Chapter 21 Alex #2
Savi raced over to Alex’s desk, sliding into the chair at its head and pulling the telephone towards her—before freezing in place.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.
She held out the telephone in his direction. “It might be better if it comes from you. It’s not like I give a toss about introducing him to people.”
“You may be right there.” Alex leant against the desk, holding the candlestick up to his mouth and pressing the receiver to his ear, waiting for the click at the end of the line to tell him the operator has picked up.
The little tick sounded in his ear a moment later, followed by a young woman’s voice. “Operator?”
“Two-one-zero-seven, please.”
“Connecting you now.”
Whilst he waited, occasionally hearing the odd clicking from the phone, he turned to Savi. “Who shall I say is wanting an introduction? A duke?” He knew several, most of whom he’d already introduced to Raj.
Savi shook her head. “We don’t want him dilly-dallying.”
“London, 2-1-0-7.” Beckett’s familiar Scouse accent travelled down the line.
“Afternoon, Beckett. It’s Lord Lakenheath calling.”
“Good afternoon, your lordship.”
“Is Dr Dey currently in residence?” Alex picked up his discarded fountain pen, absent-mindedly tapping it on his desk. “I need to speak to him. It’s an urgent matter.”
“He is. I shall let him know at once.”
Silence fell over the telephone as Beckett disappeared, with Alex straining to hear any signs of Raj’s approach. All eyes in the room rested on him, waiting as one.
Alex’s chin lifted as he heard something that might have been the telephone picking up approaching footsteps. No, that was definitely footsteps. His gaze locked with Savi’s, his heart thumping steadily.
“Alex?” Raj’s voice crackled down the line. “Beckett tells me it’s urgent.”
Fuck, he hated Raj using his first name. “Everyone’s fine,” he replied, noting that Raj hadn’t asked if his daughter was okay. “Prince Edward is here—at Silverburn House—and he’d like to meet you.”
Raj sucked in a sharp breath.
“But,” Alex carried on, “he’s leaving soon.”
“Say no more. I shall be there as soon as I can.”
Ten minutes later, there came a knock at the front door.
Reclining in an armchair in Silverburn House’s lavender morning room—a long, L-shaped room only used when guests were in attendance—Alex glanced down towards the corner. Hidden from view, Savi and Sarala lingered.
Alex was surprised to hear that Sarala wanted to face the husband who’d betrayed her, but his mother-in-law had demonstrated exactly where Savi had inherited her fire.
“I don’t want to confront him,” Sarala had told him. “I just want to see the expression on his face the moment he realises he’s lost everything.”
Making a mental note to never get on her bad side, he’d simply nodded and agreed to her request.
His nerves kicked into gear when he heard footsteps making their way down the long corridor to the lavender room. Climbing to his feet, Alex scooped up his champagne glass of buck’s fizz, taking a generous sip just as his butler rounded the corner.
“Dr Dey is here to see you, my lord,” MacDonald said, his speech far too wooden to sound natural.
Poor man. They clued MacDonald in on what was about to happen, but it was plainly obvious that he did not have a talent for amateur dramatics.
Alex nodded, keen to get this over with.
Raj hovered into view, positively beaming with excitement. His steps were lively as he crossed the room, his gaze sweeping the space in search of a certain prince. “Have I missed him?” he asked, somehow sounding like half a boy.
He lowered his voice with the air of a man divulging a secret, clapping Raj on the shoulder and walking him towards where Savi and Sarala hid. “The prince is at the other end of the room. Come. He’s been waiting to speak to you.”
With an enthusiastic nod, Raj’s quick, confident stride made short work of the room, drowning out those that Alex picked up on—Clarkson’s steps following behind them, a predator stalking his prey.
Raj turned the corner. He was halfway through clearing his throat when he stopped dead in his tracks, his shoulders visibly jolting as he faced the two women standing before them. “S-Sarala.” It wasn’t so much a croak as a choke. “How did you…?”
Sarala took a step towards him, her gaze ablaze with a grim mixture of hatred and amusement. “How did I what?”
The muscles in Raj’s neck shifted as he swallowed. “I…I thought you were dead.”
The edge of Sarala’s lips curved upwards, looking so like Savi that the similarity was startling. “There’s something you ought to know.”
Raj looked over to Alex, panic growing in his eyes.
“Franklin confessed,” Sarala whispered, her smirk growing.
Unlike Franklin, Raj didn’t try to run.
Clarkson advanced from behind them, twisting Raj’s arms up into a full Nelson before locking a pair of wrought iron cuffs around his wrists.
“Prithviraj Dey,” Clarkson began, tightening the cuffs.
“I’m arresting you on suspicion of the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Sarala Dey.
You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say may be put into writing and given in evidence. ”
Raj ignored him, shifting his focus from Sarala to Savi. “How could you do this to the boys?” he said hoarsely. “They’ll grow up as bastards because of you.”
Outrage flowed through Alex’s veins like hellfire, propelling him forward—but Savi got there first, whipping her hand across Raj’s cheek. The sound cracked through the air like a whip.
“How could you do this?” Savi spat, with all the rage of her Goddess of Death and Destruction.
“To Ma? To the boys? To me. There is only one person at fault here, Raj, you. You’re the one who broke up our family, who imprisoned your wife, who made the boys bastards.
You’re the reason they’ll grow up with a scandal hanging over them, and I hope it fucking haunts you. ”
When it was clear Raj had no answer for her, Clarkson steered him towards the door, away from his wife and daughter—and the twin expressions of utter hatred on their faces.
Somehow, Alex thought Raj had got off lightly. He had a feeling Savi and Sarala would have torn him apart had they been given free rein.
Just as Clarkson was about to exit the room, he stopped, tilting backwards to catch Alex’s eye. “I forgot to ask, we’ll likely need to conduct further interviews, will you be staying at Silverburn House for the time being?”
Alex turned towards Savi, still at Sarala’s side. “I’ll defer to the two of you on that decision.”
“What do you say, Ma?” She gave a hopeful little smile. “Would you like to see Silverburn?”
Sarala paused, her shoulders shifting as she inhaled. “Yes, I think some time away from London will do me good—at least until the company is firmly back under my control.”
Raj’s gaze shot over to them, giving them a brief glance at his expression splintering before Clarkson roughly shoved him from the room.