Page 6 of Tainted Reasoning

Tamara pales, and I realize instantly I’ve said too much.

“What…What do you mean?” she stutters.

“Nothing,” both Nicholas and I reply at the same time. My brother gives me a scowl, which says I need to keep my mouth shut about other aspects of our afternoon excursion.

“No.” Victoria, reaches out and takes her husband’s hand in her own and squeezes it. “I want Tamara to know everything. It’s the only way she can make an informed decision about whether she’ll help us or not. She’s a fantastic lawyer, Nicholas. She’s still learning, but what we are trying to achieve will give her great experience in so many aspects.”

“I’m not sure I like the sound of this, not when it’s combined with the term organs.” Tamara worries the edge of her lip with her teeth, and I can’t help but think I’d like to sink my own teeth into that plump part of her flesh. What the hell is going on with me, at the moment? Every time I look at this woman, I start imagining her in a sexual way. I don’t do this. Women are brought to me, I do what I need to, to get off, and then they’re taken away again. I don’t do feelings…they’re too complicated, and heaven knows, the thoughts running through my head don’t need any additional distractions. I look away from her and drain my elaborate wine glass, which had been full of the finest Chardonnay.

“I’ve told you a lot about what happened when my father handed me over to Nicholas. I also mentioned a girl called Amelia to you,” Victoria says, turning her chair to face her friend. At this, Nicholas gets to his feet and walks over to take a protective stance at the door used by the staff. Our employees know of our exploits, but they don’t need to be discussed openly in front of them.

“I remember. She died during one of the trials. You said that her father had abused her since she was born.”

“Yes, he’d forced her to practice completing the trials that I had to endure. She didn’t just do them once… he made her repeat them several times, so she would be prepared for whatever Nicholas threw at her. He raped, abused, and degraded his own daughter. I hadn’t realized the full extent of the fragile state of Amelia’s mind until her last moments. The only task she hadn’t completed was to kill a man, and when confronted in the trials with having to commit murder, she simply couldn’t. It was the one that broke her.” Victoria pauses and wipes a tear from her eye as I look over to my brother. His head is bowed, and the guilt of Amelia’s death causes his shoulders to slump. It’s one of his biggest regrets that he couldn’t save her. Her death will haunt him until the day he dies. I’d watched the girl numerous times during the trials, though, and I know she was beyond saving. Death gave her the peace she needed, allowing her to escape from the prison her mind had become. Putting a gun in her hand was the biggest favor Nicholas could have done for her.

“How can a father do that to his own daughter?” Tamara sits in her chair stunned. Her mouth has fallen slightly open, and confusion glistens in her eyes. “I just don’t understand it.”

“I don’t think anyone does.” Victoria dabs away another tear.

“Sometimes, people just have the devil in them. They remain completely unaffected by the damage their wicked actions cause other people. There is no good in them. Evil is a disease that riddles their entire being.” I push my chair back and come to kneel between the girls. “My father had it, and Amelia’s father was the same.”

“And my father has it,” Victoria adds.

Tamara lets out a long, slow breath. The realization of what has happened dawning on her. She looks at me.

“You killed your father when he tried to kill Nicholas and Victoria.”

“Yes,” I reply without regret.

Tamara looks over her shoulder at Nicholas.

“You killed Amelia’s father.”

Nicholas nods before replying.

“He died in agony, and his body was given no last rites or ceremony. His death was deserved for the abuses he inflicted on his daughter.”

“But you had no right…” Tamara starts to lecture, but Nicholas puts his hand up to halt her.

“I may not have had the right to take his life, but he certainly lost the privilege of breathing with his actions toward his daughter. Too many people have been hurt, killed, or maimed by this society since its inception. I’m the ruler of it now, and I’ll not rest until it’s cleaned of all those who would seek to destroy a human life for power, monetary gain, or simply for sexual gratification. That is the world my father created. People who treated women like slaves. They abused them to the point they were unrecognizable as a human and then put a bullet in their heads. I couldn’t save Amelia, but I will prevent this from happening again in my name. The Duke of Oakfield will no longer be synonymous with evil. He will be a loving husband, father, and ruler of a society helping to empower women.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police with the evidence of what Amelia’s father had done?” Tamara asks, and I have to chuckle a little at her faith in the law. You can tell she is new to her profession and still believes in the honesty of all those working in it.

“Because the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police was an active member of the society.” Victoria says as she stands up from her seat at the dining room table.

“What!” Tamara exclaims, and her mouth opens and closes like a fish, trying to find sense in what she’s hearing. “I can’t…He can’t…What?”

Nicholas comes to his wife’s side and wraps an arm around her tiny waist.

“His wife suffered a stillbirth of a baby girl when Viscountess Hamilton was pregnant with my wife. If the child had been born alive, then she would have become my property on my thirtieth birthday. She would have suffered the same fate as the other girls I was given. I can only be thankful to god for not allowing another woman to experience the torment the others endured.”

Tamara looks down at the floor, and I can see tears forming in her eyes. Reaching out, I take her hand in mine – it’s warm to the touch, despite the chill in the air, resulting from her stark realization regarding the malevolence of some people in positions of respect and trust.

“How can they get away with this?” Tamara asks.

“They have the power,” I respond. “It’s the reason no one questioned the fact I disappeared after my autism diagnosis.”

“I can’t understand this. It’s too much.”

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