The Debutante's Secret by Sophia James

Author:Sophia James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-05-07T13:41:17+00:00

Oliver knocked on the door with all the force of fury, the dingy and fetid surrounds of Goulston Street in Whitechapel adding to his anger. When the man he knew as Todd Blackburn answered, it was all he could do not to punch the fellow hard in the face so he would know the pain of a beating in much the same way Tobias Grant must have known it a few days before.

Instead he reined in his temper and took in a breath.

‘If you as much as touch a hair on Tobias Grant’s head again, I will have you beaten to within an inch of your life. Do I make myself clear? I have both the money and connections, Mr Blackburn, but more importantly I have the will to hurt you badly. And I shall.’

The man opposite stepped back, all fight gone. ‘It weren’t me, sir...’

‘I don’t care who it was. The boy was in your care and you did not protect him.’

He felt the presence of another behind him then, the malevolence almost palpable, and when an arm came out just as he expected it to he had the wrist in his grip, bending it with force, the newcomer going down squealing like a pig.

‘Next time I won’t be as kind,’ he said then. ‘Do we understand each other?’

The commotion had attracted a group from the nearby houses, ill-clothed wraiths and vagabonds with the sort of fear on their faces that came from a thousand days of hunger.

Hell, he could not save them all. One at a time, he had promised himself, one at a time starting from the very youngest up and Tobias Grant was a small and timid five-year-old, who had not deserved the brutal hiding Blackburn had given him.

If they hated him, it helped, but if they feared him, then that was even better. One did not live long in Whitechapel without some semblance of violence and his particular type of it was backed up by three years of stamping his mark upon the place.

People here knew he did not jest, they knew he meant what he said and they also knew that there were enough people in the low streets of desperation who supported his attempts to help the forgotten children.

With intent he turned towards the melee behind him and eyed them up, pleased when a gap opened and he walked on through. It took more energy than these wretched souls possessed to fight and they knew it, instead conserving what they had for the search of the next meal.

He hoped Esther had not ever seen this side of life as a young girl with her mother, but something told him that she probably had and his fists bunched at his side.

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