Page 56 of Loving a Noble Gentleman
Chapter 27
“It has been good doing business with you, Your Grace,” the older gentleman, Harry, with mottled skin said seriously. He tugged down his glasses to look at Edmund more gravely. “I am glad that we have now managed to agree on everything and that the contract has been drawn up. I wish you much luck. I am sure that a man as ambitious as you will have no trouble in making a success of your new venture.”
“Well, I am used to overseas trade,” Edmund answered, still keeping a lot of his cards close to his chest. He was not like the other men who enjoyed bragging about themselves as if they were a gift to the planet. He enjoyed his business and loved talking about it to interested parties, but bragging was something else entirely. “But yes, some of this will be a new area for me. I am looking forward to it.”
He did not feel the need to express his real reason for the business. Harry was a nice enough man, but this was something that he had to keep to himself and to do in the shadow of darkness. It was the only way that it would work and keep everyone safe at the same time.
“You are an honest man.” Harry tipped his hat at Edmund with a bright smile playing on his lips. “The last man I tried to do business with swindled me. Luckily, it was not too much, but the damage was enough.”
“Oh, yes?” Edmund was barely interested now; he had gotten what he came here for, but he felt the need to ask out of sheer politeness. “Who was that?”
“A man named Walter Thompson.”
Walter. His eyes snapped up, and he looked at the man with sheer horror in his eyes. Harry did not know anything about the inheritance and the incident with Walter Thompson. Nor did he know about Edmund’s connection to Mary. There was no way that he could be saying this with some kind of hidden agenda. This had to be a coincidence, just another story of Walter conning someone out of their money. This horrible fiend had clearly acted before.
“What happened?” Edmund asked, feeling ashen and shocked. “With Walter, I mean.”
“Oh, it was all some scam business.” Harry waved his hand dismissively. “It was a long time ago now. But he got a lot of us with his fake lawyer bit. I think it was his charisma that caught most of us in his web.”
Including Mary’s father, before he died, Edmund thought with a swimming head.Only that has come to light now. Years later.
“How has he managed to get away with it for so long?” Edmund felt angry now. Maybe if these men had done something about it at the time, then Mary would still have her home now. “Why did he not end up in jail?”
“He is clever.” Harry shrugged, completely unbothered. “He covers up his tracks well. Plus nothing he did was big enough for anyone to make a fuss. You know how people are; they do not wish to be seen as weak, especially in business.” Edmund remained silent at that remark. He knew that all too well. “The only reason I’m mentioning it now is that I am about to retire. This sale is my last bit of business, then I am done. Plus, it wasn’t huge amounts of money, just enough to irritate a lot of people, that’s all.”
“Right ... yes.” Edmund took a step back with the legal document clasped between his fingers. “I see. Well, thank you for this. That is great. I have enjoyed working with you too. Now I need to ... I have to get on.”
He took a step back and smiled weakly at Harry, now needing some time and space to think things through. He knew that Mary had reported the crime to the police not long after Walter had vanished, but since he was the manager of the estate and the legal documents had not been seen directly by Mary – a fact that Edmund now understood was because Walter probably had nothing substantial to show –they had not been able to do much. It was all too convenient. Edmund could hardly wrap his head around it.
Was this Walter’s plan all along?he thought as he exited the building.Did he always intend to sell the home and run off with the money?It seemed reasonable, but there were too many variables to make it as simple as that.But what if Mary had just agreed to marry me? Then she would have inherited the house, and he would not have had the chance.Mary had even said that he was resistant to selling at first.It makes no sense; why does it not make any sense?
There had to be some plan, Walter must have wanted to do something criminal if that was how he worked, but what was it? Either he had something elaborate up his sleeve that was far too complex for an honest man like Edmund to understand, or he simply played it by ear and went with the opportunity as he saw it.
If only he were here – if only I could ask him ...but Walter had vanished. He could have been anywhere in the country by now. He could have been anywhere in the world.
Edmund shook his head and tried his hardest to stop thinking about it. He assumed that the new business deal was the hardest hurdle that he had to overcome in his grand plan, but now that part was done, everything else was coming to light too. He had been blinkered. Now it was time to get going before something else happened, and it was much too late. There was still a lot at stake after all, and he still needed to do very much. He could not wait to get started because he knew that he was working towards a positive future...
***
Mary shrank in her seat as she heard yet another screaming argument coming from the kitchen area of her sister’s home. She had been expecting this; it felt like it had been brewing for days, but now that it was here, it felt like the worst storm she had ever experienced. She could almost feel the lightning bolts hitting her shoulders and sending shock waves right through her.
I cannot sit here and listen to this anymore,she thought as she squeezed her hands over her ears. She knew that Charlotte had told her not to interfere because it would make things so much worse, but how could it get any worse than it was? Ever since Lord Jones had discovered that his wife was having his baby, he had grown worse by the second. His temper had intensified, and he no longer cared about who he expressed it in front of. Mary had heard and seen more than she ever wanted to.I need to do something.
She pushed herself into a standing position and staggered across the room. Mary felt disoriented and dizzy as she moved through the house like she did not really know what she was doing, but she kept on going. She forced her feet to keep on moving with the thought of Charlotte and her unborn baby at the forefront of her mind. Now that she did not have a plan to save them both, she needed to at least try to prevent the constant arguing from escalating. Everything about her was shaking, even her insides vibrated against her ribcage. The sheer terror was so intense now, and that only grew the louder the screaming got, the nearer she got to the danger.
“... you do notdarebehave like that in public again,” Lord Jones yelled as he towered over Charlotte who had fallen to the floor in a heap in her fancy dress which now looked torn and dishevelled. Mary did not know what had happened before this moment, but she could hazard a guess. He had been forceful with his hands again, leaving her with fresh bruises to hide. Surely whatever he thought that Charlotte had done, it was not bad enough to deserve this? Her sister was meek and quiet around him; she was like a shell of herself. There was no way that she could have done something terrible. “I will not have it.”
“But ... but I did not ...” Charlotte sobbed. It seemed that she was not even sure what she had done wrong, but there probably was not anything to be honest. It did not take Lord Jones much to snap anymore. “I do not ...”
“Stop,” Mary rasped loudly, trying not to sound like a broken woman as she did. She needed some of that inner strength that she had been so proud of before, but it had deserted her. “Stop it, this is not right. Please, leave Charlotte alone ...”
On hearing her voice, Lord Jones span and glared at Mary as if she were the sole source of his anger. He almost seemed to forget about his wife on the floor as he discovered someone new to absorb his temper. His nostrils flared, and his eyes flashed with rage as he stared at her as if she was the Devil. “Are you still here?” he snarled as he took a step closer with his fists curling around until his knuckles turned a funny shade of white. “I cannot believe that my wife allowed you into my home. The ruined Roberts sister, affecting my reputation with her own.”
Mary felt scared. Genuinely frightened, even more so than before. She felt it consume her and swallow her whole, leaving her a shuddering wreck. Much as she was glad to help Charlotte, she could not help thinking that this might well have been a big mistake. She took a step backwards as sheer terror consumed her. There was something in the way that Lord Jones was looking at her that made her feel as small as an ant. “I am sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t want to cause ... this.”
“This?” Lord Jones yelled as his arms flailed in front of him. His cheeks were redder than any human’s that Mary had ever seen before. How did Charlotte stand this? It was utterly insane. “This? You mean my marriage, which by the way is absolutely nothing to do with you I might like to add. I do not want to ever hear you speak about my marriage.”
“I did not ... I did not mean ...”
