AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Forty-Eight
As the Russells’ carriage transported her across London once more, she found herself stuck on the question of how she could possibly go about presenting her new knowledge to Thomas.
Thomas, you would not believe it! It was never my Father double crossing yours in business, nor setting up an assassination! It is your Brother who is the traitor!
Yes, that would most definitely go over well.
By the time the carriage rolled to a slow stop in front of the Marquess of Langwin’s lodgings, Evelina had a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the struggle Thomas had faced when he’d shared his suspicions of her father.
These thoughts continued to circulate as Evelina stepped out of the carriage…only to spot Jerome stepping out of a different carriage, scarcely ten feet down the block.
Their eyes locked. Evelina’s mouth popped open. She was too stunned to be fearful, especially upon seeing it was the same carriage she had tried to get to take her to Elvington Manor before!
“Lady Evelina,” Jerome snapped when his eyes landed upon her. “What on earth is the meaning of this behavior?”
“How did you know I was here?” Evelina asked dumbly, looking back and forth between Jerome’s livid face and the steps that led up to the flat where she had intended to go.
“My coachman informed me you attempted to bribe him into taking you to Elvington Manor,” said Jerome. “We made our way there, only to see the Russell’s carriage leaving the property at the same time. Thankfully, I had the good instinct to continue following behind.”
Evelina tried to reach inside herself for an acceptable—or even plausible—explanation, and found none. She searched deeper for any one of the many things she’d been longing to say to Jerome over the course of their frustrating courtship…and while she was able to think of a few of those, she refrained from saying them out loud.
Jerome may have been partially responsible for the precarious financial situation Evelina’s father was now in. He may have sneakily kept the extent of his business relationship with the Marquess of Langwin under wraps. Yet he was still the one whose engagement was going to be publicly dragged through the mud, and all because of Evelina.
She didn’t feel guilty, exactly…no, she could not allow herself to even entertain such feelings, if she was going to go through with what she meant to tonight.
But she did feel pity for Jerome, much as she regretted to admit it.
“I’m sorry,” Evelina said at last, in lieu of a full explanation. It was the most she could give. Arguably, it was the most Jerome deserved.
He seemed to disagree, because his face reddened and his mouth twisted in anger at her response. He started to say something but was cut off by the sound of a gunshot.
Evelina and Jerome made eye contact once more, the difficult and painful situation of their engagement momentarily set aside. Without verbally discussing it, they rushed side by side into the building.
The hallway just inside the door was narrow, but well-kept. Evelina looked up the stairs, where she heard shouting, followed by the sound of a crash, and something shattering. A second gunshot. A third.
Jerome was already pounding up the stairs.
Evelina followed, her heart in her throat. As she rounded the corner into the hallway of the second floor, she saw Jerome throw open the door that all the commotion waited behind. Not allowing herself to think twice about it, Evelina followed her soon-to-be-former betrothed inside.
She gasped at what she saw.
The room was in complete disarray, as though someone had come in and ransacked it earlier in the day. Thomas and Gerard stood in the middle of it all, Gerard screaming something unintelligible, blood dripping down his face from a cut on his forehead as he waved a pistol around.
Thomas was clutching his side with one hand, brandishing a knife with the other. A vicious scarlet stain was spreading through the otherwise crisp white of his shirt.
Jerome, his back to Evelina, exclaimed, “What on earth is going on here?”
There arrival caused Gerard to jolt in shock. Thomas took advantage of his surprise and rushed him, dropping the knife and trying to grab the pistol for himself. In the scuffle, the gun went off—once, and then again, bullets ricocheting everywhere.
Jerome’s knees buckled. He collapsed in a heap before Evelina’s feet.
Evelina stood there, stunned, feeling the world tilt around her. Nausea, true nausea, rolled her stomach, and she bent over, sick rising in her throat.
“Evelina, get down!” Thomas yelled from somewhere in the distance.
Evelina didn’t think about it. She fell to her knees out of instinct, or sickness, she couldn’t be sure which. Maybe both.
She scrambled her way beneath the table, desperate for some sort of cover, and pressed her eyes closed. She heard two bodies collapse into one another. More yelling—Thomas’ voice, she thought, hating the way the usually smooth tones had been twisted so viciously by grief and rage.
