His face was starting to drip blood where she had scratched him, and the hold he had on her was tight and rough, his fingers digging in her arms in a punishing hold.
Rhia cried out at the pain, and her leg wrenched as he propelled her across the room.
It dragged behind her, not holding her weight. Braddock was holding her so tightly she couldn’t fall if she wanted to. This was the time she wished she would fall.
He slammed her into the wall, her head hitting the hard wood with a thunk and again Rhia cried out at the pain of it.
He slapped her across the face and her head snapped to the side, her cheek burning from the slap, “You little bitch. You may be delicious, but I will kill you if you act out again. Make no mistake about that.” And he let her drop to the floor.
She hit the floor hard, making her bite her lip to keep the whimper inside, and lay in a crumpled heap at his feet.
She looked up at Braddock from where she lay and he grabbed her by the hair again. “You will learn that I get my way through any means necessary. If you can’t do what I want, when I want it, then I will kill you.”
He slapped her again, and left her on the floor. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood from his face. He looked at his reflection in the window and harrumphed. “You are lucky these won’t scar badly. Wouldn’t want to match the beast who lives here already.”
Aidan was breathing hard, blood drying on his upper lip and dripping off his fingers in a slow pit-pat to the floor, he said, “I will kill you. Slowly.”
Braddock smiled at him, and got his clothes back in order. “I don’t think you will. Seeing as you are tied up, and I am not? I have shot you once. I am not afraid to do so again. God, here you are, trying to be the big man, puffing up and trying to scare me with your threats.”
Braddock rolled his eyes, “Apparently I haven't done enough to your family to prove just how much you don't scare me. I should show you, again shouldn't I? That I am serious about hurting you? Have you not seen enough Aidan? God. You must still not believe me when I say that taking your lives is nothing to me. Before this is through, you will sign over everything to me.”
Aidan shook his head. “Over my dead body. I will face any torture you have to give and I will still not sign anything over to you.”
Braddock turned to him with a deadly look on his face. “That can be arranged! I could kill your sisters, your mother and brother and make you watch while I torture them until they beg for death. Your choice, your grace. My father taught me well. Everything I could ever want to know about hurting another person, he knew the secrets of. He had an excellent pupil that soaked up every bit of knowledge he gave me.”
Aidan shook his head. “I care not what you do to me, torture me, kill me. Do your worst. But I will not let you hurt my family any longer.”
Braddock clapped his hands together and mockingly he said, “Bravo, Aidan. Bravo. I just told you what I would do to your family and here you are still being obstinate. My father told me about what he did to break you. And yet, you never broke. He hated that. Lesser people would have broken, but you never did. You have to be commended on that at least. I loved hearing all about when you got your lovely scars. Not the one on your face, but the scars he gave you in the stable. He told me all about that. It gave me such wonderful ideas. Such joy that he had done that to you. Had punished you for your indiscretions. He would come and see me after he did those things to you, and we would celebrate it. But, a few years without my father to quell your obstinate ways, and here you are, still acting and thinking this will end in your favor. God you are a cocky bastard. ”
Braddock walked to where Aidan was sitting and pulled a knife out of his coat. He took the blade and sliced a small cut in Aidan's already scarred cheek. Aidan glared up at him, once more with blood streaming down his face.
He laughed maniacally. “We hated you Aidan. Hate you still. My father was a genius and excellent at what he did. His mind worked differently than others and he was punished for it. Punished for his evil genius. He didn't deserve any of the pain that his family put him through. And he certainly didn't deserve to be murdered in his own house and have it covered up by you. I knew that when he didn't return something had happened, so I came to investigate. I still don’t know the truth of his death, but seeing his fresh grave made me so angry I wanted to kill you all then and there, but I waited. Knowing it wasn’t the time. Not yet. I found my perfect way into your house, and I have been patient. Now it's finally paying off. I will have my revenge for my father and me, and nothing you say or do will stop me.”
Braddock paced the room again until he stopped in front of Lily and Rose. They cowered from him. He grabbed Lily by the hair and pulled her forward. “Ah the other twins, my father never got a chance to play with you, did he?”
Lily stubbornly refused to answer him and Braddock laughed, leaning in to whisper in her ear, something no one else heard aside from Rose, who sat so close to Lily, she had no choice but to overhear.
All the blood drained from her face, Rose’s as well, and Braddock stood and walked away laughing again.
Next, he walked to where Cole lay, his shoulder still bleeding, and Lydia kneeling next to him, ripping pieces of her petticoat apart to bind his shoulder.
Cole started to sit up, trying to defend himself and his mother. Rhia could see he was hurting but he still tried to defend Lydia. Braddock punched Cole in the jaw, knocking his head to the side, then he took it one step further and punched Cole in his injured shoulder, once, and then another time, making Cole lay back with a tortured groan and shut his eyes.
Lydia started pounding on Braddock’s back, which made him turn to her and snarl, she yelled in Braddock’s face. “There is absolutely no need to hurt a man you have already shot. Leave him be.”
Braddock grinned down at her, and then grabbed a fistful of Lydia’s hair, and wrenched her neck up to look at him. “I would not test me, woman. You are lucky I let you tend him at all instead of tying you up with the rest. He should suffer a little more, but I want to make Aidan be the one to hurt.” With that, he threw Lydia to the floor, and started pacing again.
He was grumbling to himself as he paced, nothing he said made sense, and he was so lost in his musings that he never noticed Rhia as she inched her way to Aidan’s side, and to the knife she knew Aidan kept in his boot at all times.
She had to reach it. Had to get them out of this hell by helping untie Aidan. She knew this would go on longer, and as she watched Braddock talk to himself, she knew he was unhinged and that this would escalate until he did follow through with his threat to kill someone. Or all of them. She had no doubts he would do so, and she didn’t want to find out if he would or not.
Braddock paced and paced, not doing anything for a long time, until finally he spoke again, “I have waited a long time for this day, waiting until the fucking perfect day to do this. Watching you, all of you, until the pieces fell into place. I had to watch you live your perfect lives. Watch you spend the fortune that should be mine!”
Braddock yelled the last part at them and Lily and Rose flinched.
“You killed my father in cold blood. Because of that alone, I will never let you know the truth about yours. I will never let that secret go. I will only let you know this, after I kill all of you, -except for my future mistress that is- I am going to kill him. Slowly, painfully. He is the one who should be dead right now, not the rightful heir to the dukedom. If my father was still alive, things would have been so different. Yours has had time to suffer and wallow in his misery, but I will be merciful and end it. That way no one can dispute my claim to my title. I will finally be living the life I was meant to lead. It will be sweet justice for me. And for my father.”
As he was saying all this, Rhia had reached Aidan, gotten his knife out of his boot and had cut his through most of his bonds, almost freeing him.
Braddock looked over, and he let out an almost inhuman growl, finally noticing that Rhia had moved. Rhia
froze, knowing that she was too late. Hadn’t been fast enough in getting Aidan free and now? He would kill them all. She felt it deep in her soul.
He was quicker than a snake, rushing to where Rhia knelt next to Aidan, but before he grabbed her, she handed the knife to Aidan without letting Braddock see. Braddock threw her away from Aidan so hard she hit the front of the settee Rose and Lily were sitting on. Wrenching her up from the floor by her hair again, and she cried out, feeling like he had ripped half of her scalp away.
His grab made her leg twist the wrong way, and that made her bite her lip, trying to hold in the next cry.
He grabbed the gun from the back of his pants, and held it to her head, cocking the hammer back. She went completely still in his arms, waiting for him to pull the trigger like she knew he would.
“I wasn’t planning on killing you, but apparently, you will be the first one I do you fucking bitch.”
She gasped and shut her eyes. Tears of fear and loss streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t want to see Aidan or the look of desolation on his face. Tried to picture him when he told her he loved her, and asked her to marry him. Tried to think of anything that would make her not want to retch.
Aidan was sawing frantically at the last rope that held him immobile in the chair, rushing in his need to save his love, cutting open his arm in the frantic sawing of the rope. The blood made the knife slippery and he knew he would have several small cuts on his hand, but he didn’t care. Didn’t feel the pain. He had to get free.
With a final burst, he broke free. He readied himself for the perfect moment. He knew he needed to be patient, if he wasn’t, Rhia could be hurt in the struggle.
Seeing Braddock holding a gun to her head, made Aidan see the room as if it was bathed in shades of red.
Aidan held the knife in his hand, hidden in his shirtsleeves, readying it for the best position he needed to throw the blade.
He would not miss. Aidan practiced with swords, guns and knives for years. He learned different types of fighting styles. Every one of them he had mastered, and he was grateful for the hard work and dedication he had put in all those years in that moment.
Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, he knew this wasn't the moment to be rash. He had to be careful, but it was difficult. He watched Braddock with Rhia and waited for the perfect moment before he exploded to his feet.
Braddock whipped around, facing Aidan squarely. Rhia cried out again as he kept dragging her leg in painful ways.
His pistol was wavering, trying to decide if he should keep it trained on Rhia, or aim at Aidan.
He held Rhia tightly, not noticing Lily readying herself behind him. Lily pulled back her leg and kicked Braddock in the back of his leg so hard, it buckled. And he cried out at the shock, almost going down with how hard Lily had kicked him. Rhia went limp in Braddock’s arms. Her entire weight sagging on one arm was not what Braddock expected either.
His attention wavered because all of Rhia’s weight dragged him off to the side, and with the kick Lily had given him, it gave Aidan the opening he needed to finally end this.
Aidan didn't hesitate as he hurled the knife at Braddock as hard as he could, watching as it flew, end over end until it embedded itself into Braddock’s chest with a wet thunk.
Braddock looked down at the vibrating knife in his chest in shock, and he dropped Rhia.
She fell from his arms, hitting the floor and biting her lip to keep from screaming in pain and crawled away as fast as she could.
Braddock slowly fell to his knees, his hand going to the knife that was sticking from his chest. He meekly tried to pull it out, but it was stuck fast. Blood ran down his hand from him pulling on the knife in his chest, and it made him cough, blood dribbling down his chin.
He looked at Aidan in shock, his face going white, and Aidan could see his chest having a hard time drawing in breath. “This wasn't supposed to happen this way. You weren’t supposed to win. No, no,” he fell to the side and said it again, quieter this time. He slumped over, his breath stopped and his eyes staring sightlessly.
Aidan rushed over and helped Rhia to her feet, slowly. He held her close for a second, giving her a quick kiss on her lips. He ran his hands over her body, checking to make certain she didn’t have any wounds, and when he found none, he gave her one final kiss, and let her go.
Her hair was disheveled around her, and her lip was swollen and red. As was her cheek. Aidan wanted to growl at the rough treatment Braddock had done to her. He kissed each place softly, letting her know of his love.
He walked back to his desk where he grabbed a smaller knife out of the desk drawer, and he cut the ropes binding Lily and Rose.
He pulled them in for a quick hug and then he was at his mother’s side, saying, “What can I do?”
She had gotten the blood to slow, but it still flowed from Cole’s wound.
She said, “You need to get your own wound tended to.”
Aidan shook his head, “I am all right, we need to help Cole. You can tend to me later.”
Lydia finally nodded, “I need to get the bullet out. It didn’t go all the way through. I worry there is some fabric in the wound as well. We have to clean it out the best we can and stitch him up. I worry about it getting an infection if we leave anything in there. Braddock may have done more damage when he punched Cole. I think he opened it more, so it’s possible we can get the bullet out easier. That is my hope anyway. Girls, you know what to do. Aidan, you need to go get a footman and we can get the next step done.”
The girls started to run off, knowing to get water, whiskey, and their mother’s medicine bag.
As they got to the door, they stopped. Hearing noises from the other side, made them take a step back and it shuddered under the weight of something; and then a large crack split the door open and off its hinges and the girls backed up with a slight scream coming from Rose.
The door opened then and several footmen were there, as well as John from the stables and Julia. The men were all out of breath and they looked around the room, finding the man they were looking for, dead on the floor.
Aidan noticed several of the men holding some sort of weapon, and John held a gun, the barrel pointed at the floor.
“Aidan!” John said when he saw the family, “Are you well? That man locked all of us up in the cellar. It was hell trying to break free. But we got out as soon as we could. I wanted to warn you, but I see I am too late. I apologize, your Grace.”
Aidan grimaced, “I am the one who needs to apologize. To everyone. And I will, later. We need help. Cole was shot in the shoulder. And my mother needs to remove the bullet.”
John walked over to where Cole was lying on the floor, blood soaked into the rug under him, and his shirt and jacket a darker color thanks to the blood as well.
Lydia had tried to remove his jacket and shirt, but her efforts had been in vain.
Oliver joined him, and knelt down next to Lydia. “Pardon me, my lady, I was a medic in the war until I got hit with a bullet myself. I can help you get the bullet out. I have done it several times.”
Lydia looked over at him and nodded. “Thank you, sir. I wasn’t exactly certain how to proceed. Do you think we should move him to his bed?”
Oliver shook his head. “Let’s try to get it out here. It will move too much if we try to carry him. Especially if we don’t have something stable to carry him on.”
Lydia nodded again, “What do I need to do?”
Oliver pulled out a knife from his boot, “I need some whiskey to clean this, and I will do my best to not hurt him, but I will need some help to hold him down.”
Aidan knelt at Cole’s head and felt someone kneel next to him. It was Rhia, her leg bent a little awkwardly, but she was still there. He wanted to kiss her, to let her know how much he loved her, but he needed to focus on Cole right now. When this was done? Aidan was going to show her exactly how he felt.
She grabbed Cole’s hand and held it tight and Cole turned his head, k
eeping his eyes on Rhia; and not on what Oliver was about to do.
Rhia brushed the hair out of Cole’s face and ran a hand through his hair, trying to soothe him. She wanted to hug him close, but she settled for that small touch, and held his hand tightly.
Lily and Rose came back with all the supplies they needed.
Oliver quickly found everything he needed, cleaned his knife and the small one they produced, before cutting Cole’s shirt free.
Blood welled from the wound, and a bruise was forming around the shot from where Braddock had hit him twice. Seeing his brother’s skin ripped open the way it had been was hard on Aidan.
Cole tightened his hold on Aidan and Rhia both, his eyes never leaving Rhia’s face.
Oliver said, “Cole, do you want something to bite down on?”
Cole shook his head, and grit his teeth. The words coming out through them, “Just get it over with. Nothing is going to help. It hurts like hell, so just get on with it.”
Oliver said, “All right, then here we go.”
He took a deep breath, and with John and Lydia holding Cole’s legs and Aidan and Rhia holding his arms, Oliver stuck the knife in the wound and Cole let out a grunt, then a groan of pain as well as some colorful cursing.
Rhia felt his hand tighten on hers, she could tell from his face how badly it hurt, but he only made a few grunts and groans after the initial cut had been made.
Rhia saw a sheen of sweat dot his forehead and she pushed the hair off his forehead again, trying to give him any kind of comfort.
She looked over at Aidan, and he was focused on his brother, his jaw set in a firm line.
She noticed he had a large cut that looked like someone had sliced his arm open. On the same arm he had been shot in. Both his wounds were bleeding freely, but if Aidan noticed that or the pain from them, he made no indication of it.
Oliver slowly moved the knife in further, until he felt the bullet. He maneuvered the knife under the bullet and Cole groaned again.
Rhia looked down and Cole was focused on her face, his brows drawn down in pain. She could see him biting his lip and it was white from the strain.
The Duke Who Loved Me Page 36
