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Graves entered, his demeanor solemn. “I beg pardon, my lord, my ladies. Another parchment has arrived for Lady Sophie.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Sophie froze, ice penetrating her heart. Not another one… How was he writing them while he was incarcerated? How was he getting them delivered?
“I’ll take that, Graves,” the earl said, standing. “Who delivered it?”
“One of the messenger boys in town.”
“The same one who has delivered the rest of the notes?”
“I cannot say, my lord. It’s been weeks since we received one of the notes, and Mr. Bertram took possession of some of those, so they may not have been delivered at all.”
“All right, then. Thank you, Graves.”
Graves bowed politely and left.
“What does it say, David?” Iris asked.
Brighton read the note, and his face went white. He folded the parchment.
“David?” Iris nudged.
“Nothing you two need to concern yourselves with.”
Sophie whipped her hands to her hips. “I certainly do need to concern myself with it. A woman was murdered because of this person’s obsession with me, and now Zach has been attacked. Please, my lord, you must tell me what it says.”
He nodded. “If it’s all right with you, Iris.”
Iris’s lips trembled. “Go ahead.”
Brighton cleared his throat. “It says, ‘You will be mine now.’”
Sophie shook her head. “I don’t understand. Everyone knows I am betrothed to Zach. Does Bertram not know that Zach will recover?”
“Probably not,” the earl said. “After all, Mr. Bertram is being held. Clearly he must’ve had someone else attack Mr. Newland, and he doesn’t realize that whoever did the attacking left before he finished the job.”
Sophie’s heart dropped to her stomach. Left before he finished the job… Someone had truly meant to kill Zach.
Why it hadn’t happened, she didn’t know. Perhaps a servant had been near to discovering them, or perhaps whoever it was had lost his nerve.
The truth hit her more forcefully, knocking the air out of her lungs.
Zach could be dead right now.
Whoever was obsessed with her wanted Zach dead.
Dear God…
“Mother, my lord, I’m not sure Zach is safe in the hospital. Bertram will send someone else after him.”
“Sophie,” the earl said, “I think we need to face the fact that perhaps Mr. Bertram is innocent as he claims. It would be too difficult for him to send notes and facilitate an attack on Mr. Newland from inside a prison cell.”
Confusion muddled Sophie’s mind. If it wasn’t Bertram, whoever was responsible for this was still out there. And an innocent man was being held captive. None of this made any sense.
“I don’t understand any of this. Why would someone be obsessed with me of all people? I’m a nobody.”
Iris took her hand. “Sophie, my dear girl, you’ve never been a nobody. And after last night… Well, you’re going to be the toast of Bath.”
