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EIGHTEEN

R oxton had cheated him out of everything that should have come to him and now he had lost what little he had left.

Hurley stared at the cards on the table. He was ruined.

“I’ll have the money for you by the end of the week,” he said.

Thurston smiled his thin, humorless smile. He watched Hurley through a haze of smoke.

“That’s what you said the last time we played, Hurley. I’m not sure I can rely upon your word. So, as a convenience to us both, I’ll send a man around in the morning to collect my winnings.”

He sounded bored.

Hurley lurched to his feet. “I said the end of the week, damn you. I have to make arrangements.”

“You mean you have to find a way to convince your stepdaughter to get the money from the trustee of her children’s fortune.

” Thurston scooped up the cards with a practiced movement of one long-fingered hand.

“I suggest you get busy. From what I hear, Roxton is not inclined to indulge you. Takes after his father in that regard.”

“Damn you, I told you I’d get the money. Give me at least two days.”

Thurston appeared to consider that closely for a moment. Then he shrugged.

“Very well, you’ve got two days,” he said. “But just to be clear—if you don’t come up with the money that you owe me, my men will pay you a visit.”

Hurley’s heart pounded. His palms went cold. A visit from Thurston’s enforcers meant a severe beating. Everyone in the room knew it.

Hurley turned without a word and crossed the card room, heading for the door.

Outside in the chill night air he stopped, trying to think. He would have to go to Judith’s house and make her get him the money. She cared about her sons. If he grabbed one of them she would make Roxton pay whatever it took to get him back.

The only problem with the plan was that Roxton was a mystery. There were rumors about him. He might be deranged. One never knew what a madman would do.

Thurston, however, was not a mystery. He was a dangerous man with a reputation in the hells.

When a man found himself caught between two devils, he had no choice but to go with the one he knew and understood—the one most certain to be an immediate threat. In this case that was Thurston.

He started along the street, hoping to find a hansom.

Two men approached out of the fog. The first one wore a long black coat that swept out like dark wings around his boots.

The collar was pulled up high around his face.

When he moved through the glare of the streetlamp the light glinted on his spectacles. His companion was a giant of a man.

Hurley dismissed the man with the glasses immediately. It was the giant who worried him. He started to move to the side of the walkway, giving the big man and his associate some room.

The one with the spectacles spoke.

“Good evening, Hurley. I was told I might find you outside this hell tonight. I don’t believe we’ve met. Slater Roxton.”

Hurley froze. He’d been drinking for most of the night and his mind was somewhat fuzzy. It took him a moment to realize what was happening. So this was Roxton.

Hurley experienced a surge of relief. The bastard did not appear either mad or dangerous. He looked like a scholar. Nothing like his father, at all. The big man was evidently a servant.

“What the devil do you want, Roxton?” Hurley asked.

“I came here tonight to say farewell to you,” Slater said.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You will be leaving on a ship bound for Australia early tomorrow morning. Your passage is paid. One way. You will not be returning. Mr. Griffith, here, has your ticket. He will see you safely to your lodgings tonight and assist you with your packing. Once I receive word that you are actually in Australia, I will send you a small financial stake to help you get started in your new life. After that you will be on your own.”

“You really are mad,” Hurley said. “I’m not leaving London.”

“The choice to go or stay is yours, of course.”

“Damned right it is.”

“I would point out that, while your creditors have some interest in keeping you alive, at least as long as they believe that you might be able to get some money out of the Roxton estate, I have no such interest. Indeed, I find you a great inconvenience.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, Hurley, I am giving you my solemn promise that if you are not on that ship to Australia tomorrow morning you will not have to concern yourself with the payment of your outstanding debts. You will have... other problems.”

“You bastard. That money should have been mine. I’m Judith’s father. I have every right to control the income from the Roxton estate.”

“My father left strict instructions in his will. You are not to receive a penny from the estate. Therefore, I am using my own money to finance your passage to Australia. One way or another you will disappear from all our lives tomorrow, Hurley. If you do not board that ship in the morning they will pull your body out of the river tomorrow night.”

Hurley struggled for words. “No. No. ”

Slater looked at the giant. “Mr. Griffith, please see Mr. Hurley to his residence and stay with him until he boards the ship.”

“Yes, sir,” Griffith said.

“You can’t do this,” Hurley yelped. “You really are mad.”

Slater removed his glasses with a world-weary motion of one hand and looked at Hurley. He did not speak. There was no need. In that moment Hurley knew that of the two devils, this was the one he feared the most.

Slater put on his glasses, turned and walked away into the night.