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“Perhaps we can find more information than we hoped for.”

What Leila hoped for was to find her brother. But that mission seemed daunting at the moment, so she decided to look for something else of value.

Gideon rifled through the papers on the desk.

“Nothing,” he whispered. “Just standard business correspondence and property documents—all clean.”

The few books Leila examined were ordinary, with nothing out of place. However, her experience as an assassin had sharpened her ability to detect patterns. Right now, she sensed something was off about the arrangement of the shelf in front of her. Running her fingers along the spines, she noticed a gap between two volumes. When she pressed against it, the wood gave slightly.

“Gideon,” she whispered urgently.

He moved to her side as she discovered the hidden mechanism. With a soft click, a section of the bookshelf swung inward, revealing a narrow staircase that led down just a few steps—a hidden room between the floors.

They carefully descended into the cramped space.

It was different from the neat study above: messy, dark, and smelling of spirits. Documents were scattered across a small table—maps marked with shipping routes, correspondence bearing the Brotherhood’s seal, and ledgers detailing transactions that could only be described as criminal.

“This is it,” Leila breathed, gathering papers that detailed abductions, forgeries, and worse. “This proves everything.”

Gideon studied a map marked with locations across London. “Nothing directly names Townsend, but having all this under his roof definitely implicates…”

The sound of the study door opening above froze them both. They had failed to close the secret door, and whoever entered the study was bound to notice it.

And they did.

Light flooded their hiding place as a guard appeared at the top of the stairs, pistol drawn and a candle in the other hand. His eyes widened upon seeing them, his finger moving to the trigger.

Chapter 27

Gideon’s shot rang out first. The guard crumpled, and his falling body, along with the gunshot, alerted the entire house.

Shouts erupted from every direction as guards converged on the study. Gideon slammed the hidden door shut from the inside just as boots thundered overhead and fists began pounding on the walls.

“We’re trapped,” Leila whispered, clutching the incriminating documents to her chest.

That’s when all hell broke loose outside their hiding place.

Screams, shouts, and the sound of crashing furniture echoed throughout the building like a symphony of chaos.

Gideon and Leila exchanged a look before bursting out of the room.

The Shadows, dressed in their characteristic dark clothing, moved like wraiths through the building. Guards fell silently, one by one, as Gideon’s people demonstrated why they had been the scourge of the unscrupulous for decades.

Leila watched in awe as Gideon swiftly became the formidable commander, leading his men to round everyone up on the first floor, tying them together.

“Where’s he? Where’s Townsend?” Gideon barked.

Then the front door opened, and the man Leila had known as the Cardinal was marched in, a barrel of a pistol aimed at his head.

“I got him,” St. John said through his mask, flanked by two other men as they led the Cardinal upstairs. “We need a quiet place to chat.”

Payne, Gideon, and Leila concluded the procession, entering one by one in that order. They watched as the Cardinal plopped into a seat, and two men in dark clothes tied him to a chair.

Even while tied up and completely harmless, he exuded an aura of power that inspired cold, paralyzing fear in Leila.

“I don’t know what’s going on here,” he protested quietly, his voice sending gooseflesh crawling over her skin. Then he looked toward them. “Payne!” he said with a friendly lilt, then added with a bit of surprise, “Wolverstone?” When his gaze landed on Leila, he faltered slightly. “Le—” The name died on his lips as something undefinable flickered across his features. He returned his gaze to Gideon. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“To dying,” Gideon replied simply, driving his fist into the Cardinal’s face with all the force he could muster. “That’s for all the ways you mistreated Leila.”