Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 3)

Before Frederick could do anything more than grab his wounded limb, Thomas vaulted across the room and slammed a punch into Frederick’s face that covered them both in a shower of blood. Thomas grabbed Frederick by the cravat and yanked the man around the desk. Swinging him around in a wild arc, he kicked Frederick in his gut and slammed a heavy fist into the side of the man’s head that made him groan with pain.

“What are you doing?” Frederick cried.

Frederick, dazed and wounded, slid a poker out of the bucket beside him. Swinging it behind him, he slammed it down on Thomas’s arm with such brutality that Thomas cursed virulently. He suspected his arm was broken but didn’t allow the pain to thwart him. When Frederick tried lifting the poker again, Thomas side-stepped it and snatched it off him and threw it after the gun.

“Traitor,” Frederick hissed, his dark gaze narrow and spiteful.

Elspeth cowered against the wall and tried to think of what she could do to stop the men killing each other. She had never seen her brother so brutal with rage before. It was a side to him that left her in no doubt Thomas would kill the man who had caused them all so much physical, mental and emotional pain. She refused to do anything to protect Frederick, though, not least because she didn’t want to venture anywhere near this new, and completely unexpected side of her cold-blooded brother.

“God, I don’t know whether to kill you where you stand or leave you to rot away quietly in gaol where you belong. The only consolation of knowing you are behind bars is that you are going to spend your days in a small confined cell the likes of which I hope to God you never escape from,” Thomas snorted. “You deserve nothing more.”

“The rubbish he has been telling us about the deeds stating the house can only be inherited by men has at least now been proven to be a lie,” Elspeth informed her brother.

“I know, or else he wouldn’t be here trying to force you to sign the damned house over to him. I wasn’t expecting him to wait so long. I thought the ink would barely be dry on my death certificate before the bastard did something to try to con you out of the house. He has been working with Voss, do you know that? Together they have robbed Miriam blind and have been working to try to scare you into wanting to leave here. I am sure Voss, at some point, would have made you an offer for the house that was considerably lower than the asking price. Of course, he wasn’t going to pay you. Given you were all alone in this house, I have no doubt something would have happened to you to force you to hand the place over to Frederick or Voss.”

Thomas’s voice was rich with disgust and vibrated with the force of his anger.

“Where is Aaron?” Elspeth whispered.

“I don’t know. I thought he would look after you, especially with this buffoon about. Obviously, I was wrong,” Thomas bit out with annoyed disgust.

Elspeth looked at Frederick. It was ridiculous to contemplate that Frederick might have done something to all the men from the Star Elite. Frederick was untrained, uncouth, and had no experience of fighting. That much was obvious from the mess he was currently in. However, it was evident the men from the Star Elite weren’t. More importantly for Elspeth, Aaron wasn’t there. Quickly blocking out all thought of what she would have done if Thomas hadn’t been there either, Elspeth tried to think of how she and Thomas were going to make sure Frederick faced the justice he deserved.

“We need to get the magistrate,” she whispered.

“Where is the money?” Frederick demanded. He pointed another, smaller gun at Thomas’s head.

“Now where did you get that from?” Thomas snorted in disgust when he saw it.

Frederick smirked and pulled the trigger.

Elspeth screamed when Thomas jerked and staggered back against the door with one hand clutching his now wounded shoulder.

Frederick cocked his weapon again but this time, looked at Elspeth.

“Get behind this desk. You will sign the damned papers, or he dies,” Frederick grunted. “I will have no hesitation in shooting you either.”

Elspeth didn’t doubt it.

“Sign the papers, Elspeth,” Thomas whispered. “He isn’t going to leave the house with them.”

Elspeth looked at her brother in horror, and for the first time, began to wonder if he was involved in Frederick’s scheming.

“Why should I sign over a house that I don’t own? You are still alive, Thomas, so you effectively own the property,” she replied carefully.

Elspeth was more torn than ever. She wanted to believe in Thomas’s innocence, but what he had done to her by making her believe he was dead was just about as heinous as what Frederick was trying to do. Was Thomas innocent after all?

For the first time in her life, Elspeth began to fear her brother. What concerned her more than anything was why Thomas had chosen to make his presence – and survival – known, especially now that the men from the Star Elite had left.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Elspeth began to back toward the door. She was terrified, confused, and eyed both men with a growing trepidation that threatened to send her out of her mind. Her fingers clenched, such was the force of her determination to fight them no matter what it cost her, and she knew now that it was ‘them’ she was fighting, not just Frederick or Thomas.

“You are in this together, aren’t you?” she whispered in disbelief.

“Sign the damned form,” Frederick ordered.

Elspeth shook her head. She could feel her brother turning to look at her and sensed his gaze burning into her, but it was far from friendly.