Page 22 of Juliet's Touch

This shall be our last contact.

I wish you well.

AB”

“AB?” Eric asked.

“Alexander Beckett is Lord Chesterhill’s given name,” Auntie said. “When he used to visit, we called him Alexander.”

Eric snorted. He didn’t give a shite what the blackguard’s name was. Hisfather,Alexander Beckett, AKA Lord Chesterhill was a bloody fuckrat. “But we never lived in a cottage.”

Auntie withdrew a handkerchief from the top of her bodice and patted her teary eyes. “I don’t think your mother told anyone she received this, and I don’t think she could read. I doubt she ever knew of the marquess’s offer. Almost seven years had passed when I found this amongst her possessions. Thinking to set you up with a small income and a house of your own, I sought out J. P. Hoffman, only to find out he had passed a few months prior. I considered going to Alexander but decided against it. He had already made his feelings clear.”

Eric’s sweet, wonderful mother had gone to heaven without knowing she could have been free. He huffed at the injustice of it all.

“What are you going to do?” Auntie asked.

“I’m meeting with Fletcher tomorrow morning. He’s taking me to Chesterhill Manor to meet the marquess. I’ll spend one night.” Hopefully, he would return with the means to free Auntie and the girls. However, he dared not mention the money because he could not give her false hope. Something about this disconcerting deal could go very wrong.

“Please be careful,” she said.

Eric nodded. “By the by, Malestorm will not be troubling you for the next week or two.”

Her eyes widened. “Eric, you didn’t?”

Yes, he had. After he’d fled Covent Garden, he’d tracked Malestorm. He hadn’t bothered to hide his face when he slammed the man up against a wall and hissed in his ear, “Threaten Athena again, and I’ll slice off your prick and bollocks and feed them to you. Think I jest? Try me.” Malestorm would eventually shake off the threat and return with a vengeance; he always did. But for the short term, while Eric was away, the man’s cowardice would keep him at bay.

Whilst Auntie worried her lip, Eric stood and leaned over her. He pecked her cheek.

“Do you have a fight tonight?” she asked.

“Yes. One more thing. Don’t allow Lord Riley near Abigail or any of the girls. If I find out he inflicts his debauchery on anyone under this roof ever again, I will cut off his prick.”

Auntie gasped. “Eric, this is a brothel. We see to men’s desires.”

Eric had used up all his words and had no desire to search for anymore. All of this talking had exhausted him. He attempted to send Auntie a reassuring grin, which was an epic failure. He’d never been very good at smiling.

She closed her eyes and chugged the rest of her drink.