Page 47 of A Father's Insistence

Chapter Twenty-Two

Joanna

“They’re at Seven, Winchester Place. My men are on the way. See you there.”

The phone goes dead, and I watch Theo as he stumbles backward and down into a chair. He knows the address—I’m certain of it.

“Theo?” I stroke his shoulder while Nicholas and William retrieve guns and other weapons from within a locked cupboard. “What is it?”

“My mother.”

He’s gone as white as a sheet and pulls his phone out of his pocket. Nicholas grabs it off him before he has a chance to call anyone. The elder Cavendish brother drops the phone onto the floor and stamps on it with his foot. “Don’t be stupid.”

“Hey.” Theo scrambles to pick up the pieces of his broken mobile. “I need to warn her.”

“They’ve been there for over an hour now. It’ll be too late.” Nicholas hands Theo a gun. “The society girls all die young. Let’s hope your mother is the last one, and we can save my wife and your sister before it’s too late.”

I’m looking between the two men, wondering what’s going on. What has Theo’s mother got to do with this? William appears at my side and hands me a gun. I look down at it and back up at him as if to say ‘what am I supposed to do with this?’

“Seven, Winchester Place, is just down the road. It’s where Theo and Victoria’s mother lives…lived. We’ve got to hope he sent her away rather than the alternative.” He nods at the gun in my hand. “You know how to use it?”

“Yes,” I say, stunned. The Viscount has spoken to me a few times about his wife, Lady Celia, during my time in his captivity. I know she was one of the ladies who was given to Nicholas’ father. She wasn’t chosen and was sold to the Viscount’s father. Apparently, they were instantly married that night. She never had to experience the year of being hidden away and tortured like I did. No, she was taken the first night and conceived Theo. I remember the Viscount telling me about how he planned Victoria’s birth to ensure she was one of the chosen for the next generation. She was nearly not born. The Countess had fallen pregnant with another child, originally, but an early test showed it to be a boy. She was forced to have an abortion, and then the Viscount had spent all his time ‘fucking her hard’, his words not mine, to ensure she conceived a girl. He took great delight in being rewarded with Victoria a month before the cut-off. His wife’s job done, he set her up in her own house, so he could continue with his business of being a Viscount and raising his daughter to be as virtuous as possible, ready for her debut into the society. He told me he hated his wife. She was weak and cried for her lost son all the time. She’d found out about Tamara as well and had berated him so much he’d been forced to break her jaw, so she’d shut up until it was fixed. Prior to him taking me, I don’t think he’d seen her in years. He’d told Theo and Victoria she’d met another man, and she’d limited her contact with them. This will be another story I’ll have to tell my husband—another truth I’ll have to deliver to him, which will break even more of his spirit. He looks a defeated man at the moment, standing there looking at his gun as if he’d rather point it at his own head than anyone else’s.

William breaks me out of my thoughts by handing me spare rounds and a bulletproof vest.

“What are you doing?” Theo steps forward and grabs the vest.

“Making sure she’s safe during the assault.” William looks at Theo as though it’s obvious what he’s doing. It is really, but I can see my husband has other ideas.

“She’s not coming with us. She can help look after Rose along with your nanny now she’s returned.” Theo takes the gun from me, and I stand there compliant. It’s still my nature not to argue. I think that will take a long time to recover from.

“We don’t have time for this.” Nicholas, who has finished preparing, sticks his head out the door to the office and calls for his car to be readied, “Let’s go.”

William places his hand on the document we’ve all just signed and points out the signatures. “All for one, Theo. She needs this more than we do. She needs closure. Don’t stop her from getting it.” The younger brother goes to stand with his sibling, and they both look impatiently back at us to make a decision.

“Do you want to go?” Theo asks me.

I hesitate over an answer. I want to see the Viscount die. I’d love to be the one to kill him, but what if I get in the way or get captured again? I realize I’m scared, but that’s only natural. There’s a bigger picture here than my fear: Tamara and Victoria. They need to be rescued, and my joining them may be the distraction needed.

“Yes,” I respond to Theo and hold my hand out for the weapon and vest. He sighs heavily but hands them back to me.

“Stay close to me.”

“I will.” We follow the Cavendish brothers out of the house and into a Range Rover. Nicholas drives, and his foot is instantly put to the floor, and we speed out of his estate and onto the roads of the suburbs of London. It’s almost lunchtime now, but it seems like so much more time has passed since I woke this morning and found Viscount Hamilton in the house and Theo’s butler dead. God, I haven’t even told him about that yet. Turning, I squeeze his hand, and he looks down at me, his brows furrowed in concentration.

“Your butler is dead.”

“I know. A clean-up crew has been to the house. He was a good man. I’ll make sure he gets all the honors he deserves.”

“Good.”

We all fall silent again and contemplate the possible outcomes of the next few hours. Eventually several other vehicles join us. I don’t need to ask, but I know these are the men who work for the mysterious Matthew Carter. I hope they are as well trained as those of the Viscount. I think we’re going to need it. I try my hardest to think of the men around the Viscount. I’ve been with them, and I’ve seen them all. I could be of help here but remembering them means remembering my time with him. Sitting next to Theo, knowing we’re heading to save Tamara and Victoria from the same fate, helps me conquer my fears, though.

“I remember him normally having two other men he kept with him all the time.” William turns around from the front seat to look at me.

“Go on,” he encourages, and Theo, who’s sitting next to me, squeezes my hand.

“They aren’t all properly trained, not the men closest to him, anyway. I think they are society men.” I bite my lip. “One of them was old, very old. He has other people, ones he calls dispensable for better protection. They’ll probably be outside. I remember seeing them from my window when I was transferred to a proper bedroom.” I look to Theo. “After about nine months, he decided my training was complete, and he trusted me enough to move me out of the basement because I wasn’t a flight risk. It’s true, I wasn’t. By that point, I didn’t remember a life before being beholden to the Viscount. I do now, and I want it back.”

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