Chapter 27

London, 1820…

"The decision is yours," Ric murmured smugly, his eyes trailing over her. "I can hand you over to the authorities tonight or…"

Swallowing hard, she looked away from him, determined to regain her composure. She was all but falling apart in his arms, and if she didn't pull herself together, he was going to win. "You – you don't want a woman like me," she stammered, swinging her eyes back to his.

Grinning, he arched his eyebrows, his hands loosening up on her just a bit. "That depends," he replied, releasing one of her wrists to lift a hand to her face. He stroked her cheek, delicately wiping the tears that were falling despite her attempts to hold them in. She shivered, her stomach churning at his touch, and she could only think of one other time she felt this repulsed. "In what ways have you given yourself to Morgan?"

"In more ways than you'll ever have me," she hissed, groaning when his hand tightened over her face, jerking her head towards him.

"Maybe some time in jail would do a little whore like you some good," he spat, his fingers all but clawing at her face.

"Anything that keeps me from being your whore," she retorted, thrusting herself forward and stomping on his foot. She used her freed hand to put some distance between themhim, ripping, and his hand ripped away from her face like a bandage being torn. Turning on her heels, she rushed towards the door, swearing as she fumbled with the lock, not surprised when his arms were around her, pulling her away. "Please, just let me go!"

"You're a criminal now," he reminded her, turning her slowly in his arms. She pressed her hands against his chest, trying to push herself away, but it was hopeless. "Isn't this why you came here?"

"No," she whispered, shaking her head so fiercely that she could feel the pins of her curls coming loose. "I came here to – to talk to you because you've always listened to me, and I thought…" She clenched her eyes closed. "I thought I could make you understand because despite how twisted or horrid of a man you may be…"

Sighing, she opened her eyes, not surprised to see that his eyes had softened and were filled with curiosity. It was a cruel manipulation, preyingto prey on his feelings for her, but it was all she had left, and honestly, it was what had brought her here tonight. "Until tonight, you've always been kind to me, Richard. Maybe not Lucky or my father, but…I never understood why you acted the way you did last winter. You never even questioned me about what happened."

She was barely making seinsce, and surely he was aware of this. Her father and Sonny had all but decided exactly how the night would go before Richard and the other officers arrived. Maybe in a way, they'd created this situation, but she wasn't stupid enough to think that Richard would try and walk away without something.

"My motives are what they've always been," he admitted quietly, his eyes darkening.

To have her.

He didn't even have to say it.

"I – I have a husband. I don't – don't want anyone else," she stammered, her lips quivering around her words.

"Very well then," he sighed, running his hands down her arms and gripping her wrists. "Elizabeth Web – Morgan, you are under arrest for the murder of Lucas Spencer."

"Very well then," she mocked, hanging her head as he clasped her wrists together at her waist. "If it takes being locked in a cell to get away from – ow!" She stumbled backwards when his hand collided against her face, and she knew she had pushed him too far onceall over again.

She tried to ignore the blood that stained her hand when she wiped her mouth with the back of it, focusing more on getting away from him than anything else. She had intentions for this visitcoming here , and, clearly, he had many of his own,, which she'd yet to understand.

Terror ripped through her in a fierce shiver as Richard came towards her, and she cried out for Sonny again, knowing he wasn't going to come, but grasping for some kind of hopebut it was all she had left. She had to believe that he would hear her, that Richard was trying to force her into hysterics. Not that he needed to – she basically confessed in a roundabout way, and he would twist it in court and lock her away for as long as he saw fit.

Forever.

Her father would be a free man again, but he wouldn't be capable of practicing medicine, and he'd be shunned in the same way she was. Unless Richard kept him imprisoned for being an accomplice, but something told her, Jeffrey would beget freed, so he could reap the horrors of having a daughter locked in the same place he'd just gotten out of.

She couldn't bear to think about Jason;, how he would count this as an an epic failure, and never forgive himself. Surely, her father wouldn't blame him for this and would understand that he had nothing to do with any of it. And, hopefully, Jason wouldn't hate her. He would understand that she was trying to help, but she knew that wouldn't be enough to keep him from being devastated.

Richard would keep her from the two people who truly wanted her, and that would be the biggest punishment of all. It was either imprison Elizabeth or both Jeffrey and Jason, and she walked right into his trap because Sonny allowed her to go. He hadn't even tried to talk her out of it. Before she thought it was hiser charm and his adoration, but now – he barely hesitated, just asked if she was sure, and then was very so quiet the entire ride, which wasn't like Sonny. They always talked for hours about anything and –

No.

It was a lie.

It had to be.

She snapped back to attention when Richard's hand wrapped around her arm, her other reaching to grab onto something – anything – asand suddenly the door to the study started to break. The sound of splintering wood filled the room, and Richard released her, and turned away in a hurry.

"Elizabeth!"

She crumbled at the sound of his voice; her feet giving out beneath her, her heart swelling in her chest.

"Elizabeth!"

His voice was strained, shaky, terrified even, and she lifted her eyes to find Richard digging through his bookshelf. He pulled down a small wooden box and propped it in the corner of his arm so he could sift through it.

"Elizabeth, are you-" Jason's voice cut off as the door swung open, taking the doorframe with it.

His eyes found her immediately, jaw tightening at the sight of her curled against the desk. He started towards her, his shoulders slumping with relief. His eyes were soft and tired, and she knew he was anything but upset, and that the only thing that mattered was that she was alrrlight.

Everything was going to be okay; he would fix this, he would make her safe again, and she would forever regret this choice. She started to scramble to her feet, but remembered Richard, her eyes darting to him where he stood in the corner of the room, and that was when she saw the glint of silver in the candlelight as he turned towards Jason.

"No," she screamed, moving to her feet, her arms outstretched as she stumbled against Jason. She felt Richard behind her and curled against her husband, waiting to feel the knife, but instead she feltfeeling nothing but air as Jason spun her away, shoving her towards the broken door.

"Run," he hissed, wincing as he turned back to Richard.

Her eyes widened in horror when she saw the slender knife that was stuck in his shoulder. She started to reach out, to try and help, but Richard moved quickly, hitting Jason in the side where he'd been stabbed by him not very long ago, and he doubled over in pain.

"Jason!" she cried, holding a hand to her mouth when he fell to the floor.

Clearly, she and Richard both underestimated him because hehe moved in a hurry, throwing his entire body against the man. It was enough to catch Richard him off guard but he didn't lose focus, and somehow Jason ended up slamming against the wood floor. His shoulder arched up, the knife digging deeper into it, and she knew she had to do something.

Closing her eyes, she braced her hand against the broken doorframe, trying to forget how familiar this scene was;, how it had been less than a year since…Her eyes flashed open when she heard Jason yelling for her to run, but how could she leave him?

Shaking her head, her eyes swept across the room, looking for something. This could end differently than it had before, but if she didn't help Jason, it might end in the worst way of allof all ways.

Another low groan filled the room and without thinking, Elizabeth rushed forward, grabbing one of the iron candlesticks from the edge of the desk. She hesitated for the briefest of moments, but then she looked at the two men wrestling on the floor, and she was slamming the base of the candlestick into his shoulder. The blow wasn't as hard as it should have been, but it was enough to stun Richard, and she hit him again, harder this time, right and in the back of the head. His shoulders slumped and he let out a loud groan as he collapsed on top of Jason.

"Oh, God," Elizabeth whispered, the candlestick slipping from her hand and rolling across the floor as Jason pushed Richard's body off of him. The man turned onto his back, his head rolling from side to side, eyes closed. "Richard?" She slowly fell to her knees, cradling her face in her hands. "Richard? Richard, please?"

He didn't move.

**********

"Elizabeth," Jason growled, slowly pushing himself up from the floor. He braced himself on one side so that he could reach around and painfully pull the knife from his shoulder. He tossed it to the floor without looking at the blood and tried to ignore the searing pain that shot through his upper body.

He groaned as he started to his feet, freezing when he heard a soft whimper from where his wife was crouched against the desk. Her face was in her hands, her shoulders pulled tightly around her as sher, and she was trembledling.

Swallowing hard, he glanced at Lansing from where he laid on the floor, and then back at Elizabeth. She had saved his life, saved the life of someone she cared about again, and she was obviously afraid she'd murdered the man in the process.

"Elizabeth," he repeated, but she shook her head, scooting faurther away, practically shutting down in front of him all over again. After all the time he'd spent waiting so patiently and letting her open up to him on his own, she was falling apart all over again.

"No," she cried, when he reached out to touch her again, the word bursting from her lips in a sob. "I killed him. I – I…"

He hung his head in defeat, not sure how to fix this. So much of what he touched and promised was falling apart, and he was afraid wouldn't be able to save her.

If only he could understand why she'd come here, why she'd snuck away with Sonny and came to see Lansing as if she could do something that Jason couldn't. She cared too much, too deeply, and was worried that nothing was going to pan out the way it was supposed to, but Jason didn't have the heart to explain everything to her. He only told her what was necessary, refusing to let her know that Lansing wanted nothing more than to lock her away for the murder, despite the crime being self-defense.

Lansing wanted to hurt Elizabeth in the worst possible of ways, and if that meant taking everything that she loved, then so be it. With her father and husband imprisoned, she wouldn't have much else, and it made Jason want to rip the evil man apart with his bare hands. IAnd if the bastard he couldn't take away everything she loved, thenand then he would take her away from the people that loved her.

It was a foul way to work,, but it didn't surprise Jason. People did the most insane and cruel things in the name of love, without ever realizing how wrong they truly were.

"Jason, we have to-" Johnny's His eyes snapped up as Johnny he rushed into the room, stopping mid-sentence as he took in the scene before him.

He knew it was wrong to involve his best friend after he and Elizabeth all but forced Johnny away earlier that day, but he had no where else to turn. When he gave into his desire and need to see Elizabeth, letting himself into her room after she failed to answer her door, he found it empty. Her bed, her balcony, every spare room that she could be, was completely empty, and he knew without so much as a second thought exactly where she had gone.

"Is he…" Johnny slowly stepped towards Lansing, crouching down as he neared the man's still body, two slender fingers reaching for the pulse point on his neck, his eyes on Jason's. "He's alive."

"Thank God," Jason muttered, scooting himself across the floor towards Elizabeth, who was oblivious to the statement. She looked so frail and scared, so broken by what had just occurred, and he was relieved that he could fix this. "Elizabeth, you didn't k – he's alive."

When she failed to respond, he reached out and jerked her hands from her face,, and then slippinged an arm around her and pullinged her against him. She cried out in protest as his hand ran up her back, his fingers wrapping gently around her neck, forcing her to look at him. "He's alive...and you – you saved my life," he said thickly, pulling her face against him. "You saved me."

"He's alive," she whispered, burying her face in his shoulder as she cried, her body shaking against him. "I'm sorry, Jason. I'm so sorry. I thought I – I thought he would listen, but…"

"It's okay," he murmured, brushing his lips against her loose curls, which he assumed had fallen out at some point during her argument with Lansing. He heard her screaming as he came into the house, her deafening cries for Sonny, a man who had been nowhere in sight. He didn't want to think about what had happened before he arrived;, what Lansing had said – or worse -, doneid. "It's okay. You're safe now. He won't ever hurt you ever again."

Jason stumbled as he slowly moved the two of them to their feet, and Johnny stepped up beside him, prepared to steady them if necessary. Elizabeth pulled herself out of her husband's arms, wiping at her face as she looked at him with terrified eyes. "Jason, I – he knows what I did. I think – I think he's known all along, but he – he placed me under arrest. There's nothing we can do. I can't – I can't run."

"You can," he argued, shifting his eyes to Johnny, and knowing what was going to have to happen. "And you will."

"You're not listening," she said, shaking her head. "He arrested me, Jason. And – and he must have told someone else. I came here – I thought if I explained what really happened that night, he would understand. I didn't know – he said that Sonny brought me here on purpose." She closed her eyes and stepped into his arms again, burying her face in his chest. "I didn't believe him, but – but why else…I kept screaming for him and he didn't come. He promised he would wait."

Except that he hadn'tdidn't, but Jasonhe wasn't going to tell Elizabeth that. Not right now when it didn't matter, and they had to act quickly if they were going to keep Elizabeth safe. "Don't worry about Sonny or Lansing. I'll handle them both," he replied, running his hand soothingly up and down her back. "But as of now, you have to go. You have to leave London, Elizabeth. Just like you promised."

"No," she cried, jerking away from him. "Our promises are worth nothing now. You were going to-"

"We don't have a choice," Jason interrupted, looking at Johnny.

"The police are set to arrive any moment," Johnny added softly, silently begging her to comply.

"So we run?" she asked, her eyes welling up with tears. "We leave all this behind?"

"No," he corrected, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her towards the door. He looked back at Johnny for confirmation that his friend would be capable of handling the Lansing situation and the police should they arrive before he got back. "You leave all this behind."

"What?" she asked, stumbling behind him as he guided her through the house.

She tried to jerk away, but he just held on tighter, telling himself this was how it had to be. Every time she pulled, pain rushed through his shoulder, but he had no choice except to fight it. His shoulder, his side, the few dirty blows he'd received from Lansing, were all wearing on him, but nothing hurt as much as what he was about to do.

"You have to leave," he said quietly, carefully hurrying through the darkened kitchen, remembering how Johnny said there was a servant's door on the far end that led to the alley at the back of the house. He could only hope that Spinelli was in place, and that the police hadn't been smart enough to surround the entire home.

"Jason, what is going on?" she cried, sucking in a deep breath as they stepped into the alley, and the cool night's air wrappinged around them. She stiffened as her eyes settled on the carriage that was waiting, and she dug her heels into the pavement as she tried to pull away. "You're hurting me. Let go."

He froze at her words, knew that despite how tight he was holding her, she wasn't in any pain. She simply wanted him to let go, so, what? She could run? Instead, he turned on his heels, loosening his hand as he brought his other to her face, and gently stroked her cheek.

"Please don't fight me on this, Elizabeth. I need you to get in the carriage and go with Spinelli," he said firmly, his heart tightening at the words, and he almost regretting ed them the moment they left his lips. "He will take you somewhere safe."

Her eyes darkened at his words, but they didn't stop her from nuzzling his palm, finding comfort in his touch. "I can't go anywhere without you," she whispered.

"You have to," he ordered, dropping his hand from her face and slowly pulling her towards the carriage. "I'm not asking you to go, Elizabeth. I'm telling you, and if there was every something you obeyed me on, please, let it be this."

"No," she argued, stiffening as he opened the door to the carriage. He nodded at Spinelli, who climbed inside, his lips pulled in a taut frown. "I won't leave you so you can turn yourself in and…No, Jason."

"I'm not giving you a choice," he growled, knowing that his fierce demands were hurting her. "This is the only way I can fix this. You have to leave London or else Lansing is going to make trouble for all of us."

"Please," she begged, fisting her hands in his shirt and pulling him close, no longer caring about how tightly he was holding onto her. "Please, don't leave me."

"You're leaving me," he corrected gently, wrapping his arms around her. Closing his eyes briefly, he tried to remember the way she smelled, the velvety touch of her skin, the silkiness of her hair, and how his name sounded on her lhips. "I promise that I won't turn myself in, but you have to go."

"What – what will you do here?" she asked, still holding onto him. "There's nothing left. Just come with me, Jason. I don't – please, don't make me leave you."

"Your father," he reminded her, nearly losing any will to stay, but knowinnowinggew that eventually Elizabeth would resent herself and him for leaving Jeffrey behind gave him no other choice. "I promised to free him, and I will., and Wwherever Spinelli takes you – I promise that Jeffrey will come soon."

She nodded, hanging her head as she let out a low sob. "But you won't be," she said slowly, causing his stomach to churn. Her head lifted a moment later, her eyes settling on his. "Is this it? Is this the last time that I see you?"

"I – I don't know," he answered thickly, looking away from her, unable to see how much this was hurting her. He snapped to attention when he heard Johnny yelling for him from inside the house, and he knew time was running out.

It was as if the reality of their situation was finally setting in, and Elizabeth understood why she had to go, why Jason had to stay, and why there was nothing either of them could do to change any of it. "No, Jason. It can't be. I can't say goodbye to you – not like this," she pleaded, breaking down in his arms as he lifted her into the carriage. She held onto his shirt, refusing to let go. "Please, I don't want to remember us like this."

"I can only promise you that your father will find you," he replied, his voice breaking as he cradled her face in his hands. "And that I will do my damnedest to be with him, but if I'm not-"

"Jason, don't," she whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"If I'm not," he repeated, stretching to press his lips to hers, "know that I – I love you, Elizabeth." He was relieved when she didn't look surprised, when her hands loosened their hold on him and she returned his kiss, so hard and deep that he knew she felt the same way, and probably had for as long as he did.

"I love you, too, and…don't," she whispered firmly, resting her forehead to his. "Don't act as if this is goodbye." Slowly, she released him, looking away as she began to cry harder, her voice carrying lightly through the carriage door as he closed it. "I will see you again, Jason."

Clearing his throat, he waved ahis hand to the driver, and stepped back from the carriage. It was by far easily the hardest thing he'd ever done, but he had no other choice. He lingered long enough to see the carriage off, to watch it move faurther and faurther down the alley, Elizabeth's soft cries echoing through the nightalley.