Chapter Twenty #3
“He was trying to get Ivy to elope with him. I had to stop him. But because he had Ivy’s letters, I couldn’t tell anyone. Ivy would be ruined.”
Raven had been right. She was protecting her sister. He loved her even more.
“If you don’t want me to put a bullet in you, I suggest you give me those letters,” Rockwell said coldly.
“If you don’t, the Duchess’s word will be enough to destroy your engagement.
And we’ll say the letters are a forgery.
Everyone will believe us because who would question the word of a duke and a marquess?
And we’ll make sure every door in society slams in your face.
No one will receive you. No one will do business with you.
You’ll be as ruined as you tried to make Ashley. ”
“Then I have nothing to lose.” Carstairs’s hand steadied on the pistol, and he turned it toward Ashley. “If I’m to be destroyed anyway, she might as well—”
Raven moved.
Years of fencing, boxing, and the desperate fury of a man protecting his wife—all of it combined as he lunged across the room. His hand closed around Carstairs’s wrist, forcing the pistol upward as it discharged with a deafening crack.
They went down in a tangle of limbs, Carstairs fighting with the desperate strength of a cornered animal. The pistol skittered away across the floor. Raven didn’t need it. His fists would suffice.
The first punch caught Carstairs in the jaw, snapping his head to the side.
The second landed in his ribs with a satisfying crack.
Carstairs tried to fight back, tried to land blows of his own, but he was soft from too many years of easy living while Raven had spent months working out his grief and frustration in the boxing ring.
“This is for Ashley.” Another punch. “For three years of her life you stole.” Another. “For every moment of fear you caused her.”
Carstairs managed to roll, throwing Raven off. He scrambled for something—a knife, Raven realized with cold clarity, pulled from his boot. The desperate last weapon of a desperate man.
He lunged with it, wild and uncontrolled. Raven sidestepped, catching Carstairs’s arm and twisting hard. Bones cracked. Carstairs screamed. The knife clattered to the floor.
And then Carstairs made his final mistake. He grabbed for it with his other hand, murder clear in his eyes as he turned toward where Ashley sat bound and helpless.
Raven didn’t think. Didn’t plan. He just moved on pure instinct, grabbing Carstairs from behind to pull him away from Ashley. But Carstairs twisted in his grip, the knife coming up between them in a wild arc.
Raven acted in slow motion. It should have been impossible. Should have been too awkward, too poorly aimed. But somehow the blade found flesh, sliding between Carstairs’s ribs as his own momentum drove it home.
Carstairs’s eyes went wide with shock. He looked down at the knife buried in his chest, then up at Raven’s face. His mouth opened, but only blood came out.
Then he collapsed, his body going limp.
Raven stared down at him, breathing hard, his hands covered in blood. He’d killed a man. He hadn’t meant to, but the result was the same. Carstairs lay dead at his feet, the knife still protruding from his chest.
“Raven.” Ashley’s voice cut through his shock. “Raven, please. Untie me.”
He moved on autopilot, his hands shaking as he worked at the ropes binding her wrists. The moment she was free, Ashley threw her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped between tears. “I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you. This morning, I’d decided to tell you everything. To trust you. But he came and—”
“Shh.” Raven held her tight, one hand tangled in her hair, the other wrapped around her back as if he could physically prevent the world from ever taking her from him again.
“You’re safe now. You’re safe, and I’m sorry.
So bloody sorry, Ashley. You were right.
You tried to tell me the investigation was dangerous, and I wouldn’t listen. This is my fault. All of it.”
“No.” She pulled back enough to look at his face, her hands coming up to frame his jaw. Her fingers were gentle despite the trembling. “This is Carstairs’s fault. His choices. His actions. You were trying to protect me. To seek justice for me. That’s not wrong.”
“It nearly got you killed.” His voice broke on the words. “Like Kitty. Another woman I—” He couldn’t finish. Couldn’t say it aloud.
“I’m not Kitty.” Ashley’s thumbs wiped at the tears streaming down his face. “I’m your wife.”
Wolf cleared his throat. “We should…deal with the body. And get Ashley home. There will be questions, investigations. This was clearly self-defense, but we’ll need witnesses to confirm that.”
“We saw it all,” Rockwell said firmly. “Carstairs attacked first with both pistol and knife. He threatened the duchess’s life multiple times. What happened was tragic but entirely his own fault.”
Raven nodded, unable to find words. He’d killed a man to save his wife, and he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. He’d do it again in a heartbeat if necessary.
“One thing before we go.” The men all stopped and looked at Ashley. “We can’t ever tell Ivy about Carstairs. We’ll say it was an enemy of Raven’s. It would destroy my sister to know I was ruined on her behalf. Promise me. All of you.”
“I’m not sure we can keep Carstairs death quiet. She might guess,” Wolf said gently.
“I’m sure three powerful men can change the narrative. Ivy cannot learn the truth.”
“We shall do everything in our power to do as you say,” Raven said, hugging her tighter.
“Thank you. Now take me home,” Ashley whispered. “Please, Raven. Just take me home.”
He lifted her into his arms, carrying her out of that horrible place toward where their horses waited. Wolf and Rockwell stayed behind to deal with the magistrate and manage the aftermath.
But Raven only cared about the woman in his arms. About getting her home safe. About telling her everything he’d realized too late.
About making sure she knew that she was worth more than any investigation, any justice, any pride.
She was worth everything.
“Thank you for coming for me. For loving me.” Her words warmed his heart. “I’m sorry I scared you like Kitty. I know you loved her.”
“No,” Raven admitted, the words torn from somewhere deep in his chest. “What I felt for Kitty was real, but it was…separate from the rest of my life. She was my escape, my comfort, someone who accepted parts of me I’d been told were shameful.
I cared for her deeply. But not in the way I love you. If I’d lost you, I’d never recover.”
He drew a shuddering breath. “But you, Ashley—you’re not separate from anything.
You’re woven into every part of my existence.
You’re my partner, my equal, the woman who shares not just my bed but my entire world.
Losing Kitty nearly destroyed me. But losing you…
” He shook his head, unable to put into words the absolute devastation that prospect held.
“I couldn’t survive it. I literally could not go on without you. ”
“You won’t have to.” She pressed her forehead against his. “I’m here. I’m alive. We’re both alive, and we have a future ahead of us.”
“A future where I listen when you tell me something is dangerous,” Raven said firmly. “A future where I trust your judgment as much as I expect you to trust mine. A future where we’re true partners in every sense.”
“I like the sound of that future.” Ashley’s smile was watery but genuine.
As they reached the safety of London, he let Henderson help her down and then once more swept her into his arms and carried her inside.
As he laid her on the bed, he said, “You’re safe now.
Carstairs can never hurt you again. I don’t care what secrets you want to keep.
You can trust me with anything, but I’ll leave it to you to decide how much you want to tell your husband in the future, and I will trust that you know best. I’m so in love with you that I’d die without you in my life. ”
He watched in horror as tears once more filled her eyes. “What if I have another secret…but it’s not just my secret?”