“But you cannot be certain beyond any shadow of a doubt.” He might very well be involved. And if that were the case, Louisa didn’t know what she and Leo would do. The last thing she wanted was for her brother to be raised by a criminal, even if that criminal was a birth parent.
“Not beyond any shadow, no.” His fingers squeezed hers in quiet promise of support.
Louisa swept an unforgiving gaze around the chamber. “We should probably leave. Leo must almost be done with his bath, then he will come looking for us. Will you stay to say goodbye to him? He will never forgive you if you don’t.”
She would not let him off, either.
An overwhelming sense of finality sank in. This was the end. Even if he lingered an hour or two, he would be leaving soon, and they would likely not meet again for a long time. And even when they did—ifthey did—there would always be an insurmountable distance between them.
“Oliver, I...” Louisa trailed off, uncertain what she even wanted to say. That she didn’t want him to leave? That she wanted to sleep in his arms one more night? That she fancied him a touch more than she should?
“What, pray tell, is going on here?”
Both of them jerked.
Ah, a reckoning had come all right—a bit quicker than expected—and judging from the look of fury on the Duchess of Talbot’s face, it seemed it was to be Louisa’s.
*
Oliver stared atthe woman he had been after for a while now. Slippery as a snake, calculating as a fox, and ruthless as a tiger. Camilla Talbot had been a ghost in his world too long, alwayselusive and hard to see, always floating just out of reach. But at this moment, she was no ghost. At this moment, she stood before him, the very embodiment of cunning and pride.
Her gaze, sharp and cold, dropped to the ledger in his hand, her expression turning ugly. It was a look he had seen too many times from those who thought they were untouchable—those who had built criminal empires by grinding the world beneath their heel.
They got their comeuppance.
One way or the other.
Her lips twisted into a mock smile, but it was strained. Her eyes flicked to Louisa and back at him. “You shouldn’t have come here, Mortimer.”
“You are done, Camilla,” Louisa snapped out. “We know everything, and this ledger will be your undoing. It’s over.”
“Camilla?” Another voice intervened, and a tall man came up behind her. The Duke of Talbot.
Oliver flinched. There would be hell to pay. Perhaps not today, though it was hard to say just yet. But this man, he would make sure Oliver never forgot this moment. This moment when their eyes met and Talbot’s cheeks flushed several shades of red before his gaze fell on his daughter. One color surfaced above the others—vermillion.
He pushed past his wife and marched into the chamber. “What the devil is the meaning of this, and why the devil is your hand on my daughter?”
Oliver jerked, his hand still resting on Louisa’s back, a touch meant for comfort, but now an infernal brand on his palm. One that would now cause a damnably rousing tempest. His fingers curled, then his hand fell to his side as Louisa stepped forward, taking up a defensive stance before him.
“What is going on here? That is what I would like to know!” She snatched the ledger from Oliver’s hand. “Did you know yourwife has been dealing in detestable, illegal schemes? That she is the head of a criminal organization of women?”
All the color drained from Talbot’s face. His gaze darted to the ledger, then back to Louisa. His lips parted as if to speak, yet no words emerged.
Oliver clenched his fists, but he also caught the look of surprise on Talbot’s wife’s face.
“So you knew,” Louisa said, her hands falling to her sides, the ledger still gripped in one hand. “Were you a part of this? Did you help her? Distributing opium?Kidnapping children?”
That brought Talbot to his senses. “Of course not! I would never do anything so despicable.”
“Then what?” Louisa demanded, a tremor in her voice. “I am dying to know.”
The man dragged a hand through his hair. “Where is your brother?”
“Bathing.”
Talbot nodded before his gaze passed over Oliver again. “You are investigating this matter?”
“I am,” Oliver said stiffly. “And before you accuse me of anything else, I started my inquiry not knowing your wife was at the other end.”
