Page 15 of Cruel Shame

Orlando rubbed the tip of his nose over the shell of my ear. “Do you think that will work?”

I shrugged him off. “Right now, I’m willing to try anything.”

He pulled back his chair, placed his hands on my shoulders and dug his fingers into my tight shoulder muscles. “You’re still so tense.”

“I won’t be able to relax until I put down those rabid dogs.” I dipped a hunk of garlic bread into my tomato soup.

My phone buzzed, snapping my attention away from Orlando’s questing fingers. I glanced down at the screen to find Gideon’s name flashing.

I put him on speakerphone. “Hey—”

“Lilah, did you see Elizabeth on television?” he asked.

My lips formed a tight line. “I can’t believe she’d disown her so-called best friend. Actually I can—”

“Scotland Five,” he said, his voice rising with panic. “Are you watching?”

Kendrick picked up the remote control and turned on the television. A moment later, he found the channel. Elizabeth sat on the sofa of a cozy living room, holding a handkerchief to her face. Next to her on the sofa, Lady Liddell wrapped an arm around her spawn and murmured words of encouragement.

“How incredibly brave,” said the television presenter, an elderly woman with gray hair styled like the queen’s. “Thank you, my ladies, for exposing such a danger to our children.”

The credits rolled, leaving us staring at my phone. My pulse fluttered in my throat. Gideon wouldn’t have interrupted his steamy weekend with two studs to tell me Elizabeth was distancing herself from Myra.

“What did she say this time?” I asked.

“Myra’s family released a statement telling everyone that Lady Liddell gave her the gun,” said Gideon, his voice dripping with disgust. “They say there’s a recording.”

“Okay…” I turned to Maxwell, who shrugged. Anything that incriminated the Liddells had to be good.

Gideon blew out a long breath. “They’re trying to obscure the issue by saying Mr. Burgh abused Elizabeth. They’ve even produced a birth certificate on television, claiming that the headmaster fathered you with his own daughter.”

Chapter Seven

Cold shock radiated out from my heart and spread across my lungs and chest. I stared at the smartphone’s glowing screen, letting Gideon’s words filter through my skull. The hotel room suddenly felt too cool, too vast, too quiet.

Back in the sanctuary, when Lady Liddell cornered me with that ridiculous paternity test, she told me there were plenty more copies. Now that there was concrete evidence of her using Myra as a tool for my assassination, the wretched old bag wanted to distract everyone with allegations of child abuse.

“Lilah?” Gideon’s voice projected out of my phone.

“She’s still there,” said Maxwell.

I pushed back the dining chair and stood. “We’ve got to go back to the academy. Someone’s got to speak up for Mr. Burgh and say it’s not true.”

Kendrick raised his smartphone. “I’ve just checked Twitter. Someone up at Templar says he just walked out with a pair of uniformed policemen.”

A breath caught in the back of my throat. “He’s been arrested?”

Orlando wrapped an arm around my middle, engulfing me in his strong, hard body. “You know what these gossips are like. If they marched him out in handcuffs, they’d make it sound like the police brought in a SWAT team.”

Maxwell stood. “Mr. Burgh probably just decided to help them with their inquiries.”

“It’s likely that they took him to Glasgow,” said Gideon on the other end of the line. “The police in Templar can’t cope with anything more serious than lost property.”

“Thanks, Gideon,” I rasp. “Will you keep me updated if you find out anything else?”

“How did you know to look on that channel anyway?” asked Orlando.

Gideon paused. Without being able to see his face, I couldn’t tell if he took that question as an implication that he was somehow connected with Elizabeth. He wasn’t, of course. Gideon wasn’t the underhanded type, but my insides stirred with curiosity. I’d never known him to be religious, and why would he watch TV when he was staying with two smoking hot guys?