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"Edward!?" she called out to him again. "Talk to me!"
She watched him lift his head and look at her. The moment this horrible realization befell him was painfully obvious. His focus shifted onto the man seated opposite them, who was obviously enjoying himself immensely, being in the position of control here.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Edward demanding of the Marquess. "Untie us at once!"
"I'm afraid I cannot do that," the Marquess shook his head, standing up and walking around them, but keeping a safe distance. "You see, if I do that, you shall tell everyone of my... little arrangement here."
"You are the man my mother wanted to bring to justice," Leah finally understood.
"Guilty as charged, my dear," the Marquess chuckled with that smile that had charmed many a lady during balls. Leah wondered how come no one was able to see through his ruse. Was everyone so blind to see this man for who he truly was? Then again, she was also blind. Edward as well. It never even occurred to them that he might be the man their parents were onto.
"Now, how are you two feeling?" the Marquess asked, in the voice of a perfect host. She could not believe how easy it was for him to pretend.
"Better than you will be once we hand you to the Constable," Leah snarled at him, determined not to succumb to the rising feeling of despair that was blossoming inside of her.
"Feisty," the Marquess looked at her hungrily. "Just like your mother."
"Don't you dare say a word about her, you villain!" Leah growled at him like a wild animal, shaking the chair underneath her, but she could do nothing to set herself free.
"Oh, but I must... if you wish to find out the truth, that is," the Marquess was playing with her emotions, and she hated him for it. "Youdowish to find out what happened to your dear old mother, don't you?"
Leah refused to answer. She didn't need to. Of course, he already knew the answer.
"We should take our time going over things, you see," he continued, sighing slightly, as if wondering whether he would have enough time for everything. "I shall answer all of your questions, because I need you to understand exactly why I did the things I did and why those people simply had to die. There was no other way. When people meddle in someone else's business, it is inevitable that someone will get hurt. I don't know why this is so difficult to understand," he shrugged. "Now, we might as well start. And I advise you not to rush, for this will be the last thing you shall ever talk to anyone about, so... make it last."
Leah turned to Edward. A small line of dried blood went down the back of his head, past his neck. She could imagine he must have been in horrible pain. She could see that man hitting him on the head and Edward's body slumping down onto the ground. It was a sight she would rather forget, but unfortunately, those were the things one was forced to remember forever.
"I suppose I should start from the beginning," the man spoke, continuing to walk between his two prisoners, with his hands crossed at the back, like an old professor giving an important lecture. In a way, this was the most important lecture Leah and Edward would ever hear. This was the truth that they had almost died to find out. Death was still inevitable, but Leah first had to hear everything.
"Ever since I was a boy, I wanted wealth and money," the Marquess spoke importantly, as if reciting a Shakespearean play. Leah could immediately see that he considered himself to be the most important person in all of London. Perhaps she would be able to use his ambition against him. She listened closely, not taking her eyes off of him for a single moment. "I wanted far more than my own title and family could provide for me. So, I built my empire, but I had to do it secretly, because crime is where the money is. Little by little, years went by and now, I am proud to say that I am the mastermind behind much of the organized crime in London. I am both respected and feared, you see. That is the beauty of my plan," he grinned at Leah in particular. "As a marquess, my family has powerful connections to the crown, and no one suspects a thing!"
He paused a little, looking down at his feet. Leah used the moment of silence to try and figure out where they were. It smelled wet. Perhaps a cellar? She could not hear any other noise around. But she knew that there were at least three other men here, with the Marquess. Perhaps there were even more, the ones she and Edward did not see. The Marquess was not the sort of man to come anywhere unprepared, especially not to a theatrical play of a lifetime, such as this one.
"Now, we come to the part where the plot thickens," the Marquess sighed. He actually sounded sad for a moment, as if he regretted something. But that could not be. Men such as him never regret anything in their lives. They always blame others for their own mistakes and continue doing what they had been doing all along. They have no conscience, no morality, no sense of right and wrong. Only selfishness.
"In Harry, I saw myself," he continued. "I trusted him greatly. It was easy to do so. Harry was loyal and unafraid. That was a tough combination of traits to find in a man. I know that myself. That is why recognizing them in Harry made me so willing to take him on and show him almost everything that I knew. He was a good student. A great one, actually. But he said he'd met a woman, and of course, women make you change your ways. He wanted to leave the criminal life behind." He paused a little again. For some reason, Leah could tell he found it difficult to talk about this, but at the same time, he was strangely proud with the story, with himself. He sounded even proud of Harry. Leah thought this man was utterly mad. Yet another trait she might use against him.
"I thought he might change his mind, but that didn't happen," the Marquess explained. "So, I allowed him to leave the criminal world, under the condition that he never spoke to anyone about it, especially not about me. He gave me his solemn promise, and I... in my mistaken trust, believed him. He said he would never speak of it to anyone. Then, he got a job with your parents," he addressed Edward now. "I came to your home one day, my plan being to discuss business with your parents, and I stumbled onto Harry. We pretended we did not know each other, of course, but I could see it in his eyes. My fears were validated. When the duke and the duchess retracted their offer and backed down from our deal which was highly favorable to both parties, I knew Harry had told them everything. To make matters worse, your mother Betty, found out about me as well, with her goody-two-shoes intentions of helping everyone. There were too many people who knew my secret and I knew that there was only one thing for me to do. I had to be very careful. This is why I had to murder them in ways that wouldn't lead back to me. In fact, I was going to frame Edward, but he has somehow managed to evade being officially found the guilty party for his parents' death."
"You are going to pay for this!" Edward hissed at the man, shaking the chair underneath.
It was at that moment that Leah noticed what Edward had been doing all along. With the Marquess mostly focused on Leah, Edward had been slowly trying to untie his knot, finding a weak spot. She could only hope that he would manage to do it. That meant she had to keep the Marquess' attention on herself.
"What about my mother?" she demanded. The Marquess turned to her instantly.
"I told you," he shrugged. "I thought her death closed that chapter, but thenyoucame along and continued where she left off. I couldn't let that happen. I had to take action."
"So, you are going to murder us like you murdered our parents?" she asked, sounding incredulous. "Don't you think that will look a little too convenient?"
"Well, I tried to murder you already," he explained. Leah's mind exploded with images of the first night with Edward. This man was behind it all. "I brought you over to Edward's chamber. Then, I set the fire. And no, it wouldn't look suspicious at all. You see, everyone already thinks that he planted the fire that killed his parents and Harry. They would naturally assume that he had done it again. Perhaps unrequited love or the man has just gone mad! Who knows?" he chuckled at his own plan. "Bottom line is that everyone would blame him. They would talk about it for a while, then you two would be forgotten, replaced by someone else's tragic life story, as it always goes. But you got away." She could hear from the sound of his voice that he was not only displeased, but downright annoyed by this. "And you found me. This is why everything needs to end now."
At that moment, there were shouts coming from upstairs and Leah knew that they were in a cellar of the house. The Marquess looked up as well. He obviously wasn't expecting any commotion. He thought that everything was under control.Hiscontrol. Only, that wasn't the case.
Mumbling something to himself angrily, the man turned around and unlocked the door, then rushed outside. Leah and Edward exchanged a meaningful glance which meant only one thing.
The Marquess left and he didn't lock the door.
CHAPTER26
