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Bradshaw shook his head. “You think yourself so cunning, St. John.”
“You do not want to incriminate yourself in case you fail to capture me. I understand.”
“I already did, capture you,” Bradshaw answered softly.
“That’s all right. No need to tell me. I know exactly what you do. You steal innocent children from their beds, from the first safe place they’ve ever known. You send thugs after people. You torture and maim, perhaps even kill, all to find out who the Shadows society is. You have been watching me for the past two years, unable to catch me. So I wouldn’t say you are good at what you do. Am I wrong so far?”
“You are wrong in that you think you are better than me. Look at the society you serve. They are as much criminals as I am. They sent you after me not because they were trying to save your precious children, they were eliminating the competition!”
“You are mad!”
“And you are blind! Have you taken a closer look at the Lykai house? If you did, perhaps you’d see something different. Not that you’ll ever have the chance after today.”
Olivia suddenly appeared just beside Jarvis. He could feel her hand sneaking around his back, trying to get the pistol as she spoke. “What is the point of all of this? Suppose you find out who is behind Shadows. What are you going to do? Kill them?”
Bradshaw shook his head. “That is none of your concern, my dear Olivia.”
“It is of the greatest concern to me. Because as soon as I leave here, do you think I shall simply stay silent and not mention to anyone what you did here? Unless, of course, you are lying and you have no intention of ever letting me go!”
By the end of her tirade, Olivia successfully pulled out the pistol and handed it to Jarvis behind his back.
“Oh, I shall let you go," Bradshaw said. "But do you truly think anybody is going to believe your word over mine? More likely you will end up in an asylum for the insane.”
“I do not know, Bradshaw,” Jarvis said calmly. “It seems to me that’s where you are headed.”
He flipped the pistol in his hand and shot at Bradshaw.
The loud bang sounded in the room as Bradshaw fell to the floor, dropping his gun in the process. Blood dripped from his shoulder, and he seemed to lose consciousness from either shock or pain.
“Olive, you have to go,” Jarvis said.
Panicked voices came from the corridor. It was obvious people had heard the shot, although they didn’t know which room the bang sounded from.
At that moment, the door opened and a man wearing clothes identical to Jarvis’s Shadow attire entered, shutting the door behind him. He locked the door from the inside and left the key in the keyhole.
“What on earth?” Olivia’s mouth fell open.
The man pointed beyond Jarvis, and he looked back. There was a window.
Jarvis opened it and looked down. “There’s no trellis.”
The Shadow took a sack from behind his back and pulled out a grappling hook. Jarvis raised a brow.
The Shadow anchored the hook to the windowsill, then tied the end of the rope around Jarvis. He tipped his head, indicating they should be on their way.
Jarvis pulled out the ledger and the letters from under his coat and handed them to the Shadow. “Evidence against Bradshaw,” he said, then turned and looked at Olivia. “Do you trust me?”
Olivia blinked at him, her gaze panicked. There was a rattle at the door. Someone was trying to get in, and the voices outside the door were getting more panicked.
“Olive, do you trust me?” Jarvis repeated.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Jarvis took Olivia into his arms and jumped out the window.
They swung along the wall from side to side before stopping and hanging a few feet off the ground. Olivia hugged herself close to Jarvis, her face burrowed in the crook of his shoulder. Jarvis took out his dagger and cut the rope.
He landed on his feet, but Olivia’s weight quickly dragged him down. He fell on his bottom, Olivia on top of him, their limbs tangled.
Under any other circumstances, he would have definitely taken advantage of the situation to caress his Olive under her skirts and steal a kiss or two. But these were not the right circumstances. So he quickly scrambled to his feet and helped Olivia up.
“What in the world just happened?” Olivia asked, her gaze still confused, her hair winded.
“I shall explain everything later. For now”—he kissed her briefly on her lips, took her by the hand, and looked into her eyes—“we have to run.”
