Page 82 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
“Yes, you do.” Slowly, Dorian stood so he was towering over the lord. “Your fortunes. Your recent lucky breaks – your business ventures which have seen you amass vast wealth beyond what should be possible is little more than a lie.” He put his hands flat on the table and stared the man down.
Lord Kenbrook’s eyes widened. “How – how dare you! I do not know what you are playing at but… but if you think that I will stand here and be spoken to like –”
“Like what, exactly?” Dorian growled over him. “Like a cheat and a liar? Like a fraud? Which is what you are, by the way…” He snarled at the man. “Do you really think so little of me? Do you really think that I would do business with someone without first doing my own research? Is your opinion of me so low?”
Lord Kenbrook licked his lips as he took a step back. “I don’t know what you… whatever you think you have found, you are mistaken.”
“What I found was a litany of fraud that would make even the most cutthroat of money lenders blush,” Dorian snarled. “Your fortunes. Your business ventures. Everything you have purported about yourself. Lies.”
“How dare –”
“Oh, give it a rest!” Dorian snapped. “You’re only embarrassing yourself at this point.”
“Leave!” Lord Kenbrook pointed at the door. “Leave now, and I will forget this ever happen.”
“Is that right?” Dorian laughed.
“If you don’t, I will…” He glared warningly at Dorian. “You think to accuse me? You think to bully me! Remember, I know things too, Your Grace. And should I be pushed, I will not hesitate to let them known throughout the entire tone.”
“Do it,” Dorian said. “By the time you do, your name will be poison.” A smile then. “For you see, I have already gone to the press, I have notified the gossip columns. This time tomorrow, there will not be a soul in all of England who does not know what you have done.”
His eyes widened. “You… no. I don’t… I don’t believe you.”
Dorian shrugged. “Believe it or not. It is done. As are you, for that matter.”
It was a stroke of luck that had brought Dorian to this juncture. Initially, he planned on confronting Lord Kenbrook the old fashioned way. He was going to tell him that he knew about his actions against Barbara and that if he did not promise to keephis mouth shut, then he would shut it for him.So good old-fashioned threat making.
But then Dorian looked a little closer. Dug a little deeper. Thought more on Lord Kenbrook the man and came to realize that everything he thought he knew about the repugnant lord was a lie. He had his accountants and lawyers look into Lord Kenbrooks’ book-keeping. He researched Lord Kenbrook’s business and followed its paper trail. He learned quickly, and with great relish, that Lord Kenbrook was nothing by a liar and a cheat and a fraud of the highest order.
That was why he was so desperate to marry his son to Barbara. His plan, or so Dorian assumed, was to use that marriage to pry funds from Dorian’s pockets which he would then use for… truly, Dorian had no idea. To increase his wealth? To further invest in his fraudulent accounts? To pay off money he owed? It didn’t matter.
Lord Kenbrook was not who he said. He had no power. Not a leg to stand on. And his word was good for nothing.
“You were wrong to threaten me…” Dorian stalked around the table, coming for Lord Kenbrook. “You were wrong to threaten my sister.”
Lord Kenbrook attempted to stand tall. “You think you have won? No… I will not be – this is not over!”
“It is.”
He laughed. “If you think this will silence me, you are wrong. Dead wrong! Regardless of what you have done, I will still tell everyone what I know. About you and your wife. About your sister –”
Dorian’s fist snapped out and punched Lord Kenbrook square in the face. He felt the man’s nose break beneath his curled fist, heard him cry out in pain, and felt the floor shake as his body collapsed into the wooden flooring.
“My nose!” Lord Kenbrook squawked from the floor, holding his bloodied nose in his hands. “You broke it!”
“Listen to me…” Dorian stood over Lord Kenbrook, jaw clenched and snarling, fists still curled. He had not meant to rise to anger, finding it undignified. Yet… here he was. “I know about you and my sister.”
Lord Kenbrook’s eyes widened. “What…”
“And believe me when I tell you the pleasure it would give me to take it out on you. To break every bone in your body for every drop of pain and suffering you caused her. Oh, how I would love it.”
Lord Kenbrook scurried back. “No…”
“I won’t,” Dorian said. “On the condition that tomorrow you leave not just London but all of England. Climb aboard the first boat you can find and ride it to the end of the world for all I care.As far from here as it will carry you and beyond. Do that, stay there, make it so that I never hear your name uttered again, and then maybe – maybe!” he snarled and spat. “I will forget what you did. Do I make myself clear?”
The fear in Lord Kenbrook’s eyes was real. The way his body trembled confirmed it. He did not speak. He did not have to. What he offered instead was an eager nodding of his head, blood still pouring from his nose, a most wretched man finally at the end of his tether.
“Good,” Dorian said. And then, he smiled as if the two had just engaged in a most friendly conversation. “I am glad we had this chat. Good day, Lord Kenbrook. May I never see you again.”
