by Joanna Shupe
Cora swallowed, squeezed her eyes shut, and then reopened them. Her irises were calm, with a steely determination Lily hadn’t ever seen before. “You’re right. Give me the pins.”
“Give you the pins? Why? Are you able to pick a lock?”
“Yes.” She snatched the metal pieces out of Lily’s fingers and crept to the door. “I have three brothers. If I couldn’t pick a lock, I’d never have learned anything in my house.”
“Who taught you?”
Kneeling, Cora went to work on the lock. “A footman, but I had to promise not to get him fired if I got caught.”
Lily watched in abject fascination as Cora expertly bent the pins and began maneuvering them in place. “Well, what sorts of things did you discover?”
“Nothing exciting, unfortunately. Horse racing forms. Whiskey. A few scandalous novels—which were not all that scandalous, in my opinion—and a few love letters.”
“And you kept up the lock picking after they left home?”
The tumbler clicked and Cora adjusted the pins. “I figured it might be useful one day. Now be quiet and let me work.”
Lily pressed her lips together, marveling at this other side of her serene cousin. And here Cora had accused Lily of keeping secrets? Perhaps both of them had a bit to learn about the other.
It took a few moments, Cora biting her lip the whole time as she moved the pins to release the lock. Finally, the last click sounded and Cora turned the knob to open the door. Lily grabbed her hand, stopping her. Stay here, she mouthed to her cousin.
Cora’s brows slammed together as she straightened. “No. I’m coming with you.”
“You’ll be safer here. I’ll come back for you if I find a way out.”
“We should stay together.”
Lily could see the logic. Returning might prove impossible, though she worried that remaining together doubled their chances of being caught. “All right. Stay close and be quiet. We’ll look for the backstairs or a fire escape.”
Cora nodded, then Lily turned the knob slowly. Easing the door open, she peered out into the hall, checking both directions, and found it empty. She slipped into the corridor, Cora right behind her. There were eight doors in all, four on each side. If they were in Lee’s building on Pell Street, Lily had a good idea what might be happening behind those doors.
Pushing aside her panic, she led Cora down the hall, both of them moving as quietly as silk skirts allowed. The air smelled old and stale, the lights dim and depressing. Strange sounds could be heard coming from behind the doors and Lily tried not to focus on them. Instead, she kept moving forward, toward the window at the end of the corridor and the chance to escape.
When they neared the window, male voices sounded from the opposite end of the hall. Cora gripped Lily’s hand tighter and their eyes met. There was no time to get the window open and crawl through, not without being seen. We have to hide, Cora mouthed, her eyes wide with fear, and lunged toward the nearest door and turned the knob. It didn’t budge.
Lily crossed to the other side of the hall and tried that door. Miraculously, it opened, and she motioned for Cora to hurry inside. The interior of the room was completely dark and Lily breathed a sigh of relief that they weren’t interrupting something unsavory. Once they were both over the threshold, Lily closed the panel as softly as she could. With her ear to the wood, she listened, waiting to see where the men were going.
A small noise sounded behind them and Lily jumped. Spinning, she strained to see in the dark. “Who’s there?”
“Help . . . me,” a heavily accented feminine voice pleaded.
Cora grabbed Lily’s arm, fingers digging into her skin. “Come on, let’s go.”
“We can’t go, not until we see who needs help. Perhaps she is hurt.” Breaking free of Cora’s grasp, Lily crept closer to the location where the voice had sounded. “Hello?”
“Help,” the mysterious woman repeated, and Lily made out a figure lying on a bed in the dark. A Chinese woman of no more than nineteen or twenty. She was tiny, a fragile thing dressed in traditional Chinese robes. Her dark hair had loosened, as if she’d thrashed her head on the pillow for weeks.
As Lily’s eyes adjusted further, she discovered something horrifying—a locked chain around the woman’s ankle, fitted to the end of the bed to prevent her escape. As well, there was a collection of bottles on the side table next to the bed, with a water pitcher and dropper. Laudanum. They were keeping this woman both locked up and drugged.
“How long have you been here?” she asked quietly.
“Help,” the young girl croaked, her eyes glassy and unfocused, the result of the drug in her system. Her lips began forming words Lily did not understand.
“Lily, the men have gone,” Cora hissed. “Let’s get out of here while we still can.”
Lily’s heart squeezed. How could she and Cora escape and leave this poor woman to whatever fate Lee had planned for her? It hardly seemed right. But they could not carry this woman, not in her current state, and expect to evade detection. Fighting tears, Lily reached out and squeezed the woman’s frail hand. “I will come back for you. No matter what it takes, I promise we will get you out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Calvin walked directly through the front door.
Alone, he entered the ground-floor grocery on Pell Street, both of his hands raised in the air. Unsurprisingly, Lee’s guards jumped on him instantly, subduing him by tying his hands behind his back. One man kneed him in the ribs for good measure, another slammed a fist into his right eye—both unnecessary, in Calvin’s opinion, because he hadn’t fought back. He battled for breath and prayed a rib hadn’t cracked.
They dragged him up the narrow stairs, with Calvin attempting to keep his balance despite the rough treatment. Sounds of the fan-tan games grew louder, the exclamations of winners and losers in Lee’s house of vice. When they reached the landing, he was shoved toward the back of the building. Calvin tried to focus on the meeting ahead, not the fact that Lily was somewhere above, being kept against her will and possibly injured. If he dwelled on that, he’d lose his mind. Better to keep faith that he would soon see her released.
A guard threw open the door and strong hands pushed Calvin inside. He stumbled but soon righted himself, straightening to face the man behind the desk. Lee. Calvin’s muscles tightened, white-hot anger burning in his blood and causing his injured eye to throb painfully. Fortunate for Lee that Calvin’s hands had been tied; otherwise he might have strangled him then and there. He clenched his jaw and took a calming breath.
Lee’s expression registered his surprise, but he masked it as he rose from his chair. “Mr. Cabot. I had not expected to see you so soon.”
“You took the two women because you wanted me here. Well, I’m here. Release Miss Davies and her cousin. If you don’t, you’ll never set eyes on your daughter again.”
Lee’s lips twisted into a sinister smile. “One in your position cannot make demands.”
“If you want your daughter returned to you,” he growled, “let the two women go.”
Lee nodded to the single guard in the room. Suddenly, Calvin’s bound hands were yanked up painfully, his arms nearly dislocating out of his shoulders. He let out an embarrassing howl of pain and, after some of the longest seconds of his life, he was released. He bent over at the waist, panting through the agony.
Lee said, “I have ways of making men talk. What makes you think I’ll not just torture the answer out of you?”
Calvin forced his gaze to Lee’s. “Do you honestly think I’ve never been tortured before? I spent two years trying to erect telegraph lines through opium fields. I made more enemies than Boss Tweed.”
“While that may be true, I am certain my methods are more creative than others you may have encountered.”
Calvin doubted it. The criminal element in rural China had been quite inventive with ways to bend a man to their will. He’d once been hanged by his feet in a rat-infested cellar for two days
before being rescued. To this day, he could not see a rat without breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Torturing me won’t serve any purpose,” he told Lee. “I won’t produce your daughter until I know Miss Davies and Miss Hampton are safe.”
Lee stroked his short beard, contemplating this, while Calvin waited it out. He didn’t care what happened to him, as long as Lily was safe—and if any harm had befallen her under Lee’s care, there would be hell to pay.
After a long moment Lee said, “I am not a monster, Mr. Cabot. Your countrymen call us evil and a menace, but we are here to find a better life for our families, same as you. So as a gesture of good faith, I will release your two lady friends.”
“Generous, especially considering you no longer have a need for them.”
Lee nodded, acknowledging the statement as true. “And after I have done so?”
“Then we can begin to discuss the return of your daughter.”
The other man strode to the door and pulled it open. Calvin heard him order the two American women be brought to his office before the door closed once more. Lee returned to his desk, sitting down in the chair. “She is beautiful, your American wife. Does she know what you are doing? All the lies you have told?”
Calvin said nothing, but a twitch of his jaw must have given him away because Lee laughed. “No, I thought not. I enjoyed telling her of how you’d kidnapped Ming Zhu. She was quite surprised.”
Calvin’s chest constricted, regret freezing in his lungs. He’d hated lying to Lily, especially after that day in his office, and she’d undoubtedly be furious over the deception. Cowardly, he’d clung to the hope that she’d never find out. Too late for that. He could only imagine how much she loathed him right then.
“I am going to enjoy this short reunion,” Lee said. “Somehow I do not think she will be sad to bid you farewell.”
No, Calvin didn’t think she would either.
He braced his feet, the pain in his side excruciating. His right eye was rapidly swelling shut. “None of this would have happened if you’d cooperated with me in the first place. I requested one small favor.”
“Favor was not so small, Mr. Cabot. Otherwise you would have succeeded on your own.”
The door opened and Calvin turned to see Lily and Miss Hampton being marched inside. “Caught them trying to escape,” one of the guards told Lee, and Calvin experienced a moment of pure fear. She’d tried to escape again? Had she a damn death wish? Thank Christ she appeared to be unharmed. Other than disheveled hair, she appeared much as she always did. Lee had not hurt her, at least not visibly.
She gasped at the sight of his face, her feet hurrying toward him. “Calvin! Your eye!”
“I’m fine, truly.” Soft fingers gently swept over his face and a tide of tenderness welled up in his chest. He said quietly, “I’m all right, Lily my love.”
Before he could blink, she balled up her fist and drove it into his stomach. He doubled over, his eyes watering with the pain. “I should have known you were still hiding something.”
“I’m sorry.” He wheezed for breath. “I had my reasons for keeping it from you.”
“Yes, you always have reasons—reasons you never want to share. Why won’t you ever let anyone in?”
He straightened, wincing at the pain in his abdomen. “Lily, please—”
“Don’t bother. I don’t want to hear any more excuses or lies.”
Chest aching, he nodded. Really, how could he blame her? He’d known all along that she would never forgive him if she ever learned what he’d done. “I love you. I never meant to hurt you,” he said for her ears alone.
She studied his face, her gaze growing bright as she blinked rapidly. “And yet you always do.” Turning, she walked to where her cousin stood on the other side of the room.
His tongue thick with everything he longed to say and couldn’t, he raised his head and pinned Lee with a hard stare. “Satisfied? Now let them go.”
Lee nodded and bowed to the young women. “I apologize for detaining you. Both of you are free to go.” Guards began leading the women from the room.
Her brows knitting in confusion, Lily tried to pull out of the man’s grasp. Her eyes flickered to Calvin’s bound hands, which she seemed to register for the first time. “Wait, Calvin. What is happening? Are you coming with us?”
“Go,” he told her. “Leave and do not come back.”
“No!” She struggled in earnest now. “I may be furious with you, but I won’t leave you here. I won’t leave you at his mercy.”
Undoubtedly she was remembering a few weeks back, when Lee had drugged him. She didn’t realize he was here tonight of his own volition. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. You need to leave, Lily.”
The guard wrestled her into the corridor, shutting the door, and the sound of her complaints slowly faded as she was forced down the steps. Lee walked to the small window on the far wall and drew back the dirty curtain. “You may watch her depart, so you know I have held up my end.”
Calvin came over and peered through the glass. In a few seconds Lily and Miss Hampton emerged from the store on the ground floor. They seemed to be arguing, with Lily glancing behind them nervously while her cousin tugged her to where a hansom waited. Finally, Lily wiped her eyes and climbed into the hired carriage. Calvin exhaled. If nothing else, at least she was safe.
“Now,” Lee said, “let us discuss the whereabouts of my daughter.”
The wheels began to turn, the horse leading the vehicle uptown. Calvin waited until it turned the corner before facing Lee. “And I’ll tell you . . . just as soon as you produce my wife from China.”
A chill descended in the room as Lee’s expression hardened, his eyes black and sharp. “You have made a grave error, Mr. Cabot.” He glanced at the two guards waiting by the door. “Take him to the basement and convince him to talk.”
* * *
“He’ll be fine, Lily,” Cora said soothingly as the hansom started north. “He said so himself.”
Lily put a hand on her stomach, breathing deep. Worry, anger, and panic tumbled about inside her, with the image of Calvin’s stoic, handsome face as she’d been dragged from the room now carved into her memory. Why had he agreed to stay? Lee would certainly hurt him . . . or worse.
And despite her fury with Calvin, she didn’t want him killed. Yes, he had lied to her. Again. But to think of a world without Calvin, even if they were no longer together, depressed her immeasurably. She had to do something, anything, to gain his release before the inevitable occurred.
“No, you don’t understand. Lee drugged Calvin the last time and likely would have killed him had I not intervened. I have to help him.”
“The last time?” Cora shook her head. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’ll explain later.” Just before Lily asked the driver to pull over, they began to slow down. Lily studied their surroundings. They were still in Chinatown, on a street she faintly recalled. Then she saw a building, one with a sign she recognized.
“I’ve been here before.”
“Here?” Cora’s head swiveled to take in the buildings. “You’ve been here? Why? When?”
“A few weeks ago, with Calvin.”
When the wheels finally stopped, Lily reached for the handle on the small door. Cora grabbed her arm. “Wait, where are you going? We cannot get out here.”
“Cora, I have to speak with the man who owns this restaurant.” She pointed at Kwan’s building. “He is a friend of Calvin’s. The driver must have been instructed to bring us to this place and I need to find out why. Don’t worry; I’ll tell him to take you uptown.”
“You cannot do this.” Her cousin’s brow wrinkled, her mouth pulling into a frown. “He lied to you and now you’re going to . . . what? Risk your life for some man you married ages ago, one who treated you terribly? One who let your father bully him into signing annulment papers? Is he really worth dying for?”
Yes, her heart whispered. Calvin had br
oken her trust, but she loved him. And he’d walked into Lee’s and traded himself to obtain her release. How could she abandon him?
“I know it does not make sense, but I cannot leave him there. He came to rescue us tonight; I need to return the favor.”
She threw open the door and stepped down just as Hugo emerged from Kwan’s doorway. Of course Hugo was here. He must have arranged for the hansom.
To her surprise, Cora also departed. “Cora, what are you doing? Stay inside. I’ll have the driver take you home.”
Her cousin smoothed her skirts and adjusted her gloves. “I mean to stay. If you plan to fight, so do I.”
“Don’t be ridiculous—”
“Why is it ridiculous? Because I’m your boring, fraidy-cat cousin, which means I’m useless?”
Lily frowned and clasped Cora’s arm. “You’re not boring and you’re certainly not useless. I’d love it if you stayed to help, but this could be dangerous.”
“I just picked the lock to help us escape an opium den and illegal gambling parlor,” Cora said dryly. “I think I can handle dangerous.”
“Fair enough,” Lily said. “Come along, then.”
The two of them followed Hugo inside the restaurant and to the kitchens, where they found a small group gathered. Mr. Kwan was there, whom she greeted, along with Emmett Cavanaugh, a giant man Lily had never met but certainly knew by reputation. He’d grown up in Five Points before building his steel empire and marrying one of New York society’s darlings, Elizabeth Sloane. Next to Mr. Cavanaugh stood a stocky man, his rough looks proclaiming him a boxer or street tough of some kind.
Hugo walked in. “Glad to see Mr. Cabot was successful in negotiating your release, missus.”
“Yes, he did—and please tell me you gentlemen have a plan on getting him out of there.”
Cavanaugh nodded and came forward, his hand outstretched. “We do. I’m Emmett Cavanaugh, Miss Davies. This is my friend, Kelly.”
She shook his hand. “Nice to meet both of you. This is my cousin, Miss Cora Hampton. Please, tell me what I can do.”
The men exchanged glances and seemed to all settle on Hugo. Calvin’s valet grimaced. “We can’t have you risking yourself, missus. Calvin would never forgive me if something happened to you.”