The duke rose from his desk and placed his hands heavily upon it as he leaned toward her. His dark-brown steely eyes seemed to pierce her, but she held strong. “You have just made a grave error in judgment, Lady Kitson.”
“No, you have.” She brought the packet from behind her and placed it in front of him.
His expression was filled with disbelief and he straightened. “How did you get that?”
“That isn’t important. What is important is that inside you will only find forgeries of the documents you’ve been hiding. I have the originals that were registered in the Courts at Westminster. I only made copies so you would know for sure I had each one of them. You have forced my hand and I had to lower myself to your level and steal them. You have taken control of my son away from me for your own selfish reasons. So you have left me to play the game your way.”
He jerked up the packet, opened it, and thumbed through the pages, letting them fall one by one to the desk and scatter on top of it.
Julia kept talking. “I know about the company where the gunpowder led to an explosion that killed all those people, and that you did nothing to help them. I know about all the nonexistent men who own your companies and brothels. I know it all because I heard you and your solicitor discussing them.”
He threw the empty leather packet on top of the desk. “You dared to eavesdrop on my conversations?”
His arms were shaking and his eyes bulging. He was angry, but so was she. “No, I didn’t have to. You walked right past me and didn’t see me. I have proof you are not the saintly man you proclaim to be, and I will reveal your secret and make all this known to Society if you ever come near me or my son again.” She spread her hands out over the strewn papers.
“What have you done?” He grabbed up the leather packet and looked inside it again. “Where’s my ledger?”
“I have it.”
Julia turned and saw Garrett standing in the doorway behind her. Her heart suddenly felt as if it might beat out of her chest. Her body felt as if it might have frozen in place. He was the last person the duke needed to see. What was he doing? Was he was going to bluff the duke, too.
“But of course it’s in a safe place, where it will remain.” Garrett walked over to stand beside Julia and put a sheet of foolscap in front of the duke. “I admit it wasn’t easy for my man to figure this out. It was very clever and difficult. This is only a copy of the first page, but you can see enough to know that your code has been broken, and this lists most every company and house you have in these records. Including dates and amount of monies you received from each of them.”
Julia couldn’t hold in a loud intake of breath at hearing Mr. Urswick had been successful.
“Who are you?” the duke asked, his face, his arms, and his hands shaking from rage.
“The rogue who will see to it that you leave Lady Kitson and her son alone.”
The duke picked up a handful of papers that were scattered on his desk and threw them at Garrett. “Get out of here. This proves nothing. And what could you do about it if it did? Who cares if I make money off the two things I detest most—gaming houses and brothels?”
“Gentlemen, Duke,” Julia said. “Most men enjoy both but for years they have listened to you say you are above such evil pursuits. What do you think Society will feel about such a pious man, such a wealthy man as you profiting from them while you malign them?”
“Tell the whole of London. No one will believe you, but if one should, he won’t care,” he muttered contemptuously.
“Do you really want to take that chance?” Julia asked. “I realize that as a duke you are immune from prosecution in any form. But as a man who gains from his self-made reputation as a man who is everything kind and good and the model for how one should conduct his life, this will make you go down in the history books as one of the most evil and uncaring men in history. How will you like that? Your likeness alongside the worst cheaters in England. What will your sons say? Your daughter and her children? What would the Prince say if he knew you were the man who owned the building where the gunpowder explosion happened and not the fake person to which it was registered? And you stood by and did nothing to help in the aftermath.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” he murmured menacingly, shifting his cold gaze from Julia to Garrett.
“I’m going to give you two days. If I don’t hear that restitution has been made and money has been paid to the families of the victims in the Manchester disaster, I will be distributing copies of all this to every door in Mayfair.”
The duke looked from Julia to Garret again. Rage and disgust were evident in his features. “I always knew you were just like my cheating wife. I take care of you and show you how to live properly for your son and your husband and this is how you repay me. You turn on me for a younger man who probably hasn’t a penny to his name.”
Julia glanced at Garrett. His calm expression of determination hadn’t changed since he’d come. His quiet assurance gave her all the courage she needed. “You forced my hand by your rigid unbending rules and suffocating ways. My mind can’t be changed. Your reputation can be destroyed and everyone will whisper about you when you walk by or you can do what is right for the town of Manchester and for me and Chatwyn. It’s up to you how you want this to end.”
The duke crumpled and fell back into his chair, winded and jerking. “Brigid was never good enough for me,” he said in a raspy, slurring voice. “She betrayed me with other men before she ever married me just as you betrayed your husband. But she got what she deserved and so will you. After the wastrel she ran away with had wagered away all the money she stole from me, he left her hungry and penniless in a wet ditch.” The duke chuckled low in his throat as he rested his head against the back of the chair. “No one knew she ever came back to me, but she did. She was destitute and wanted my help. Just like you will one day. And I’m not without mercy. I gave her what she deserved. I opened a brothel and forced her to work there. I was amazed at how profitable it was. That’s when I realized I could make money from the two things I hated most. Gambling and loose women.”
“You are a despicable wretched soul,” she whispered.
“Go. You’ll come crawling back one day. Just like she did.”
“I think you’ve heard enough,” Garrett said to Julia.
She nodded. “What are you going to do?”
“Stay here with him to make sure you get out of the house without any problems.”
Julia turned back to the duke. One of his hands jerked and one side of his mouth was slack, but he was laughing and mumbling in a whispered breath. It was clear he wasn’t well and he might have suffered a fit of apoplexy.
“I’m going upstairs to get my son. We’ll be staying at the house at The Seafarer’s School. I’ll send for our things tomorrow.”
The duke tried to rise. “You can’t—”
Garrett held out his hand toward the feeble duke. “I’m the one who’s going to see that she leaves here with her son. And I’m the one who will stop you if you try to prevent her.”
Julia looked at Garrett. She met his gaze and tried to tell him how much she appreciated his help, how much she loved him. His support had given her all the courage she needed. She looked at the duke again and for reasons she couldn’t fathom, she felt a pang of sorrow for him. “I’ll ask Mrs. Desford to send for a physician to tend to you.” She then turned and walked out.