Page 143 of A Devious Secret

“Money isn’t any good to a dead man,” the captain responded.

Henry released his right hand and blood dripped from the tips of his fingers. “Gemma is mine,” he exclaimed. “I knew it from the moment I saw her.”

Stephen spoke up. “Shouldn’t Gemma decide who she wants to be with?”

With a scoff, Henry said, “She is merely a woman. She doesn’t truly know what she wants.”

Gemma frowned. “I know my own mind, and I want to be with Stephen.”

“No!” Henry exclaimed. “You belong to me!”

“As I have told you before, I belong to no man,” Gemma said.

Henry took a step towards her, and Stephen attempted to usher her behind him. But this was something that she had to do. This was her fight.

“It is all right, Stephen,” she said. “Lord Hawkinge can’t hurt me now.”

Henry’s eyes burned with fury as he asked, “Do you know what I had to do to be with you?”

“That was your doing, not mine,” Gemma replied.

“I killed Baldwin for you… forus!”

Gemma shook her head. “No, you killed Baldwin for you. I loved Baldwin.”

“You love me!” Henry shouted. “I can see it in your eyes. You have always loved me.”

“I’m sorry, but I do not love you.”

Henry gestured at Stephen. “Yet you love a shipbuilder? A commoner. A nobody.”

“I do,” she admitted.

A crestfallen look came to Henry’s face. “Why don’t you love me?” he demanded.

“I have only ever considered you as a brother.”

Henry’s face contorted in rage and he reached down to pick up the pistol that the captain had dropped.

Haddington cocked his pistol as he pointed it at Henry. “Put the pistol down, Hawkinge,” he ordered. “You need to see a doctor, not the mortician.”

Henry lowered his gaze towards the pistol in his hand. “Gemma is the only woman that I have ever loved. How can I go on without her?”

Nathanial kept his pistol aimed at Henry. “If you would like, we can have a frank conversation after you put down your pistol.”

Henry brought his gaze up and a blank look was on his face. “If I can’t have her, then no one can.”

As Henry went to take aim, Stephen moved to stand in front of Gemma, shielding her with his body, and the sound of pistols discharging could be heard echoing throughout the night.

The next thing she heard was Stephen’s calm, comforting voice next to her ear. “It is all right,” he said softly. “It is over now.”

“Is he dead?”

“He is,” Stephen replied.

Gemma knew it was terrible of her, but all she could feel was relief that Henry was dead. She knew that as long as he was alive, she would never have been free of him.

Stephen took a step back and Gemma saw that Haddington was standing over Henry’s sprawled out body.