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Percy smiled coldly. “I have many eyes about town. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one who knows what you’ve been up to,” he added, nodding toward the other two men.
Ravenwood’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard before he whispered back, “Wells came to me at the beginning of the Season, and he has held me hostage ever since. You must believe I never intended to harm her,” he added, the words tumbling over one another in his haste to explain. “I needed her in order to present an acceptable face to the world.”
“And stealing her from me would have been the perfect way to perpetuate that façade.”
“Just so.” The other man’s eyes betrayed his terror, as did his next words. “I would rather die now than face a trial. You know what they’ll do to me.”
“Would you not rather keep both your life and your secret?”
Ravenwood licked his lips and glanced again over at Wells, who was currently occupied with examining their blades while Montgomery talked a steady stream. “Of course, but I don’t see how it can happen.”
“Tell me everything you know about Wells. You can start with how he came to possess such information.”
Percy attended carefully as Ravenwood spoke fast in a hushed voice. Wells, in addition to frequenting the same brothel, was also a client of the Temple of Aurora. His stomach knotted as the man told him of Wells’s boast of having just acquired from the Aurora’s unknown proprietress a virginal girl of ten.
“Only just?” Percy demanded. “When?”
His former rival frowned. “A week ago he complained he’d paid for her some time past, but there was a problem—the Aurora had to move, and it delayed her delivery.”
“Address,” Percy bit out. When the man did not immediately answer, he moved another inch closer.
Ravenwood’s face paled. “I don’t frequent the Aurora—it’s not my—”
“Not the brothel, the house where he’s keeping her.” Percy narrowed his gaze. “I know Wells enough to know he doesn’t share his toys. He’s got her stowed somewhere private. Where?”
Glancing nervously toward the other two men again, Ravenwood shook his head a little. “I don’t—”
“Yes, you do.” Percy’s pulse pounded in his ears. A glance east showed a deep orange sun beginning to peek above the horizon. There was little time. “You’d have wanted whatever leverage possible against him, which means you had him watched. Now tell me where he’s keeping her.”
The other man licked his lips and shot another telltale glance at Wells. “If he finds out, he’ll send—”
“And I’ll rip out your throat now if you don’t tell me what I want to know.”
Something of the savagery he was barely managing to control must have come through in his flatly spoken statement, because Ravenwood capitulated at once and gave him the address.
Percy stared him down. “If I find you’ve lied to me…”
“She’s there,” said Ravenwood, looking even more miserable. “One of the men I have posted in the house came and told me she arrived last night. The rest of the servants all think she’s his illegitimate get.”
Last night? Which meant the bastard likely hadn’t yet… “Listen carefully,” Percy told him. “After a suitable interval, I’ll disarm you and agree to spare your life if you will agree never to revisit our quarrel or reveal our discussion. We will both walk away.”
The other man shook his head. “He has threatened my exposure if I don’t kill you or die in the attempt. If I let you leave this field alive, my life is forfeit.”
“You have my word he won’t make good his threat.”
A look of undisguised doubt entered Ravenwood’s eyes. “I believe you to be a man of honor, but how can you guarantee another man’s actions?”
“In this particular instance, I assure you I can.”
The other man’s expression became wry. “Somehow, I doubt asking how you’ll achieve such a thing will elicit an answer.”
Percy remained silent.
“Very well,” said Ravenwood. “But if it appears Wells cannot be muzzled, I’ll not allow myself to be taken. I’ll shoot myself first.”
A prickle ran up Percy’s spine. “That is your decision to make. For my part, I’ll do all I can to ensure his silence.” And he would. Wells would be offered a choice: leave England quietly or face justice and a public hanging.
Though he disliked the idea of letting this degenerate walk away, Percy disliked the idea of Wells getting away far more. At least Ravenwood’s vices were indulged with consenting adults. “Are we agreed then?” he asked, as out of the corner of his eye he spied the other two men breaking apart.
