‘What in the Devil’s name is going on here?’ Horace began. He stopped beside his daughter, but his gaze was trained on Phillip’s hands, which were still holding Carlotta’s. ‘Is there something I should know?’ He pointed one long finger at Phillip and glared at her. ‘Is that why you refused to marry Frank?’
Carlotta felt fury begin to build. She wasn’t just angry at Horace, she hated him. She felt nothing but venomous anger coursing through her. It was so strong it propelled her to her feet. His use of the word ‘that’ when talking about Phillip made her livid.
‘How dare you speak about Phillip that way?’ she snarled. ‘You, a cold-blooded killer.’ She raked him with a dark look and curled her lip. ‘How dare you send those thugs out to try to kidnap me and force me back to you? Nobody wants to live with you anymore. Mother was miserable and so was I. We weren’t there because you wanted a family. We were there so you could pretend you were a family man because it opened business doors for you that would remain closed if you were a single man. You didn’t tell anybody that it was all a pretence, and that behind closed doors you did everything possible to make us as miserable as possible as often as you could. You were mother’s husband. You knew she went to bed crying every night because you kept ridiculing her and treating her like dirt, yet you showed her no compassion. You only showed an interest in me when you could parade me in front of your friends like a prize filly up for sale. You are a vile odious bastard, and I rue the day I was ever born to your blood. Mother certainly couldn’t wait to get away from you, and neither could I.’
She gasped when Horace suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her by her throat. His fingers squeezed her flesh tightly as he hauled her onto her tiptoes. All Carlotta could do was cling to his wrist and try to tug his hand away. The hold only lasted a few seconds because the second he grabbed her, Phillip jumped up and lunged toward him. Rather than grab his wrist, he slammed a heavy punch under Horace’s armpit, which caused him to gasp in pain. Oliver slammed a fist down onto Horace’s arm, forcing it away from Carlotta. Together, both men slammed Horace in the stomach with fists and kicked his legs from beneath him and forced him to his knees before her.
‘Take a good look at the killer of your mother, Carlotta. He is going to be arrested for her murder, accident or not. He gave her the fateful shove that ended her life. It is murder. Moreover, he is going to be arrested for conspiring to kidnap you, stealing your inheritance, and the vile attack on you today. In addition to that, he is going to be arrested for trespassing because this is the War Office’s house and he wasn’t invited in,’ Phillip snarled. ‘Now, is there anything else you would like to say to him before he goes to gaol?’ He slid a look at Henry. ‘Before they both go to gaol?’
When Horace merely curled his lip and snarled at Phillip, Oliver yanked Horace’s head back at an uncomfortable angle and forced him to look at his daughter. He had no doubt that he was looking into the eyes of Regina’s killer. The harsh cruelty was there for all the Star Elite to see and it condemned Horace before he had even been put before a magistrate.
‘I should warn you now that your daughter is no longer your concern. She is mine. She was made my wife this morning as a matter of fact, in the local church. Carlotta is my wife, and under my protection. As an investigator with the Star Elite, who works with the full authority of the War Office, I take strong exception to any criminal threatening my wife. Come anywhere near her again, look or even speak in her direction, and I shall see you are never released from gaol. Do you hear me?’ Phillip leaned down and shoved his face into Horace’s and snarled the last few words.
‘M-married?’
‘Yes. To me. Today. She is my wife. My business. Mine. Touch her. Force her to go anywhere against her will. Even speak her name again, and you will answer to me,’ Phillip hissed.
‘And me,’ Niall added.
‘And me,’ Justin a
nd Jasper, Oliver, Callum, and Aaron all growled.
The room fell into a heavy silence. Carlotta stared at the man who had caused her so much misery over the last few weeks, months, even years of her life but could feel nothing but a strange detachment.
‘I have worried, been fearful, scared, chased, threatened. I have been alone, horribly, horribly alone, so very cold my bones ached, and so hungry that my stomach hurt, but I would suffer all the hardship in the world before staying another hour in that house of yours. You made both my life and mother’s so unbearable we were prepared to do anything to get away from you. You killed her. You, horrible bastard that you are, murdered her. You must be held to account for the brutal assault on mother’s lover. If you had been even half a decent human being, she would have stayed with you. She put up with so much. I am glad that you grabbed me just now because it gives these fine upstanding gentlemen in the Star Elite a brief glimpse of who you really are. You are ugly. You are horrid. You are a vile, odious little man who deserves to rot away in a cell and never be allowed out again. You are nothing like Phillip, or Oliver, Niall, Aaron, Justin, Angus, Jasper or Callum. You don’t even deserve to be in the same room as them. They are real men. They don’t see the need to treat women badly to feel powerful. They don’t feel the need to look down at women as if they should be pushed and shoved about so they can feel strong. They nurture, protect, even love. But that is something you don’t even recognise because you are a harsh, cruel, spiteful little man. You don’t care how brutal you have to be as long as you get what you want. As long as you get to do what you want to whomever you want when you want and nobody challenges you, you don’t care how low you have to sink, how cruel you have to be, how mean, perverted or hateful. Well, guess what? Your time is over. You can no longer hurt me. You can call me whatever you want. You can grab me and push me, and threaten and bully me, but you are nothing more than a snivelling coward at my feet. You don’t deserve any more of my time. You don’t deserve to even share the same air that I breathe. I am glad to be rid of you; glad to be free of your tyranny. You thought you could control me by withholding the money that was rightly mine. You thought you could stop me from making my own choices and use me to better your own interests by selling me into marriage. That is the only reason you sent your thugs after me; for your own selfish gain. Well, whatever has been spent of my inheritance has been spent without my approval, authorisation or knowledge and must be considered theft. I hope it gives you a sentence behind bars and affords you plenty of time to think about what kind of bastard you have turned yourself into. As far as I am concerned, I would be honoured to be Phillip’s wife, and can only applaud the wives of the rest of the men of the Star Elite for choosing such noble husbands. They do at least know how to protect the things they care about, and treat people with respect, kindness, and courtesy. It is odd, is it not, that you demanded it from me and mother but refused to show us anything but brutality and harshness. I hope you rot. Now, I am going to leave. As far as I am concerned, I hope they drag you off to gaol and throw away the damned key. Come anywhere near me again and I shall throw you back in gaol myself. You are not welcome to talk to me, come to my home, speak to my husband, or have any further part of my life. Touch me again and I shall punch you myself. My life is, quite simply, none of your damned business. Stay away seeing as you find me so offensive. I never want nor need the opinion of such an odious bully such as yourself.’ She threw a dark look at Henry. ‘Either of you. Neither of you should see fit to consider yourselves above anybody so you can sneer down at them when you are the worst of humankind. You should hang your heads in shame. I am glad to be rid of the pair of you. I just pity Henrietta for having the misfortune of being stuck with you as a husband, Henry, but I do believe that like attracts like. Now, if you don’t mind, I am going to get on with my life. Good day to you.’
With that, Carlotta turned to look at a stunned Phillip, who blinked at her with wide eyes when she planted a very loving kiss on his lips before sailing toward the door. By the time she reached it, Niall had already opened it and bowed at her with a wink as she strode out of the room with all the grace of Royalty. The silence she left in her wake lasted for several minutes before Phillip snapped to attention and wiped the proud smile off his face. He tried to frown but just couldn’t.
‘I am afraid you have lost her,’ Phillip murmured with a smirk at Horace. ‘Stay away from my wife, do you hear me? She is with me now. I will give her the loving respect and warm and secure home she deserves seeing as you are incapable. Stay away from any children we might have and don’t ever darken our door even if you do find out where we live.’
Horace nodded.
‘We will know where you are,’ Jasper warned. ‘You are under arrest for the murder of your wife, the assault of Rupert, her lover, and theft of Carlotta’s inheritance and the assault on her today and conspiring to kidnap her.’
‘Together with trespass,’ Oliver added.
‘We will be informed when you are released because we arrested you. We will keep an eye on you, just in case. Carlotta is someone from your past, Horace, never forget that,’ Aaron growled. ‘Same for you, Henry. Either of you even think about breaking any laws you will end up back behind bars faster than you can blink.’
‘How much have you taken of her inheritance?’ Phillip demanded. ‘Is there anything left?’
‘I am – was – her guardian. I had every right to use it.’
‘Is it all gone?’ Oliver demanded.
‘Some of it.’
‘How much?’ Phillip pressed.
‘A thousand five hundred pounds has gone. She has about a hundred left,’ Horace muttered.
‘Then the money that has been stolen will be recuperated out of your property and possessions. A confiscation order will be signed by the magistrate allowing us to use anything you own to recompense her, do you understand?’ Oliver growled.
‘You can’t do that,’ Horace boomed.
‘If we have to sell your house and its entire contents to try to get her some of her inheritance back then that is what we shall do,’ Oliver warned. ‘You aren’t going to need your house, are you? That money wasn’t rightly yours to help yourself to. It is only right that you pay back what you have stolen.’
Phillip was stunned because he knew that Oliver wouldn’t say such a thing if he wasn’t prepared to go through with it.