Andrew felt cold all of a sudden. The thought nearly brought him to his knees.
He exhaled sharply, lifting his gaze. "We leave now," he ordered, his voice like steel.
"To where? I think we should alert the constables, so they are out looking for Robert," Solomon suggested.
"I did that before coming here," David said. "But now that we have a name, I'll go back and get them to start looking for Robert specifically."
"I'll go to Robert's estate," Andrew said. "You said Hyde Park was where she was taken from? He doesn't live that far from the park. My guess is, he took her to his estate. David, meet me there with the constables."
Andrew made to leave, but then he paused. "The sooner you get there, David, the better," he said. "Because if you don't come fast enough with the constables, you'll only find a dead viscount when you arrive."
Without waiting for a response, he hurried out of the study. All he could think about were the different ways to kill a man. Because if Robert had laid a single hand on his wife, Andrew would make sure the bastard never touched another soul again.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
For a moment as Lavinia tried to open her eyes, they felt oddly heavy. As if her lids weighed ten times what they used to. She slowly blinked, and thankfully, the lids got lighter and lighter every time she attempted to open her eyes. Finally, as her blurry vision cleared, she was able to lift her head and scan the room.
A dull ache in her head and an overwhelming sense of disorientation washed over her the moment she fully opened her eyes. She squinted, trying to adjust to the soft light that streamed through the room's curtains. The air felt damp, heavy, and...unfamiliar. The walls around her were bare, the furnishings sparse...
This was not her home.
This wasn't her bed.
Her hands...they were bound.
She tried to move, but the ropes that held her to the bed were tight and unforgiving. Panic surged through her, and her breath caught in her throat as she tugged at the restraints, the cold reality of her situation sinking in. Her mind raced, grasping for any recollection of how she had come to be in this unfamiliar place.
The last thing she remembered was walking through the park, upset. She had been alone, her thoughts preoccupied with Andrew, when suddenly, a strong hand had seized her, pulling her into the shadows before she could even cry out.
Robert!
A gasp slipped from her lips but it caught in her throat when she turned to find him seated in the corner of the room, watching her. A cold knot twisted in her stomach as she recoiled instinctively.
"You're awake, Lady Lavinia," he said with a coy smile. "I was hoping you would sleep some more. You look beautiful when you sleep."
"Untie me," she demanded. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You should ask your husband why I'm doing this," he answered. His voice once filled with a manipulative sweetness, now burned with something darker, something that made her stomach churn.
"Untie me!" she repeated. "This is wildly inappropriate and if —"
"If what?" Robert said, his voice dripping with venom as he stood up and began to pace. "Andrew decided to destroy me. To ruin everything I worked for...everything I built. And for what? Because of you? He must pay. He will regret ever crossing me. Everything he's built, his name, his life...it will all fall apart, and I will be the one to watch it burn."
Lavinia wanted to roll her eyes, but she restrained herself. "Well, you'll be doing him a favor," she mumbled, but not loud enough for him to hear.
"You have no idea what I'm going to do to you, Lavinia Webbs," Robert said and smirked.
"It's Haskett. Your Grace, to you," she corrected him. "The duke and I got married, in case you forgot. The duke also told me what you tried to do to me. Is that why you're so bitter, Robert? Because he spoiled your attempt to ruin my life?"
"Did he tell you how he also advised his colleagues not to do business with me?" Robert asked. "To shun me?"
"Do you think I will feel pity for you?" Lavinia retorted. "That I will be sorry that you are shunned when you take advantage of women for sport?"
Robert froze, his eyes narrowing, and the calm demeanor he had once worn crumbled, replaced with a glint of fury. "You thinkI deserve this? You think I deserve to be treated like nothing?" he sneered, taking a step closer to her. "You have no idea what it's like to be cast aside, to be the one who's always overlooked. Everything I've worked for—everything I've sacrificed—has been for nothing because of your husband!"
"Did I deserve what you were trying to do to me?" she questioned. "What you have done to multiple women? Did they deserve it? This is your cross to carry, so leave me out of it."
"Oh, no you're in the center of it," he said standing by her side and lowering himself to her eye level. "You are the key, Lavinia. Hurting you is the same as hurting Andrew."
