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S lowly, Tabitha came awake. Immediately, a pain shot through her skull.

She didn’t dare open her eyes yet, but being careful, she lifted her hand to her throbbing head.

Why did her arm ache, too? Softly, she patted her head, but couldn’t find where she might have injured herself to have that kind of pain.

As she came more alert, a different scent hung in the air, making her want to sneeze.

The dusty, unclean scent reminded her of being in Lord Elliot’s attic on those occasions when he’d placed her there as punishment.

Wherever she was now, she was certainly not in the room where she stayed at her aunt’s house.

As she tried to remember what she’d been doing last, the memories spinning in her head seemed fuzzy.

She recalled her talk with Nic and how much it hurt to say those things to him and to see the pain in his eyes.

She remembered going to the ocean and meeting Miss Talbot—Mildred, the woman had asked Tabitha to call her.

And she recalled the special kind of tea the older woman had served that made her feel very tired and sick to her stomach.

Mildred had suggested Tabitha lie down, and…

That’s all she could remember clearly. But then there were those disjointed flashbacks that didn’t make any sense.

Mildred had carried—almost dragged—her to another house up on a hill.

Tabitha knew she’d been there before but couldn’t pinpoint the location.

Once inside, there were stairs going up, a hidden trap door, and darkness as they carefully made their way down another set of stairs into a musty, cellar with little to no light.

Mildred’s voice echoed in Tabitha’s mind, but her words didn’t have any meaning. She’d said something about justice being served and made mention about how all heartless men and the jezebel women who led them astray deserved to die.

It took a few minutes of breathing deeply, but soon the pain in Tabitha’s head lessened enough for her to open her eyes.

A small amount of light shone through the cracks on the wooden door at the top of the stairs, but it didn’t highlight the room very well.

Thick shadows floated everywhere. She could barely see the stairs she’d come down from the hidden trap door.

She rested upon a mattress covered by one woolen blanket, and she was thankful that she had this much.

It was then that another scent assailed her senses, smelling like strong urine and…

manure. Her stomach lurched. What was down here that had this kind of aroma?

Listening closely, she hoped she could detect any sounds from outside.

At first she heard nothing, but soon there was a sound from within the room.

The muffled cries were barely audible. Fear of the unknown escalated through her, but then she felt as if she wasn’t the only one in the room.

She trusted her instincts that this was a good thing.

“Is anyone there?” she said in a low voice.

A distinct gasp echoed and the rustling sound in the other corner of the room stirred the silence. “Who is here?” The voice belonged to a woman.

Relief swept through Tabitha that she was not alone. “My name is Tabitha Paget. I’m visiting my great aunt, Mrs. Burls.”

“Oh, Miss Paget.” The woman didn’t sound very old. Perhaps still in her twentieth year or thereabouts. “Why are we here?”

“Where is here ?” Tabitha wondered.

“I don’t know, but it’s an abandoned house. I’ve been here almost a week.” A shaky breath rented the air. “At least I think it’s been a week.”

Slowly, Tabitha’s memory opened. She now remembered the house. This was where she and Nic had met that one afternoon. “Have you seen anyone come here?”

“Only Miss Talbot. She’s the one holding me prisoner.”

Tabitha’s head pounded harder. “Do you know why? I cannot imagine that sweet, old woman doing this.”

“Looks are deceiving. Miss Talbot is not the sweet, old woman she has portrayed. She drugged me with her tea that first day, and since I’ve been here, she continues to put something in the food that makes me sleep. I eat it, only because I’m hungry, but I know it will put me to sleep.”

A bitter taste coated Tabitha’s tongue and mouth. She swallowed hard. There had been something in the tea, to be sure. Maybe even in the cookies she’d fed her. It made sense now as to why Miss Talbot kept urging Tabitha to partake of the refreshments.

“I wish I knew why she’s doing this,” the other woman said. “All I know is that she’s not happy with me for making David Griffin fall in love with me.”

Tabitha sucked in a quick breath. “Are you Miss Johnson?”

“Yes.” The younger woman’s voice shook.

“Keep talking. I’m going to crawl over to you.”

“All right.”

As Miss Johnson told Tabitha about how Mildred had brought her here, Tabitha scooted across the dirty floor on hands and knees toward Miss Johnson’s voice. When she reached her, she grasped the other woman’s hands. Sobbing, she fell against Tabitha.

“Oh, Miss Paget, I didn’t think anyone else would be here. I thought I was going to die in this abandoned house…alone.”

A chill passed through Tabitha and she tried to shake it off. She would not accept death. Especially not now. Not when she had lived through Lord Elliot’s beatings and had begun living the kind of life she’d always dreamed about having. “Nobody is going to die if I can help it.”

Memories resurfaced of those times Lord Elliot took her out in the barn and beat her with nothing but his iron fist. During all of her beatings, he’d been drunk, but the man still retained his strength.

The few times he tried to rape her, he’d been too drunk to follow through with it.

Thankfully, God was watching out for her then.

So she must believe God would help her now.

“How often does Miss Talbot come to check on you?”

“Twice a day. She brings me food, but very little.” A whine escaped the woman’s throat. “I think she’s trying to starve me to death. Oh, Miss Paget, I don’t want to die.” She sniffed. “Miss Talbot blames me for David’s death. Can you believe that?”

Tabitha stroked Miss Johnson’s matted hair in hopes of calming her. “How so?”

“She told me that if I hadn’t flirted with David, he would still be alive.”

“You don’t suppose…” Tabitha held her breath. No, she shouldn’t even think such a thing. The very idea was preposterous.

“Suppose what, Miss Paget?”

“That Miss Talbot…killed David.”

“Oh, yes. I do think she killed my David. I don’t know why, but she’s very capable of murder.

The grip she had on my arms was very strong, and I recall when she brought me here, I was surprised by her strength.

She even kicked me a few times while I was on the ground.

Indeed, that woman has the strength to end someone’s life. ”

Miss Johnson started crying again as she leaned against Tabitha’s shoulder.

Each sob from the other woman broke Tabitha’s heart.

Miss Johnson was probably very weak and wouldn’t be much help if Tabitha tried to go up against the spinster, who for some reason was set on revenge.

But she couldn’t understand why Miss Talbot would want Tabitha.

What had she done to the older woman to upset her?

The only way she was going to know would be to ask her. Hopefully, Mildred would come soon. Tabitha didn’t want to be in this dark, smelly room any longer.

Although her head was still spinning from that tea she’d sipped, Tabitha had to find a way out of here.

Blinking, she tried to adjust her blurry vision enough to map out the room, but unfortunately it was too dark.

But, from the small amount of light coming from the hidden trap door above them, she could barely see an outline of the stairs.

“Miss Johnson? Has Miss Talbot been here today yet?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to tell when it’s day or night. All I know is that she brought me some food, which of course made me sleep, and when I awoke, you were here.”

“I’m going to try to crawl to those stairs.” Tabitha studied the pathway she’d have to take. “I want to see if I can open the trap door.”

“It’s locked. I tried doing that the first day I was here, but I’m not very strong, and I couldn’t get the door to budge.”

Tabitha frowned. “Have you searched the room to see if there are any boards or sticks, or rocks? I’m wondering if there is anything in here we can use to defend ourselves from when she comes.”

“No.” Miss Johnson shivered. “I hate dark places like this. I haven’t left my mattress, except of course to do the womanly necessities.”

Bile rose in Tabitha’s throat. Now she knew why the room smelled so wretched. “Well, I’m determined to break that door open. I still have a little strength, so I must try.”

Miss Johnson squeezed Tabitha’s fingers. “May God be with you—with us.”

“Yes, I pray for that as well.”

Taking a deep breath in hopes of clearing her mind a little better, she moved away from Miss Johnson and slowly scooted across the floor toward the stairs.

Dizziness assaulted her, and she paused, trying to control the feeling consuming her body.

She closed her eyes and breathed steady again, but her world still continued to tilt.

No! She must not allow this to happen. She must be in control.

She had something to live for, and she would fight every second to keep alive.

Regrets surfaced in her mind, and saddened her.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so ashamed over her parentage and allowed the Worthington brothers to introduce her to Society as their sister.

After all, it wasn’t her sin that she was born out of wedlock. It was their deceased father’s sin.