Chapter 31 #2
Before either shocked gentleman could respond, Georgina raised her booted right foot and ground it down onto Montgomery’s lap, pinning him to the sofa, while deftly pulling the pistol from her left pocket.
She cocked it the required two times with her thumb and pointed it at Ellis’s head.
Her whip hovered in the air, poised to strike again at Montgomery.
“Speaking of family, how dare you harm my father? Your quarrel is with me, you filthy vultures!”
The whites of Ellis’s eyes bulged, fixed upon the pistol, while Montgomery recoiled from the whip, tiny drops of sweat forming along his brow. His mouth hung open.
“You are pathetic. I wager you always task others to do the dirty jobs for you. Keeping your soft hands clean.” The sound of her own quick pulse throbbed in Georgina’s ears, urging her to release her wrath.
She saw Arthur, her father and Henry all muddied together in her mind’s eye, and the room went red.
She wanted to punish these quivering men.
“Don’t be like them, Georgina,” Elizabeth said quietly behind her. “Do not make a mistake you will come to regret.”
Of all the things to say at this moment. “Have you not just heard the truth of what I did to Henry? I only make mistakes. I told you I am beyond redemption.” Georgina hated that her voice cracked, wishing to feel only anger.
“And I still don’t believe that.” Elizabeth moved closer now until she was standing alongside Georgina.
Georgina glanced up, blinking back tears, pistol still pointed at Ellis. “Your words mean nothing to me.”
Elizabeth’s lips trembled, but she maintained her composure. “I will ensure the vowels are returned to you, and none of this need ever be discussed again. Correct, gentlemen?”
Both Ellis and Montgomery nodded in agreement.
Georgina struggled to reconcile the Elizabeth who had held her, cared for her, with the lady who was now protecting these fiends. She laboured to breathe, her lungs full of ice.
Elizabeth put a hand on top of Georgina’s that held the pistol, and the radiating warmth from her skin gave Georgina a shock. It wasn’t the first time this hand had covered hers.
“You are defending these people?” Georgina said softly, maintaining her hold on the gun.
“I need to protect people too,” Elizabeth responded. She uncocked the pistol and lowered Georgina’s hand, yet did not try to wrest the gun from her.
A new pang of hurt struck Georgina. It was true; Elizabeth was protecting Mrs Gardner.
Georgina took a step back from Elizabeth and looked at Mrs Gardner, her thoughts racing to piece together the connection between the pair.
Were they lovers? Or worse, co--conspirators?
Had Colt’s insinuations been correct all along, and she had been so blinded by her own feelings that she failed to see?
“Get that woman out of here!” Mrs Gardner’s shrieking voice broke through Georgina’s thoughts.
“Hold your tongue,” Elizabeth growled.
“Is that really how you want to talk to your whore?” Georgina demanded.
Mrs Gardner shot her a satisfied smile, folding her arms across her chest. “Elizabeth might talk to me however she wants to. Our bond is unbreakable, and the likes of you will never stand between us—”
“Hush, woman!” Elizabeth interrupted.
“Countess, what is to be done about Mr Coombes’s debts?” Ellis asked, emboldened now that a pistol was not levelled at his face.
Georgina made an abrupt movement towards him, threatening him with the crop.
He whimpered and put his hands up in front of his face.
“We agreed it would be resolved by the end of the day!” Elizabeth replied curtly through gritted teeth. “Georgina, did they harm your father?”
It took a moment for Georgina to trust her voice enough to speak. “He is alive, but they have shaken him up badly. Luckily, they took a gentler approach to my father than they used against me.”
“You told me a footpad had set upon you.”
Georgina shrugged. She doubted telling Elizabeth the truth back then would have changed this outcome.
“I know vengeance feels like the answer, Georgina, but this is not you.”
“Stop pretending to know me, Elizabeth. You do not know who I am, just as I am realising how little I truly know you. I thought you had integrity, for example.”
Georgina knew she would not shoot Lord Ellis. She was no murderer. But she’d had enough of Elizabeth’s moral high ground.
“Georgina, please go before you do something you might come to regret.” Elizabeth’s calm voice barely registered through the loud thrumming noise in Georgina’s head. “Go now.”
Georgina stared at Elizabeth. “I came to trust you. I believed you were honourable. This is your choice?”
Elizabeth sighed. “There is no choice to be made, Georgina. I wish you would see that.” With a gentle palm on her back, she propelled Georgina towards the door and flung it open.
Georgina wished to resist, but all the energy had evaporated from her body. She allowed Elizabeth to guide her to the front exit, then glanced back over her shoulder towards the parlour.
“You cannot mean that you have washed your hands of Arthur?” Elizabeth asked, as they arrived at the front door. The attendants discreetly made themselves scarce.
“Why not? I could have returned the money to Arthur many times over. Or paid Mrs Gardner if that would have settled it. This is not about the money. It’s about justice.
I have proven myself incapable of getting those notes back in Arthur’s hands, the one thing that would have brought him comfort and satisfaction.
I cannot help him anymore, and I will not lose anything else.
” Georgina paused, an unbidden tear creeping into her eye.
“If something happens to him, I hope you will consider the part you have played in it.”
Elizabeth regarded her in the thoughtful way that usually filled Georgina with warmth and desire.
Today, she felt crushed. “Nothing will happen to Arthur. And I will ensure his notes are returned, as I always said I would, if you wanted me to. I wish you had been able to see the whole truth. Perhaps then you would not assume the worst of me.”
The muscle twitched in Georgina’s cheek.
“After everything you profess to stand for, I am stunned that you would let them get away with this behaviour.” She gave Elizabeth a measured look.
“And you continue to underestimate me, Elizabeth. I am not done here. Again, I tell you: I do not lose. I recommend getting yourself home.”
Georgina marched out of the front door, slamming it behind her. She hailed herself the first hackney she could find. Then, in the privacy of the solitary conveyance, Georgina wept. Indeed, Elizabeth had made a choice.