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

Outside, Elspeth watched Oliver position himself in front of the window. The dark shadow that fell over the room made her look to the window behind the desk only to find Niall watching them through the glass. It was clear, even to her, that nobody was going to leave the house without running into the Star Elite.

“Going to the trouble of trying to persuade everyone you are dead is a sign of guilt, isn’t it? You must be a desperate man,” Aaron drawled. He studied the man he had once considered a friend and wondered if he had ever known him at all. “What happened to you?”

“He was trying to live an adventurous life like yours but couldn’t afford it. He has pretended this house is his, so he can force me out. Without me here, he can come and go as he pleases, and I would be no wiser to his thieving. Nor would I ever be aware that he has stolen this house out from under me,” Elspeth informed them. “I wouldn’t need to see the house deeds, would I?”

“Did you give him power of authority to work on your behalf, and withdraw money from your account?” Sir Hugo asked.

“No,” Elspeth replied flatly. “I did not. I confess, at the time I lost my parents I was grief-stricken and let Thomas deal with everything. I can remember having a conversation with the solicitor about the will but broke down and hurried home. I wasn’t very old, you see? Thomas said he would deal with everything for me. I didn’t stop to think he would double-cross me. He has led me to believe that he inherited the house and I inherited nothing,” Elspeth whispered. “It’s all been a lie.”

Sir Hugo nodded sadly. “I am afraid to say that it has all been a lie. I have spoken with the solicitor myself to find out whether Frederick’s claim that the house can only be passed on to men in the family has any merit. The solicitor was concerned when Frederick had first mentioned it because he had already transferred the property into your name, Elspeth. When Frederick became most insistent that he should have the house, the solicitor set to work trying to find the old documents, to see if there were any special stipulations in the title deeds.”

“There isn’t,” Aaron added

Sir Hugo shook his head. “The solicitor is confident that you own the house legally, Elspeth.”

“Why would they still be so determined to get the house?” Jasper asked from behind Sir Hugo. “Especially now that we are here? What had they hoped to gain?”

“Frederick was going to sell it, then probably take a cut of the profits which, let’s face it, given a house of this size in a village like this, would have earned him probably a year’s income and then some. Then Thomas would bank the rest and disappear,” Aaron murmured.

Sir Hugo nodded. “Leaving his sister penniless, with an empty bank account that Thomas here had plundered, and with mounting debts would make it impossible for her to stay. They intended to offer her a price for the house that was well under its value. They could under-cut her when she was desperate. I am sure they hoped that Elspeth would be just grateful to have any money that would mean she could eat and pay the outstanding debts.”

Jasper spat an epithet about Thomas’s character that made Elspeth nod emphatically.

“She wouldn’t survive long once she had any money they gave her,” Aaron announced coldly. “I have no doubt she would have died before she could spend much of the money. Either Thomas here would have killed her, or Frederick would have made sure she met an untimely end.”

“Well, I hope the judge casts him to the Devil because Hell is where he deserves to go for his greed,” Elspeth snapped. She eyed Frederick. “They are not wrong, are they? How did you manage to convince Rollo Voss to get involved?”

“They are all thieves,” Sir Hugo informed her before Frederick could open his mouth. “I don’t know how Frederick and Voss became acquaintances. It doesn’t really matter, but when Thomas approached Frederick with this proposition, I am sure his little greedy eyes lit up. He told his good friend, Voss, who decided to join in. After all, three pairs of hands are better than two.”

“We think, Frederick and Voss became greedy,” Sir Hugo murmured. “They began to work together to try to undercut Thomas, who had already faked his own death and couldn’t show his face for fear of his lies being discovered.”

“Good God,” Elspeth whispered. “How much worse can they get?”

“Much worse,” Aaron growled.

“It’s why they both bombarded you with offers of marriage at the time when you felt you were most vulnerable. Neither of them had any intention of staying married to you. If you had married them, I doubt you would have survived the first night before you met with a sticky end. Your husband, either Frederick or Voss, would then have inherited this house upon your death. That was something Thomas hadn’t counted on. Your marriage to one of them meant he wouldn’t get his hands on a penny as planned,” Jasper added.

“How would he know that they were offering marriage?” Elspeth whispered.

“He saw them coming to the house,” Sir Hugo suggested. “Maybe he overheard them talking. Who knows? He must have suspected something was going on, and that they were double-crossing him, or he wouldn’t be here now. Would you, Thomas?”

“Thomas had to do something drastic, like re-appear, to protect his vested interest in getting the house sold as planned,” Aaron murmured, his voice vibrating with anger.

“We did the work,” Frederick shrugged. “He was hiding. One of us was prepared to marry her, whoever could break her down first and get her to agree to our protection.”

“Protection that would end up with her dead,” Aaron grunted. “Jesus.”

“It’s only right we should have the money off the house. He had all that money,” Frederick snorted.

Aaron smirked when Thomas glared at Frederick. He looked so murderous that Aaron didn’t doubt Frederick would have tasted a bullet had Thomas not needed his shot for his sister.

“Sign the papers,” Thomas persisted.

Elspeth shook her head. She didn’t get the chance to even squeak before Thomas launched himself across the desk. He hauled her out of her seat and slammed a hard arm around her shoulders while he pressed the blunt end of the gun hard into her temple.

“You can’t go anywhere,” Aaron informed him bluntly. “What do you think killing your sister is going to achieve. Does it not matter to you that she is your only family?”

“No.” Thomas shook his head. “She has been my problem for a very long time.”