“Isn’t it obvious?” Edythe grinned. “We’ve no intention of sharing that fortune. Not with you. Not with anyone. As for your sudden absence, I’ll simply say you stormed off in a huff after I denied your advances. No one will question your disappearance.”
He collapsed to the floor, writhing in misery. Sparing him a glance, Raibert stalked after Grace.
Step by step, she retreated.
But he kept advancing.
“Aren’t you going to plead with me? I’d think you would come up with something.”
“Pleas for mercy do not matter to a man like you.” Desperation pumped through her veins. She had to act. She had to defend herself. There was no choice.
Her fingers curved around the fan. She’d break his nose. And then, she’d go for the throat.
He slowly shook his head. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s a damned shame you had to show up here and put ideas in mydarling wife’shead. I can’t let her leave me.”
“Belle won’t go. She loves you.”
“I believe you,” he said quietly, seeming to ponder her words. “A few sweet nothings were all it took. She’s so trusting. She didn’t even suspect a thing when I solved the problem of her father.”
“Solved the problem?” Grace heard the words spring from her mouth in shock.
“As you can imagine, he did not approve of an actor running off with his daughter. He threatened to disinherit her if she married me. So, I had our friend Thornquist take care of the matter.”
“If we’d known her father had divided up his money, leaving her a claim to only a mere fraction of his fortune, we would not have invested so much time and energy in the cow. We would have moved on to someone more promising.” Edythe gritted out the words as she pulled the blood-stained blade from Thornquist’s still quivering body. “But it was too late. The deed was done. Fairchild was in his grave, and she still could not touch that money.”
“That will change in the autumn, when she’ll receive her share. Then, I can be finished with her as well.”
“It has been a long wait, darling. In the end, it will be worth it,” Edythe murmured. She turned to Grace. “For now, we need to deal with the immediate problem—what to do with you. If you scream—if anyone comes running to your rescue, we’ll kill them as well. I’m sure you don’t want that on your conscience.”
“I’ve no intention of going along with your scheme.”
“As I see it, you really don’t have a choice. I won’t hurt you. I promise you that.” Raibert sounded so reasonable. Until he smiled. “You won’t feel any pain. When I break your neck, it will be quick. And clean.”
Grace didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply. She edged toward the door. In his arrogance, he’d left it open. If she could make it to the corridor, she could scream for help as she held him off with her weapons. Perhaps someone in the house would hear her.
Perhaps they would help her.
Perhaps Harrison would come after all.
Her heart ached at the thought. Had he been injured? Had O’Hanlon caught him by surprise?
The thought nearly buckled her knees, but she fought through it. She had to survive.
Her pulse thundering in her ears, she silently repeated a prayer.
Dear God, please let him be alive.
