Betrayal of Innocence (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 1)

“I have some news for you,” Justin whispered suddenly. When Vanessa looked up at him, and temptation began to draw him back to her lips, he smiled at her. “We have found Geraldine.”

“Geraldine?” she whispered suddenly, her eyes alight with hope.

Justin’s smile widened. Slowly, he edged to one side. Once on his feet, he lifted Vanessa into his arms and carried her into the room next door to see her sister who was still being held upright by Oliver.

“Geraldine,” Vanessa cried.

Geraldine jerked when she heard Vanessa’s voice and began to cry. She didn’t have much strength but what she did have she used to hold her arms out. Vanessa wriggled free of Justin’s arms, and flew across the room to embrace her sister with all her might. It took several long minutes before she was able to speak.

“I didn’t think I would ever see daylight again,” Geraldine whispered eventually. “I didn’t think anybody would ever find me down here.”

“I think that is what he must have been hoping,” Justin murmured as he crossed the room to join them.

It wasn’t as disturbing to Justin as it once would have been to discover he couldn’t bear even a few feet of distance between him and Vanessa. After the fright he had just had she would be lucky if he didn’t dog her every footstep for the rest of their lives. As far as he was concerned, now he had found her again there was no earthly possibility he was going to let her go.

“Have you been here all the time?” Vanessa was quietly horrified when Geraldine nodded. She knew from the haunted look in Geraldine’s eyes that it would be a long time before she would be able to look at the church again, much less be in any confined space. The look her sister had now was not dissimilar to the look her father had when he was experiencing his darkest moments.

“I have to get out of here,” Geraldine whispered.

“I will carry you out. We need to get a doctor,” Oliver suggested gently.

When he tried to pick her up, though, she leaned around him to scowl at Reuben, who was now sitting upright, rubbing his sore head.

“Why?” she demanded. “Why would you do this to us?”

Reuben looked at his feet, as though confused.

“Don’t you dare play that stupid game with me,” Geraldine bit out. “You have played a very good game pretending you are less intelligent than you are. You are conniving, aren’t you? Is everything about you a pretence?”

Vanessa leaned against Justin when he moved to stand beside her and slid an arm around her waist. It wasn’t that she needed any physical support, she just wanted to be as close to him as it was possible to get.

“Why?” Geraldine thundered in a husky voice when Reuben didn’t answer. “You are not stupid at all, are you?”

“Of course he is not,” Niall replied when Reuben didn’t speak. “This can only have been done by a manipulator. He is cunning because he chose the one place in the village people wouldn’t dare search. It is a sacred space, isn’t it? Nobody would ever think someone would be cruel or warped enough to store a kidnap victim in a crypt. He genuinely believed that nobody would ever suspect him. I mean, he is simple, right? He hobbles around as though struggling, but only so he can garner people’s sympathy. He certainly had no problem dragging you ladies around, did he?”

Justin looked at all three women in turn. “He didn’t have to take you far, did he?”

“I was snatched on my way to the orphanage. He appeared beside me as silently as a ghost. I tried to talk to him, but he ignored me. The next thing I know I am being hauled off-balance and the world goes black.” Vanessa touched the tell-tale lump on the back of her head.

“He would have then dragged you through the gravestones, out of sight and into the church. Nobody would think anything about seeing him shuffling around the gravestones, would they? I mean, Reuben helps out here,” Justin explained.

“Why us, though? What have we done to you?” Jemima cried.

“It isn’t personal,” Justin murmured before Reuben could speak. “He chose you purely because you help at the orphanage, didn’t you, Reuben? You hate them because they help Magda. You couldn’t kidnap her because she hardly leaves the place now. You couldn’t kidnap the cook because she goes everywhere with her husband. Nor could you kidnap Sophia because she lives at the orphanage. You kidnapped Jemima on her way home because she was vulnerable. You kidnapped Vanessa because she was walking alone and was also vulnerable. You kidnapped Geraldine because she was alone, and often helped at the orphanage. It isn’t the women you hate, it is the fact they help the orphanage.”

In that moment, Reuben seemed to change persona. Gone was the shy, awkward man who struggled to find words. In his place was someone who was cold, calculating and cynical. His lip curved in a sneer, and he looked about him almost scornfully.

“Why? The orphanage gave you a home when nobody else did. It has fed you, clothed you, looked after you until you were old enough to take your own place in the world. What could you have against it?” Vanessa cried. “You would be dead if it wasn’t for the orphanage.”

“He is an ungrateful wretch,” Geraldine snapped. “He deserves to swing for this.”

“He has to face the magistrate, that is for certain,” Phillip assured her. “He snatched women because they would be easy for him to carry and would not fight with him like a man would.”

“Magda tried to help you, and this is how you repay her? By accosting the people who help look after innocent children?” Vanessa stared at him in disbelief. “How did we get it so wrong about you?”

“He fooled us all,” Geraldine added, confident about her ability to speak in the presence of several powerful men, one of whom her sister appeared to know very well.

Now that shock and fear had started to wear off, Vanessa was furious. “How can you stand there and not speak? How could you play on people’s sympathy by pretending you needed help when it is quite clear you don’t?”