get Carver the goods.

Hurry.

Iris

Fear and fury smothered Finn. “Carver must have forced her to write this.”

“Does it matter? The bastard is torturing her,” Caleb said grimly. “You are supposed to be our leader—to find a way to save her. Instead, you’re blathering about ghosts and parading around like a rich man’s whore.”

“That is unfair,” Nell said. “Finn is doing the best she can.”

“Aye—to snare that stupid lord. She wants to bed him and bear his brats,” Caleb snarled. “Meanwhile, Iris and the rest of us can go hang ourselves!”

Pain jolted Finn for his words struck the nerve of truth.

Iris is suffering because of me. I owe my life to her, to the Hawks—and this is how I repay them? How could I be so selfish?

“I will not fail Iris,” Finn said. “Or you.”

As she spoke the words, she knew what she had to do. The stratagem had been brewing in her head since the vision, but only now did she acknowledge it fully. She hated what it required of her. With every ounce of her being, she wished there was another way…but there wasn’t.

To save Iris, she would have to betray Owen.

He is going to hate me when all is said and done—and I will deserve it.

“What is the plan, Finn?” Tansy asked.

She forced out the words. “We use the Harringtons to find the jewels.”

“Why would they help us?” Caleb scoffed. “You just want to cozy up to⁠—”

“I am not finished,” she said coldly. “Thanks to the vision, I now have the family’s trust. They believe I am the genuine article, and they’ve bought the story that Rose brought me here to uncover secrets. They want to help because they think that by doing so, they will break the so-called curse. I will reinforce that belief to gain their cooperation.”

“Cooperate?” Simon tilted his head. “How?”

“The Harringtons know this manor better than anyone,” Finn said. “They’ve also had visions of Rose and Thomas. You may choose not to believe in spirits, but you cannot deny that my vision showed us a hiding place we would not have found otherwise. I think the Harringtons may have similar knowledge from their visions. Since they don’t know about the parure, they might not realize the importance of certain details.”

Nell nodded. “That is sound reasoning.”

“First, we’ll search the room behind the fireplace under the guise of collecting impressions,” Finn went on. “Xenia said that some other stolen goods were recovered there, which means they’ve gone over the area with a fine-tooth comb. But we’ll take a look to be sure.”

“Where else might the jewels be?” Nell asked.

“I don’t know.” Finn paused. “But Rose might. I want to proceed with the séance.”

“You truly believe this ‘spirit’ will talk to you?” Caleb asked.

She shrugged. “I cannot promise anything. If Rose doesn’t contact me, I will use the séance to milk the Harringtons for information.”

“Rig?” Simon suggested.

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll manage without props this time.”

Caleb sighed. “At least the part about using the Harringtons has merit. We will turn their trust into a weapon and use it against them.”

“Precisely.” The deviousness of the plan made Finn sick, but what choice did she have? “We lie to them, keep them in the dark about the treasure, and steal it from under their noses.”

“What about the green-fingered toff?”