having their own wealth, prestige, and future yanked out from under them, as had been the case with Nesbitt. “I’m not one of them.”
“They can’t just not include ya.” The relentless Bragger spoke to himself, a man so consumed that he failed to see the obvious truth—Hugh wasn’t going to provide the entry they required.
“There’s Steele,” Hugh put forward, and that stopped Bragger in his tracks.
“Wot of ’im?” Maynard asked for the pair now staring bullishly back at Hugh.
“Steele ain’t going to let us ’ave our piece,” Bragger spat. “’e got us the name. We don’t need anything else from ’im. We’ll foind the proof we need.”
Nay, the honorable and respected investigator wasn’t one who’d blindly look the other way while they cut a man down. Therefore, Hugh would be the one they sent in to secure some scraps of evidence . . . and then they’d destroy him.
As Bragger resumed pacing, Maynard read through the most recent newspaper story about Hugh.
His gut churned . . . This was what his life had become. From one no one knew anything about, to one everyone whispered and read about.
But they wrote of his life as they knew it. They wondered after it.
They didn’t know any of his story, and it was a reminder of the loyalty he owed his partners. They could have sold him out long ago for the small fortune they’d likely have made by handing over sordid details about Hugh’s past. But they hadn’t.
Except, they weren’t the only ones he’d shared parts of himself with.
Lila’s face flashed to his mind’s eye.
It was just one of so many times that she’d slipped into his thoughts.
There couldn’t be a future with her. Even if he was a titled duke and was suitable for one of her station. Even if he wished it could be different between them. Because when he was done with Maynard and Bragger, he’d be free of fighting. At last, he could set it behind him and begin anew. And Lila? She’d only be satisfied bringing to life the vision she’d had of that very world he sought escape from.
A memory trickled in.
The bright, excited glimmer in her eyes as she’d shared her dream.
He couldn’t live like that. Not anymore. Not even for or with her. Not and remain intact as a person.
Bragger stopped abruptly. “We don’t ’ave a choice.”
Warning bells clamored and clanged at the back of Hugh’s mind.
“The lady,” his partner went on. “She’s got connections to the family.”
Hugh was already shaking his head. “I said I wasn’t going to have dealings with her.”
Maynard wagged a finger. “Uh-uh. Ya said ya didn’t need her to get yarself an invitation into the marquess’s ’ousehold. But ya ’aven’t ’ad any luck.”
“She’s our entry in.” Eagerness made Bragger sloppy as he fished around inside his jacket. Withdrawing all-too-familiar notes they’d each received from Steele, Bragger slapped it down between them. “She can get ya into Prendergast’s. Foind out wot ’e knows about Valerie and then . . .” The retired fighter made a slashing gesture across his throat.
“Honorable men don’t ask other men to pay a price for kindness shown, Hugh . . . Your partners, they’d have you fight . . . They’d hold you to whatever rules they set . . . That isn’t a true relationship, Hugh . . .”
Lila’s insistent words whispered through the latest request his partners had put to him. And yet as much as he loathed the violent plans they had, if he were to abandon them, then he’d be no different from every other nobleman. Men . . . and women . . . who took what they needed and set them loose. “You think we’ll simply enter their homes, find their armbands and their masks, and what then?” Hugh’s somber voice managed to at last penetrate the other man’s excitement.
“’ang ’im with them,” Maynard volunteered, not so much as missing a beat.
More violence. Violence met with violence.
“And you think we’ll escape all notice.”
“Nay, they’ll trace it clear back to ya. Ain’t goin’ to be ’ard for them. Yar a duke. Oi expect ya’ll be just foine.” Bragger spoke without inflection.
And it was then the truth slammed into him . . . Bragger . . . Maynard . . . they had no intention of coming out alive when this was done. They’d accepted they couldn’t simply off a noble and escape mercy at the hands of the Crown.
“It’ll be worth it,” Maynard murmured, his eyes haunted. Hunted.
And not for