Page 113

“No, and I got the journal. But the sooner we leave, the better. Where is Caroline?”

“I told her to wait for us in the parlor.”

“Good.” He took her arm and fairly dragged her out of the ballroom. They hastened toward the parlor and slipped inside. Caroline and her husband immediately flew off their chairs and came to greet them.

“Did you get it?” Caroline asked eagerly, her hand outstretched.

“Yes.” William reached into his pocket and retrieved the journal. He handed it to Caroline and said, “If you really want to read this, you need to know that there are truths in there you can never unlearn. Some things in life are better left a secret.”

Caroline gripped the journal but paused without taking it. For a moment, William thought she had changed her mind. Only then did he realize what she was looking at. There was a smear of blood on William’s white glove.

* * *

“Is that blood?” Caroline asked, and Victoria squinted at William’s glove.

It did look like his fingers were smeared in it.

“Take the journal,” William gritted between his teeth, and once Caroline obliged, he took off his gloves, hiding them in his pockets. He then looked at Victoria. “I shall explain it later, but we need to leave now.”

His eyes were filled with desperation, and a muscle ticked on the side of his neck. Whatever scrape William had gotten into wasn’t good. She nodded and took his hand, and William briefly dropped his gaze to their intertwined fingers.

A blood-curdling scream sounded somewhere in the townhouse, followed by rapid footsteps. William closed his eyes and cursed under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Victoria asked, but he didn’t answer, just ran his fingers through his hair.

Caroline and Kensington exchanged worried glances and dashed out of the parlor.

Victoria wanted to follow them, but William squeezed her hand, stopping her in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” She looked at his pale features with worry.

There was a long silence before William swallowed and said, “Porter is dead.”

Victoria’s eyes widened. “Did you—?”

“Of course not!” He let go of her hand and scrubbed his face. “How can you even think that?”

“Well, then, how do you know?” she cried. “And why do you have blood on your gloves?”

“Do you truly think I’d murder someone in cold blood?” he growled.

Victoria threw up her hands. “Perhaps it was in self-defense.”

Caroline rushed back into the room and locked the door behind her. “Porter is dead,” she gritted between her teeth. She pointed a finger at William. “You need to leave.”

William nodded, and Victoria looked from Caroline to William and back again. “Perhaps we can use the servants’ stairs?”

Caroline shook her head. “You are not leaving, only him.”

Victoria let out a strangled chuckle. “You must be joking.”

“No, I am not. I don’t know what your husband did, but if you leave, you can be punished by association.”

“I didn’t kill him,” William said weakly. “But people will think so nonetheless, won’t they? Just like you do.”

“William,” Victoria protested, but he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

“I threatened him more than once. I left a note on his bed after he abducted me. I cut his lip.”