Page 27 of A Father's Insistence

“Joanna, please tell me what is wrong? It’s not just the cake is it?”

She inhales deeply and reaches for an envelope on the sideboard.

“I should have given this to you sooner. I brought it with me when I was rescued.” She hands me the envelope, but the shake in her hand tells me something isn’t right here. She’s keeping something from me. I’m not sure what. I open the envelope and am greeted with a picture of Nicholas Cavendish and a painting. My father told me the society was famous for stealing paintings to fund its activities. If this is what I think it is, it could be the key to bringing down the current leader of a corrupt society, making it good again.

“Joanna, do you know what this is? Is this the only copy?”

She nods and then shakes her head.

“Yes. It’s Nicholas with a stolen Van Gogh painting. The photo implicates him in the theft of it. I had another copy made this afternoon. It’s stored in my room.”

“It does incriminate him. I need to think.” I start to pace the kitchen area. My head tells me to take this straight to the police and have him arrested, which would be the best way of bringing him down. But my heart is telling me to use it to do the one thing I’ve wanted to do from the start, and that is to ensure the safety of my sister, my niece, and my sister’s friend, Tamara.

“What are you going to do?”

“I should take it to the police?”

She nods at me.

“You should, but you’re not going to, are you?”

I pick up my slice of cake and take a final bite before heading for the door.

“Go up in your bedroom, lock the door, and don’t answer it to anyone but me.”

I don’t wait for an answer. I know she’ll do as I ask. Instead, I grip the envelope tightly to my chest and make my way through the house, grabbing my keys from where I threw them earlier and go back out to the car.

It doesn’t take long for me to travel across London and into the suburbs, heading for Oakfield Hall. It takes even less time for me to be given an audience with Nicholas because I storm straight past his butler and into the current Duke’s office. He is alone and looks up from a pile of paper with a frustrated expression on his face.

“I guess I shouldn’t expect you to have the manners of good breeding, considering who your father is,” he sneers at me and stands up. “What can I do for you brother-in-law?”

The words linking us together as family have me stomping across the room and pounding a fist into Nicholas’ smug face.

“I’ll never be a brother to you in any way, shape, or form. You disgust me. I’m here to put an end to your hold over my sister and Tamara, and in doing so, protect my niece.”

Nicholas rubs at his cheek where I hit him but doesn’t go down or attempt to retaliate. Instead, he looks tired and bored with the conversation.

“How many times do I have to spell it out? I’m in love with your sister. She’s chosen to be with me and willingly given me a child. I’ve put your sister on a pedestal and will worship her forever. I’m not the evil man you think I am. You’ve been severely misinformed, and if only you’d listened to your sister, you’d understand that.”

I cut him off,

“I’m not going to listen to lies instilled into her with violent beatings and rape.”

He grabs my shirt.

“I’ve never once taken your sister without her consent. You need to listen to yourself. Your listening to the diatribe of a man who gave his daughter up to be abused by a society full of corruption. I’m putting a stop to that. Together with your sister.”

I push him away forcefully.

“You expect me to believe all that when I have to listen to Joanna screaming and crying every night because of what you and your freak of a brother did to her?”

Nicholas has been calm until now, but my mention of his brother and the stigma that’s been attached to him since birth sends him into a rage of monumental proportions. He lunges at me, and despite dodging him, he catches me in the stomach with a winding blow. I cough through the sudden pain and launch myself back at him in a flurry of fists.

“My brother is different to the norm, but he isn’t a freak. It’s a medical spectrum.”

We trade blows as we continue to shout at one another.

“And my wife is forever damaged because of what you did to her.”

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