Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

“ H ere, Your Grace,” Diana announced, showing Percival the abandoned warehouse that sat in the middle of a small clearing miles away from his estate.

He nodded and returned her to the waiting carriage.

“Thank you for your help, Miss Diana,” he told her. “But I will need you to help me a little more.”

“What is it, Your Grace?” she asked, her eyes wide.

Diana had surprised him with her spine of steel. He had expected her to burst into tears, but she had shown resolve, asking relevant questions and keeping silent whenever he needed to think.

“I need you to return to my estate. The constables should have arrived by now, and you’re the only one who can lead them here.”

She nodded and let him hand her into the carriage.

“I will return quickly. But…” She held on to his hand. “Do not do anything till we return. Louisa will be heartbroken if anything happens to you.”

“Thank you for your help, Miss Diana, and I am sorry this happened,” he sighed. “I should have been there with her.”

“There was nothing you could have done. You were tricked into leaving her alone,” Diana said with a small smile. “Do not blame yourself.”

How couldn’t he?

His wife had probably been kidnapped because of him. He sincerely hoped that she wasn’t being tortured for something he had done, even though his mind could not point to anything in particular.

“I cannot help it,” he admitted. “It was a stroke of good luck that you had arrived in time, or I would have had no clue about her whereabouts.”

“Indeed, it was. You mustn’t worry about Louisa. She is fairly capable of taking care of herself,” Diana reassured him. “if she could face down a knife at the expense of her life to save our sister, there is no danger she cannot overcome.”

“That doesn’t assure me as much you hope it would.” He laughed.

“I should hope it does. My sister is a strong woman. You just have to have faith that she will be fine till we rescue her.”

Percival really wanted to, but he couldn’t help but worry about his wife.

“I must be off now if we are going to save her in time. Please wait till I return, Your Grace,” Diana warned. “It would do her no good if you move too quickly and she is hurt in the process.

He nodded and closed the door of the carriage, waiting till she was safely out of the woods before returning to scout the warehouse. It was late evening and with the sun gradually setting, the scene would have been picturesque hadn’t it been the circumstances surrounding his presence there.

The place was oddly quiet, but he remembered Diana mentioning that two men had carried Louisa out of the house. But he was yet to see any of them.

He could see the light inside the warehouse, but he couldn’t hear anything from where stood. He dared a closer look but stopped when he heard the sound of a branch breaking behind him.

He turned around, narrowly dodging a blow from a man he hadn’t noticed before. He rose to his full height, looking around for his accomplice.

“Well.” The man smiled. “What do we have here?”

So much for not doing anything.

“I want my wife,” he gritted out, frowning as he readied himself for the fight to come.

The man laughed, squaring his shoulders. “Oi, Fred,” he called out. “The Duke wants his wife.”

His friend emerged from the trees to his right, bearing a nasty grin. They had matching yellowing teeth, and from their smell, they hadn’t washed in a while.

Rage filled Percival at the thought that they put their filthy hands on Louisa. She must have been so frightened when she awoke to see their faces.

He was grateful to see that they were not farmers who lived on his estate, so he wouldn’t feel guilty once they were jailed. He only hoped that he wouldn’t kill them in anger if they chose to fight him.

“He expects us to obey ‘im just because ‘e says so, Rowan.” The one called Fred laughed.

“That’s the problem with all of ‘em noble folk,” Rowan sneered, spitting on the ground. “They always expect us to obey their every command. Just like that slimy bastard who employed us.”

“I do not want to hurt you,” Percival told them. “I just want my wife.”

They laughed and started circling him.

“You should be more worried about us hurting you, Your Grace, ” Fred snarled.

“She’s not going anywhere,” the first man said. “And neither are you.”

Percival watched their movements, studying their body language. They didn’t look like trained men but those who used their sizes to their advantage and their stances told him all he needed to know.

It would be nothing short of a nuisance to deal with them, but since they insisted on being stubborn, he wasn’t against showing them that they had crossed the wrong person.

They lunged, but he’d been expecting that and dodged their blows, which showed strength rather than skill.

They moved fast, swinging their fists without clear direction, and from the looks of things, they would tire quickly.

Percival used their lack of skill to his advantage, weaving through their twin attacks, dodging their blows until he could see and hear their laboured breaths.

He chose to fight then, each blow and kick meeting its target. They unsheathed their daggers then, and he knew that if he didn’t end things quickly, he would end up with two more deaths on his conscience.

“You do not have to do this,” he warned. “Whatever you’re being paid, I can double it.”

He wanted to give them the option to at least leave peacefully before the constables arrived, but it seemed they had chosen violence.

“What would happen to our reputation, then?” Fred laughed.

They lunged with their daggers, and he had to dodge even quicker than before, not wanting to be nicked by the honed blades that glinted in the moonlight. With the day now truly dark, there was an ominous feeling in the air as his senses honed from years of battle kicked in.

He hadn’t had to fight for his life since his return to London and he didn’t like the feeling.

With a final kick and blow, he rendered the two men unconscious just as the constables appeared at the edge of the clearing. They took in the scene and rushed towards him. Diana was right behind them, looking as tired as he felt.

“You just couldn’t wait, could you?” She smirked, coming to inspect the scene.

“They came out of the trees and attacked me first,” Percival answered with a grin of his own.

“Are they dead?” She asked stepping closer to them.

“They’re not but right now I’m sure they wish they were.”

She smiled brightly, straightening and he could see Louisa reflected in the mischief swimming in her eyes.

“Tie them up and hold them,” he ordered the constables.

“Your Grace, I am Captain Mallory Briggs,” one of the men said. “I was sorry to hear about what happened to your wife.”

Percival waved off the man’s sympathy and pointed at the warehouse. “I believe my wife’s sister already told you everything she knew. My wife is being held in there, but I didn’t see any more men, and I couldn’t ask how many were inside,” he told him. “That is all the information I have currently.”

“We’ll go ahead from here, Your Grace,” Captain Briggs told him. “You have done enough for your wife. Leave the rest to us.”

Percival shook his head. There was no way he could leave saving Louisa in their hands. She would be frightened, and if she didn’t see a familiar face, she might not truly recover from the ordeal. He didn’t want her to be haunted by the nightmares she was sure to have after something as traumatic as this.

“I have to go with you,” he insisted. “I need to make sure that my wife is all right. I won’t interfere, but do not forget that I am a retired soldier.”

The Captain muttered under his breath, then gave silent orders to his men, who followed him at a safe distance.

Percival turned to Diana and put a hand on her arm, stopping her. “I think you should wait here, Miss Diana,” he advised. “We do not know what we’ll be walking into, and I do not want you to get hurt. I will get Louisa back.”

Diana shook her head stubbornly, reminding him so much of her sister. She even had the same stubborn look in her eyes.

“Do not try to stop me, Your Grace,” she argued. “I want to help my sister just as much as you do.”

“It will be dangerous.”

“I do know that, but Louisa braved danger to save our sister,” she said with a smile. “I think it’s time someone braves danger for her.”

Percival nodded. “Stay close to me, but at the first sign of danger, I want you to run. Louisa won’t forgive me if I let you get hurt.”

They approached the warehouse slowly, their steps quiet against the wet grass surrounding the building. The closer they got, the harder Percival’s heart beat in his chest.

I’m coming to you, my darling.

He sent a silent message to her even though he knew she wouldn’t hear it.

Please, help me save her.

He prayed for the first time in a while.

He peered through the window in front of him and spotted Louisa sitting in a chair, her hands and feet tied, facing in his direction. A man was standing in front of her, his silhouette vaguely familiar. Percival squinted, trying to see if there were other people in the warehouse.

They seemed to be talking, and Louisa looked otherwise unharmed. Relief flooded him as he saw the stubborn set of her shoulders.

He moved silently towards the side of the building and peered through another window, but there were no other people visible from this angle. He was about to step away from the window when a beam of light fell on the man’s face. His eyes widened in shock as he took in the face of the man he had once considered a friend.

Eli was standing before Louisa, glaring down at her, but Percival couldn’t hear what was being said. He stumbled back from the window in shock.

Why would Eli kidnap Louisa?

“Your Grace, we found a way to get into the building without endangering the Duchess,” the Captain told him. “I’ve told my men to?—”

“No, this is personal. I will save my wife.”

“Your Grace, it is our job to?—”

“And she is my wife,” Percival spat, but then he remembered to keep his voice down. “I have to do this myself.”

He didn’t wait for permission and moved towards the gap in the wall they had found, slipping through it quietly. He could hear their voices better now, but he waited for the perfect time to move. He sincerely hoped Eli didn’t have a weapon. That would complicate things more.

He racked his brain, trying to come up with an explanation for his half-brother’s madness.

“You think they would have welcomed me with open arms? The spotless sons of the Colborne dynasty were more comfortable meeting me in the obscure corners of this city, treating me like a dirty secret to be hidden. They are the ones who were supposed to be secrets. I am the eldest. I would have inherited the dukedom if my whore of a mother had played her cards right. My father had the audacity not to claim me, to leave me to the mercy of the wretched, vindictive man who raised me as his son. I will never forget.”

Percival made sure to keep his steps soft and silent as he approached them. The task was extremely difficult, as some of the wooden floorboards were old and prone to creak, but he was grateful that Eli was so caught up in his rant that he didn’t seem to hear anything beyond the words spewing out of his lips.

“I don’t know who started the rumours that Percival was dead, but I was grateful for it.” Percival heard him laugh. “Michael went crazy trying to get information from the army, and in that desperation, I saw he was no longer fit for the title. He was so mad with grief that he often drank himself into oblivion, and I stood by, comforting him but biding my time. Somehow, the Duke had only birthed weak sons. But it didn’t matter. My title was just within my grasp, and it was almost too easy.”

Percival frowned as he tried to process the shock of Eli’s betrayal. The more he listened, the angrier he became. But with the knife pointed towards Louisa, he didn’t want to push the man to hurt her with any rash movements on his part.

So, Eli had had a hand in Michael’s death, after all.

Percival was grateful that he hadn’t involved the man in his investigations, but nonetheless, he wouldn’t have thought it possible for Eli to repay Michael’s kindness with such wickedness.

“I was honestly disappointed when he decided to marry you, but I didn’t mind because, with that hideous scar on your face, I knew it was definitely not going to be a loving marriage. You were not his type, I thought, but how wrong I was. I saw the way he looked at you at that ball and knew that if I didn’t move quickly, you would get with child soon.”

Percival wondered if his half-brother really thought it would be that easy to inherit the dukedom when he was an illegitimate son. If he wasn’t so angry, he would have laughed at the man’s ambition.

So, Eli had killed his brother and kidnapped Louisa with the intent to kill her, and would have probably killed him too just because he was after a title that would never be his?

Percival shook his head, already picturing how he would deal with the man who had caused him so much pain already. To think, he had thought Eli was his friend. He had been right to warn Michael about associating with him, but his brother had always been too kind.

“You see, I can’t allow that to happen,” Eli went on. “I do not need you to produce little beasts like the two of you to continue the line of inheritance. The title is mine by right. It is what I’m owed as the Duke’s firstborn!”

“I do not mind if you insult me, but do not call Percival a beast! If anyone is, it’s you, for you are a beast who kills his own family for a title,” Louisa snapped, looking angrier than Percival could have imagined. “Percival is nothing like you. He is kind and thoughtful and beautiful. The scars he has are only a testament to how bravely he fought for his country. He is not a coward like you. He doesn’t hide in the shadows and let someone else fight his battles for him.”

“You know nothing!” Eli growled. “You know nothing about my struggles. You’re just a pampered chit who has lived her whole life shielded from the horrors of reality.”

Louisa scoffed at him. “I do not wish to, for they are a coward’s battle,” she shot back. “You could have stood up to your father and asked him to acknowledge you. Instead, you chose to hurt the men who decided to bring you into their fold even when you were nothing more than the sniveling son of a baron!”

“Silence!” Eli barked, holding the knife to her neck. “Yours is a life I won’t regret taking. When Percival learns about your death, he will be even more heartbroken and will kill himself for not saving you from his curse. I will be right there to snatch the title from his cold, dead fingers. Goodbye, Duchess. It is a shame that your joy was only short-lived.”

Percival didn’t wait a second longer. He lunged at Eli.

“You wish, you bastard!”