by Rebecca King
‘Now, I would warn you that if I find out you have lied to me I shall have you arrested for helping her father, Horace, murder his wife, which was witnessed by Carlotta.’ Oliver began. He looked over his shoulder at her.
Feeling so nervous she felt sick, Carlotta nodded. When Phillip stepped closer and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, she grabbed his fingers and held on tightly. With their hands entwined, Carlotta turned to look at Henry with renewed strength. In that moment, she could feel nothing but acute dislike for him. He seemed arrogant and incredibly cold. Now that she had seen who he truly was when away from Henrietta, Carlotta had to wonder why she had not seen this side of him before. Carlotta almost felt sorry for her friend – almost.
‘Henrietta knew you were coming here, didn’t she?’ Carlotta asked. ‘Henrietta sent you to get me out of here.’
Henry snorted. ‘She was as reluctant to accommodate you as I was. When you turned up asking for our help of course she allowed you in. She is too well bred to refuse you entry to the house. What she didn’t expect was to be lumbered with you. Here was the only place I could think of to dump you until your father could come and fetch you. Of course, those stupid thugs he hired bungled everything. When one of them returned and told him that his friend had been shot, your father came to see me. It is time you got out of my house and found your own way back to your father, Carlotta. He was right to want you off his hands. You are nothing but a bloody albatross.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
Carlotta gasped as the hurtful words slammed into her. Tears immediately gathered on her lashes, but she refused to let them to fall. She refused to allow Henry to see how much his vile opinion hurt. Instead, Carlotta peered down her nose at him, even when her fingers clung to Phillip’s so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
‘You are nothing more than a liar and are no better than Horace, who is a murderer by the way, so I wouldn’t be proud of your loyalty to him. I don’t suppose he has told you about the inheritance he has squandered.’ Phillip was furious that the man felt he could talk to Carlotta so offensively. ‘Stealing someone’s inheritance is theft. The money wasn’t given to Horace, it was left to Carlotta. Guardian or not, Horace had no rights to help himself to it. Further, Horace has no right to deny Carlotta access to what is rightfully hers. He will be investigated for embezzlement of the inheritance and will have to face justice in due course. Unfortunately, Horace hasn’t just been greedy, he has also been cruel. Forced marriage is illegal in this country. Murder is illegal. Horace has been involved in both, and so have you by helping him.’
‘Get out of this house. I am not going to sit here and listen to this,’ Henry hissed, glaring at them all.
‘I am afraid that you are now under arrest and will do what we tell you. Your connection to Horace means you are guilty until you can prove otherwise. You have just admitted to us that you are here to try to force Carlotta to leave here with you, against her will if need be. That is kidnap. Further, Oliver has already told you that this house is no longer yours. If you object to that then feel free to take it up with the War Office. Until you do, this house and the people now in it are under our protection. Not even you has the right to over-ride our authority,’ Phillip announced.
Henry gulped. ‘Until I am paid for it this house is mine.’
‘I am afraid not,’ Oliver snorted. ‘This house belongs to the War Office. Your presence here puts you firmly in the middle of two of our investigations. One into the kidnaps and murders of several innocent women, and one into the murder of the man who was found in your woods just a couple of days ago, at a time when Horace’s thugs were lurking around the property – with guns. Now, I want to know where you have been over the last two days, Henry. And I will warn you now that should you lie to me, I shall add a charge to your arrest sheet of obstructing a War Office investigation.’
‘I was at home, with my wife,’ Henry snapped.
‘For the whole two days?’ Niall demanded.
‘Yes. No.’ Henry looked wildly around the room.
‘Well? Which is it? Yes, or no?’ Oliver prompted.
‘I was at home the day before yesterday. Then Horace appeared and told me about the thug being shot. He told me that she couldn’t stay here any longer. He wanted Carlotta out of here and told me to at least get her back to my house so he could fetch her from there.’
‘Why didn’t he come here himself?’ Oliver demanded.
‘How should I know? He said he believed she would run if she saw him, and that she would be more likely to talk to me,’ Henry replied.
‘Now why would she talk to you, Henry? Why would she be more amenable to return to your house upon your orders? If you want to persuade her to return home like you claim you do, why did you not bring your wife to do the job for you? Did you not think that your wife’s friendship might be a little more persuasive? I mean, you are not an older relation, a brotherly figure, or even someone who has really helped her. You just pretend you are. However, to anyone who knows what you should have done, how a real gentleman would behave, your behaviour betrays you. I don’t doubt you let her stay here alone so she would suffer in the hopes that she would give in and return home when the hardship of life away from her father started to make life difficult. Moreover, you then thought that you could do what you wanted when she was here alone, and your wife was safely tucked up at home, eh, Henry? I mean, a woman alone is very vulnerable, isn’t she?’
‘You cannot prove anything,’ Henry scoffed.
‘Your presence here proves it,’ Oliver murmured gently but in a tone that was laden with menace.
Henry shifted, as if he was going to get up and try to walk out. The men who were standing near the doors and windows straightened, leaving Henry to glance wildly around the room. When he realised there was no place he could go, he sat a little straighter and glared at Oliver.
‘Where is Horace now?’
‘He is staying nearby. I was to take her to him when I got her out of here if she wouldn’t return home with me. Then he was going to take her to her new husband’s house. The wedding has been arranged,’ Henry explained.
‘Over my dead body,’ Carlotta hissed. ‘I would rather die.’
‘Stay with Horace, my dear, and I am sure he would arrange it,’ Oliver drawled. ‘Aided by his little criminal friend here.’
‘Look on the bright side, out of all of this at least you have seen both Henry and his wife in their true colours. She now has to face the indignity of having her husband arrested for trying to kidnap you. That should be more than enough to indulge the idle curiosity of the gossips who would discuss why he should want to do such a thing to you, a stunningly beautiful, single young woman.’
Carlotta turned to stare at him. It wasn’t his words about Henry that made her eyes widen and her heart flutter. It was the knowledge that Phillip thought she was stunningly beautiful that left Carlotta speechless.
‘You are best rid of the lot of them,’ Niall assured her. ‘They are criminals after all. You don’t need to consort with the likes of them.’
Carlotta had to admit that he had a very valid point. When she looked at Henry again it was from a completely different viewpoint. She saw him for the harsh, spiteful, equally draconian brute as Horace, who had little respect for women, their opinions, thoughts, feelings or emotions. ‘I am sorry that Henrietta found you for a husband. While I should be annoyed for her, I cannot help but feel a little sorry that she will spend the rest of her life being tainted by your criminal behaviour.’
In that moment, Carlotta felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. It was from being able to see the true natures of Henry and her father and being able to witness it alongside men like the Star Elite. They didn’t need to discredit the thoughts or feelings of women to feel like men. They didn’t need to bully or threaten women to feel fulfilled. They did everything possible to protect whereby Horace did everything possible to ruin. The men from the Star Elite were a breed apart from Hora
ce and Henry, and that was evident in the way the men had said very little but had still left Henry unable to defend himself.
‘Well, we hereby place you under arrest for attempted kidnap and helping a murderer,’ Oliver replied. ‘This house belongs to the War Office, so object to our presence if you wish but it would be wise to co-operate and try to buy yourself a lighter sentence. While in gaol you will be required to sign the necessary transfer papers and will, of course, be paid the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds for this property. It is a fair price given its poor condition.’
‘You cannot prove I did anything,’ Henry growled.
‘Horace will confirm it,’ Oliver replied smoothly. ‘You forget; you are taking on the might of the Star Elite.’
His menacing words were enough to make Henry flinch and sit further back in his seat. Henry threw a dark look at Carlotta but didn’t speak.
‘Now, I want the truth from you,’ Oliver continued. ‘Were you present when Carlotta’s mother was murdered?’
‘No. I was not. She wasn’t murdered,’ Henry snarled.
‘Are you sure about that? If you weren’t there, how can you say that?’ Phillip challenged.
‘Where were you?’
‘At home with my wife.’
‘If I send my men to speak to her, Henrietta will confirm that, will she?’
‘Well, y-yes.’
‘Y-yes? You don’t sound too sure, Henry. Would you like to think about it for a moment?’ Oliver pressed.
‘She will tell you that I was with her,’ Henry replied.
‘We will go and speak to her. If I find out you left her, even for half an hour on the day that Regina died, I will see it that you have lied during questioning and will have you arrested for obstructing a murder investigation. Do you understand me?’ Oliver pressed.
‘I didn’t kill her,’ Henry burst out. ‘I didn’t have anything to do with it. Horace didn’t tell me that he had killed her. He just said that the silly bitch was dead. That she had tried to run away with her lover.’
‘You didn’t think it odd that he then sent armed men after his daughter? Did you not think it unusual that his daughter left the house within days of Regina’s sudden death?’
‘Horace had told me that he wanted her off his hands, Carlotta that is not Regina. I mean, she is three and twenty,’ Henry blustered. ‘Everyone her age is married by now. She told him that she wouldn’t marry. He lost his temper with her and told her that she was going to marry whether she wanted to or not. What father wouldn’t?’
‘If you are going to be the kind of father who would force his daughter into matrimony, Henry, you are going to spend a very large part of your life behind bars.’
Henry sighed. ‘I didn’t say I would do it to my own child if I had one.’
‘But it is alright to force someone else’s child into it.’ It wasn’t a question.
Henry looked at the floor beneath his boots. It was clear that he was no match for Oliver’s skilled questioning.
‘Now, I want the truth from you. Where can we find Horace?’ Niall demanded.
‘I am here,’ Horace announced from the doorway.
Carlotta gasped and instinctively cowered against Phillip when she heard that horribly familiar tone. She paled and began to tremble without even realising she was doing it. Phillip was aware of it, though, and as furious when he saw it. The instinctive fear he saw in Carlotta’s eyes worried him and his colleagues. They all looked at her before turning to stare at the intruder.
‘Well, at least we don’t have to send men out to come and fetch you,’ Oliver drawled.
Niall stepped toward the door and closed it when Horace stepped deeper into the room. Horace spun around and glared at Niall, who folded his arms and leaned his beefy shoulders against the smooth oak. It was clear from the impenetrable look on his face that Horace wasn’t going to leave the room until Niall decided he could.
Slowly, Horace turned to look at the occupants of the room. He nodded briskly at Henry, but Henry didn’t return the greeting. Instead, he continued to glare sullenly at the floor.
‘What in the Devil’s name is going on here?’ Horace began. He stopped beside his daughter, but his gaze was trained on Phillip’s hands, which were still holding Carlotta’s. ‘Is there something I should know?’ He pointed one long finger at Phillip and glared at her. ‘Is that why you refused to marry Frank?’
Carlotta felt fury begin to build. She wasn’t just angry at Horace, she hated him. She felt nothing but venomous anger coursing through her. It was so strong it propelled her to her feet. His use of the word ‘that’ when talking about Phillip made her livid.
‘How dare you speak about Phillip that way?’ she snarled. ‘You, a cold-blooded killer.’ She raked him with a dark look and curled her lip. ‘How dare you send those thugs out to try to kidnap me and force me back to you? Nobody wants to live with you anymore. Mother was miserable and so was I. We weren’t there because you wanted a family. We were there so you could pretend you were a family man because it opened business doors for you that would remain closed if you were a single man. You didn’t tell anybody that it was all a pretence, and that behind closed doors you did everything possible to make us as miserable as possible as often as you could. You were mother’s husband. You knew she went to bed crying every night because you kept ridiculing her and treating her like dirt, yet you showed her no compassion. You only showed an interest in me when you could parade me in front of your friends like a prize filly up for sale. You are a vile odious bastard, and I rue the day I was ever born to your blood. Mother certainly couldn’t wait to get away from you, and neither could I.’
She gasped when Horace suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her by her throat. His fingers squeezed her flesh tightly as he hauled her onto her tiptoes. All Carlotta could do was cling to his wrist and try to tug his hand away. The hold only lasted a few seconds because the second he grabbed her, Phillip jumped up and lunged toward him. Rather than grab his wrist, he slammed a heavy punch under Horace’s armpit, which caused him to gasp in pain. Oliver slammed a fist down onto Horace’s arm, forcing it away from Carlotta. Together, both men slammed Horace in the stomach with fists and kicked his legs from beneath him and forced him to his knees before her.
‘Take a good look at the killer of your mother, Carlotta. He is going to be arrested for her murder, accident or not. He gave her the fateful shove that ended her life. It is murder. Moreover, he is going to be arrested for conspiring to kidnap you, stealing your inheritance, and the vile attack on you today. In addition to that, he is going to be arrested for trespassing because this is the War Office’s house and he wasn’t invited in,’ Phillip snarled. ‘Now, is there anything else you would like to say to him before he goes to gaol?’ He slid a look at Henry. ‘Before they both go to gaol?’
When Horace merely curled his lip and snarled at Phillip, Oliver yanked Horace’s head back at an uncomfortable angle and forced him to look at his daughter. He had no doubt that he was looking into the eyes of Regina’s killer. The harsh cruelty was there for all the Star Elite to see and it condemned Horace before he had even been put before a magistrate.
‘I should warn you now that your daughter is no longer your concern. She is mine. She was made my wife this morning as a matter of fact, in the local church. Carlotta is my wife, and under my protection. As an investigator with the Star Elite, who works with the full authority of the War Office, I take strong exception to any criminal threatening my wife. Come anywhere near her again, look or even speak in her direction, and I shall see you are never released from gaol. Do you hear me?’ Phillip leaned down and shoved his face into Horace’s and snarled the last few words.
‘M-married?’
‘Yes. To me. Today. She is my wife. My business. Mine. Touch her. Force her to go anywhere against her will. Even speak her name again, and you will answer to me,’ Phillip hissed.
‘And me,’ Niall added.
‘And me,’ Justin a
nd Jasper, Oliver, Callum, and Aaron all growled.
The room fell into a heavy silence. Carlotta stared at the man who had caused her so much misery over the last few weeks, months, even years of her life but could feel nothing but a strange detachment.
‘I have worried, been fearful, scared, chased, threatened. I have been alone, horribly, horribly alone, so very cold my bones ached, and so hungry that my stomach hurt, but I would suffer all the hardship in the world before staying another hour in that house of yours. You made both my life and mother’s so unbearable we were prepared to do anything to get away from you. You killed her. You, horrible bastard that you are, murdered her. You must be held to account for the brutal assault on mother’s lover. If you had been even half a decent human being, she would have stayed with you. She put up with so much. I am glad that you grabbed me just now because it gives these fine upstanding gentlemen in the Star Elite a brief glimpse of who you really are. You are ugly. You are horrid. You are a vile, odious little man who deserves to rot away in a cell and never be allowed out again. You are nothing like Phillip, or Oliver, Niall, Aaron, Justin, Angus, Jasper or Callum. You don’t even deserve to be in the same room as them. They are real men. They don’t see the need to treat women badly to feel powerful. They don’t feel the need to look down at women as if they should be pushed and shoved about so they can feel strong. They nurture, protect, even love. But that is something you don’t even recognise because you are a harsh, cruel, spiteful little man. You don’t care how brutal you have to be as long as you get what you want. As long as you get to do what you want to whomever you want when you want and nobody challenges you, you don’t care how low you have to sink, how cruel you have to be, how mean, perverted or hateful. Well, guess what? Your time is over. You can no longer hurt me. You can call me whatever you want. You can grab me and push me, and threaten and bully me, but you are nothing more than a snivelling coward at my feet. You don’t deserve any more of my time. You don’t deserve to even share the same air that I breathe. I am glad to be rid of you; glad to be free of your tyranny. You thought you could control me by withholding the money that was rightly mine. You thought you could stop me from making my own choices and use me to better your own interests by selling me into marriage. That is the only reason you sent your thugs after me; for your own selfish gain. Well, whatever has been spent of my inheritance has been spent without my approval, authorisation or knowledge and must be considered theft. I hope it gives you a sentence behind bars and affords you plenty of time to think about what kind of bastard you have turned yourself into. As far as I am concerned, I would be honoured to be Phillip’s wife, and can only applaud the wives of the rest of the men of the Star Elite for choosing such noble husbands. They do at least know how to protect the things they care about, and treat people with respect, kindness, and courtesy. It is odd, is it not, that you demanded it from me and mother but refused to show us anything but brutality and harshness. I hope you rot. Now, I am going to leave. As far as I am concerned, I hope they drag you off to gaol and throw away the damned key. Come anywhere near me again and I shall throw you back in gaol myself. You are not welcome to talk to me, come to my home, speak to my husband, or have any further part of my life. Touch me again and I shall punch you myself. My life is, quite simply, none of your damned business. Stay away seeing as you find me so offensive. I never want nor need the opinion of such an odious bully such as yourself.’ She threw a dark look at Henry. ‘Either of you. Neither of you should see fit to consider yourselves above anybody so you can sneer down at them when you are the worst of humankind. You should hang your heads in shame. I am glad to be rid of the pair of you. I just pity Henrietta for having the misfortune of being stuck with you as a husband, Henry, but I do believe that like attracts like. Now, if you don’t mind, I am going to get on with my life. Good day to you.’