Page 48 of Anastasia and the Duke
"I decided that I could not steal from Lady Lansdowne," Hannah shrugged, "She was kind to me, it did not feel right."
"Oh, so after all the devious things you've done, you've suddenly developed a conscience," Sidney sneered, advancing on her menacingly.
"The only devious person here is you, Sid," Hannah responded, dropping her bag and advancing towards him, "I only did what I had to do to survive. I didyourbidding,youprofited from it all, and I have had enough. I told you before that I'm done, and I mean it this time."
In her anger, Hannah prodded Sidney in his pigeon chest, but the wretch grabbed her finger and held on to it with a vice like grip.
"Don't sass me, girl," he growled, crushing her finger so hard that she yelled out in pain, "Did you even find out where she keeps them?"
"N-n-no," Hannah stuttered, but her answer only served to anger Sidney, who shoved her up against the wall.
"Don't lie to me," he whispered, his breath hot against her face, "Tell me what you know."
Sidney brought his hands up around Hannah's throat and she panicked as she felt her airways close off.
"There's no key," Hannah wheezed, and he relaxed his grip slightly.
"Go on."
"She gave the key to her granddaughter, years ago," Hannah continued, her throat aching with every word, "She wore it on a chain around her neck. It's the only key that can open the safe; it would take ten men to crack it open, you'd never do it unnoticed."
"Where is it?" Sidney gave her a rough shake, ignoring her last comment, "What room?"
"Her bedroom," Hannah replied, as she gasped for air, "But you can't think you'll get away with it, Sid. You'll be caught or shot."
He was not listening, however. There was a mad gleam in his eye, and Hannah now feared for Lady Lansdowne's safety. Was he going to attempt to take the jewels by force? It wasn't Sidney's usual way, to put himself on the line like that, but had the thought of such riches driven him past the point of reason?
"Just leave it, Sid," Hannah cried, struggling to wriggle free of his grip, "Leave her alone, she has suffered enough."
Sidney looked at her strangely, it was almost as though he had momentarily forgotten she existed.
"You've been some use to me, girl," he said, his face breaking out into a horrid smile, "After all the effort I put into you over the years."
Hannah opened her mouth to reply, but before she could even say a word, Sidney grabbed her by the hair, and whacked her head against the wall with an almighty bang.
Hannah crumpled to the floor, dizzy but not unconscious. A part of her wanted to scramble to her feet and challenge Sidney, but wisdom told her to play dead.
She lay, with her eyes half closed, where she had fallen, watching Sidney as he rushed around the room. He raced over to the fireplace, where he removed the natty picture which hung on the wall. Behind it, there was a safe, which he unlocked and began to search through.
Hannah did not see what it was that he took out of it, but whatever it was, was small enough to fit into his pocket.
A pistol, perhaps?
Once he had retrieved what he wanted, Sidney rushed from the room, without even a backwards glance at Hannah. He did not even check to see if she was breathing.
Hannah lay still, as she listened to the sound of his footsteps receding as he raced down the stairs, followed by the sound of a slamming door as he exited out into the courtyard.
Only when she was certain that he was gone did she rise to her feet. Her head swam and her knees threatened to buckle beneath her weight, but somehow, she remained standing.
Once her head had cleared, Hannah stumbled across to the safe, expecting to find another pistol, or a set of knives, or some other such weapons, but instead she found something else.
Money, heaps of it, coins of every shade and even bank notes. Alongside that, she saw jewels, some of which she recognised as having stolen herself.
It was a small fortune; more than enough to keep her and Nancy for years.
For a moment, Hannah was tempted to stuff her pockets with all that she could take and run, but then she recalled Lady Lansdowne.
She could not leave the countess now, not when Sidney might be on his way there, manic and armed with a pistol.
