Montgomery stated. “We’re here for her. She’s the one who ordered the threat on Miss St. James’ life, she’s the one who ordered Burney to be murdered, and your previous… associates, as well. Nathaniel Barber, Thomas Fairbourne, Samuel Cavender… and others.”
Averston sank into his chair, staring at them in horror as the weight of their accusations sank in. He’d known about Nathaniel. Not about her involvement, but he’d thought it was just thieves and a terrible stroke of luck. He turned to his grandmother, saw her haughty glare. But more than that, he saw the note of triumph in her gaze. It was true. She’d said it herself. That she would do whatever was necessary. “You really are the most vile, wretched creature to ever live. You’d do anything to preserve the appearance of our upright name… even doing murder for the sake of it.”
The dowager duchess sneered at him. “Of course, I would. I killed her worthless whore of a mother years ago. She begged and pleaded, you know?” The old woman smirked at the young woman as she said it. “She promised to take you and run away, to disappear and never see my son ever again. But I knew that he would never allow that. He’d follow her to the ends of the earth. The only way to stop it was to see her dead, to give him a corpse to mourn. To my dismay, you proved much harder to eliminate. She hid you well.”
*
Callie listened to the words of the wicked, evil woman before her with a dawning horror. By circumventing her mother’s instructions, the woman’s dying wish, her life had most likely been spared. The theater would have been the first place her father—and the dowager duchess—would have looked. “You have no remorse for anything you’ve done. Not even for murder.”
“And why should I?” the dowager duchess snapped. “I’ve protected this family. I’ve provided for Gerald here, ensuring that the trustees would allow him access to the family fortune as he needed it. You think your pretty face and that portrait in the hall will be all that’s required to sway them? Think again!”
“The sworn testimony of people who worked in the theater with Veronique Delaine might help with that. As well as documentation from the church where the former Duke of Averston married his mistress prior to the birth of their child will no doubt carry some weight, as well,” Highcliff informed her imperiously.
“I don’t want the money,” Callie said. “I’ve managed my whole life without it. I certainly don’t need it now.”
Highcliff blinked at that. “Don’t be so hasty, dear girl. Your future husband might wish to have some say in the matter.”
Callie looked at Winn. “I don’t want it. I really don’t. Do we need it?”
Winn stared back at her. “No. We don’t. You and I shall be fine without it.”
The dowager duchess laughed then. “Oh, my! You are certainly like your mother… in far more than looks it would seem! You’ve snagged an earl, no less. She managed a duke, but then I suppose she was a bit more alluring than you, and certainly no stranger to seducing men to her will. Pity, Montgomery, I had thought you were smarter than all of this.”
Callie ignored her. Instead, she walked toward the desk where the Duke of Averston was seated. “I’m sorry that you’ve been hurt by all of this, and that you’ve lost people you cared for. But you needn’t worry about the money. I really could not care less. I don’t wish to be acknowledged. I don’t wish to be recognized as a member of this family. I only want the chance to live peacefully with my betrothed and his wards without worrying that we might be attacked at any moment.”
The duke looked up at her. “You can’t possibly be serious. No one would simply walk away from that amount of money.”
“What would I do with it?” Callie said. “I’m a governess. That’s what I do. That’s how I even came into this world where my past was finally discovered. If the earl states we do not require it, then we do not require it. But if you wish to have it, in truth, without any hindrances placed upon you, then you will have to support us when we go before the trustees. And something will have to be done with her… an asylum perhaps. It’s not the hanging she so richly deserves, but it will at least prevent her