high-end luxury mammals. They cost a goddamn fortune to maintain. He happened to have a goddamn fortune, but a lot of his liquid assets were tied into fueling the coven’s efforts.
He slammed a spoonful of coffee into his mug. Fresh brewed coffee would taste better. Goddamn it. Baring his mental teeth, he chased that thought out of his head, then he glared at his surroundings. He was sick to death of living in basements.
Grabbing his mug, he strode upstairs. Molly huddled in one of the chairs in front of the living room window, looking out as she cradled her mug underneath her chin. Her eyes were reddened, but he didn’t discern any extra splotchiness in her bruised face. He guessed she hadn’t been crying. Probably hadn’t.
He sat in the opposite chair. “I’ll loan you forty thousand, interest free. And I’ll get you a car.”
She took in a quick breath. “That’s very generous. Thank you, but it’s a lot of money. What if I can’t pay it back?”
Unless he was badly mistaken—and he rarely was about people anymore—she was the type who wouldn’t rest until she found some way to repay him. “You might take some financial hits, like property taxes and other expenses, but eventually you’ll get the bulk of your estate. You can pay me back then.” A corner of his mouth lifted drily. “Either that or I’ll be dead, and the loan won’t matter.”
Her gaze widened. “Why are you going after someone so dangerous? What did they do to you?”
He thought about deflecting that, but then suddenly he didn’t even want to try. She had already guessed or discovered so many of his other secrets. What did it matter if she knew the whole truth?
“I was born to a life of wealth and privilege when the world still had empires and kings,” he said. “And at the appropriate age, I married an appropriate woman and fathered two sons. I became interested in improving steam-locomotion technology. The ruler at that time placed some significance on expanding railways, so when my father died, I inherited a lot of money and then I made more.”
Fascination overtook her expression. She swiveled to face him fully. “You had a marriage and family. Your wife… did you love her?”
He snorted. “No. In the circles we moved in, we thought of marriage differently. But she gave me two sons whom I loved, and for several years I had grown somewhat fond of her. Then I was badly injured in a carriage accident and lay in a coma for two weeks.”
She winced. “That was when your Power awoke, right?”
“Yes. I could feel it inside, burning like a furnace.” His expression hardened. “I couldn’t move or speak, but I heard everything that everyone said around me. What the doctors said. Things my wife said. What my two sons said. How the three of them planned on disposing of the family assets, and how tired they grew of waiting for me to die.”
“But it had only been two weeks?” Her gaze darkened with sympathy.
He didn’t welcome her sympathy but acknowledged where it came from. They both had families who had betrayed them. “After a few days, my sons thought they should give nature a hand and help me to my eternal rest. We had a lot of servants, and my youngest son was afraid of getting caught. That was the only thing that gave them pause. Thankfully, that was enough for me to come out of the coma. I disinherited them, left my wife, and searched for someone who could explain what was happening to me.”
“How horrible,” she murmured. “I thought Austin was bad, but you must have felt so hurt when your family turned on you like that.”
“I suppose I did, but it happened so long ago, my children’s children have died of old age.” He added softly, “And it was nothing compared to what came next. War was breaking out. I backed out of old business interests and moved the bulk of my capital to America. In the meantime, I grew desperate to understand how to handle my awakening Power, so I traveled to see the only man I knew who might be able to help. That was the worst decision I’ve ever made.”
Chapter Eleven
Molly had been so mired in the destruction of her life as she knew it, she would have said nothing could pull her out of her own misery.
Yet Josiah managed to do just that. Fascination and curiosity ran rampant as she listened