Page 69 of Duke of Chaos

George looked back at Ezra, his gaze wary.

“They named it the Irish Drowning in the papers,” George answered begrudgingly. “We spent as little money as possible to construct a fleet of ships to bring the passengers across.According to the two survivors, when the first storm hit, they were…”

George went silent for a moment as he shook his head.

“Obliterated.”

“You are lying,” Morgan snarled, rising so fast from his chair that it fell backward.

“They had buried our real identities from the beginning, disguising them in false business names and forged papers, so no one was going to tie the catastrophe to them, but me. I had done the dirty work. Traveled to Ireland to sell the trip as a luxury travel experience; talked these people out of their money. It was my face they saw that promised them a new future.Myface that the survivors would remember when investigators came to speak with them.”

“I recall reading that the two survivors died in an infirmary the day after they were rescued,” Ambrose said, speaking into his clenched fist. “I remember reading about it. That was you?”

“I could not have them tracing me back to the ships,” George confessed, shaking his head. “Your fathers knew it needed to be done and did nothing to stop me.”

“So, you were the one who had the most to lose, and you are now the only one that has blood on his hands, and when our fatherscut you out of the payoff, you snapped,” Ezra stated, ignoring the growing disgust in his stomach.

“They had already given me two insultingly small payments, but the final time we had arranged to meet at the wharves was when they were supposed to give me my last big payment. I had already decided that once they had given me my share I was done. I would have had enough money to sail a ship to Barbados and disappear into the exotic finery there.”

George’s face slowly twisted, making him look more beast than man as he stared hard at the ground.

“But they showed up empty-handed. Said it was my fault the ships blew apart and that I had put them all at risk. They threatened me, told me if I ever tried to come after them they would get to me first. I knew then it was true; knew that if I left the wharf without doing anything, I would never get another chance.”

“I don’t believe you,” Duncan stated, removing his mask. “I was there. You may have been there, I could not make out many faces, but there were others there too.”

“I was not an idiot,” George snarled, glaring up at him.

“I had a feeling they were going to betray me, so I prearranged some. If they paid me, my men would leave with me, I’d pay them for their time, and off I would go. If they did not, well…”

George’s voice trailed off as a hateful smile drew across his bloody lips.

“Well, you know better than anyone in this room what I did, don’t you, boy?”

Duncan shoved himself out of his chair so fast that Ezra was only able to get to him after he’d punched George twice.

“Easy, brother,” Ezra, urged, wrestling Duncan back a few steps.

“Did you stay?” Duncan snarled.

Panting, George slowly rose back up to his knees.

“What?”

“After you set the fire. Did you stay?”

George squinted his bruised eyes, studying Duncan’s scarred face.

“No.”

Duncan lunged for him again despite Ezra’s hold, and this time Morgan rushed forward to help keep him back.

“I have heard their dying screams for nearly two decades!” Duncan roared, “I have had the stench of their burning flesh…ofmy fleshin my nostrils; the taste ofhumanash forever on my tongue!”

“You should not have been there, boy,” George roared back, baring his bloodstained teeth.

His gaze slowly drifted from Duncan and settled on Ezra.

“You should have, though.”

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