Page 43 of Read To Me, Lyon

Kitty lifted the keys and watched him shuffle around the room, his gaze mostly on her but also everywhere. Apparently, he was searching for something. Her suspicions were confirmed when Uncle Dominic grabbed the cloth bag she used to keep a writing kit, and shook out the contents. “We will put the banknotes in here.”

She frowned. No. This was wrong. It wasn’t his money. She stared down at the pen, the small box of nibs that had opened to scatter its contents carelessly over her desk, the little bottle of ink rolling back and forth, and the cloth that she used to wipe the implements clean. It was stained. She should get it washed, or get a new one…once this was over.

When it was over. Would it ever be over? She’d lived in the shadow of this man and his demands for so many years, first to her father, now to her. Oliver had thought he could stop him. Maybe no one could. But right now—she could. She lifted her eyes to his face.

He scowled at her. “Why haven’t you done as I asked? Open the safe. Now.”

She couldn’t do it. Kitty couldn’t let him take everything from them. She straightened. “No.”

His eyes went wide. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“Do it yourself.”

“So you can escape?” he snarled.

Kitty shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe not. What does it matter?”

Uncle Dominic shook the pistol at her. “Open it!”

“No.”

They stared at one another. Kitty wouldn’t open the safe for him. If he wanted to take it all, he could do it himself.

Dominic raised the pistol at her face, then stepped toward her. “You selfish girl. You had everything while I’ve had nothing—that’s about to change!”

“That’s right! It is!”

Kitty fell back in surprise as Jack Green hurtled into the room, pushing Dominic from behind, trying to grab her uncle’s pistol.

Shannon followed him. “Grab it!”

Jack and Uncle Dominic stumbled around her office as they tried to wrestle the weapon from each other. Kitty attempted to grab her uncle’s arm, but he shoved her away. She fell against her desk, the breath knocked out of her. Jack fell to the floor, hitting his head on the edge of the desk and lay there, apparently dazed. “No!” Shannon jumped on Dominic then, but he twisted and grabbed hold of her, this time pressing the pistol against her temple. “I’m done with this! Open the safe and retrieve my money.”

Oliver’s heart pounded as he halted his horse in front of Larson’s Bookshop and Printing Press. He needed to reach Kitty. On the way to the London Docks, Dominic Larson had escaped from Mr. Hutchison.

The man could be anywhere. Smith and Mr. Hutchison had stopped to notify a constable and would rejoin him shortly.

As he made his way into the warehouse, Oliver heard a man yell from the bookshop building. He hurried to the door but opened it slowly and quietly.

Oliver slipped into the building and began to move down the corridor, following the sound of the voices. His stomach clenched when he heard Kitty’s voice. He reached her office and hid behind the wall to peek around and see Larson standing just inside the doorway, holding a pistol to Shannon’s head.

“Please stop pointing the weapon at her. I’m doing what you asked,” Kitty pleaded.

“We would be all done with this if you had done as I asked the first time,” Larson bit out. He pushed the woman further into the room and redirected the aim of the pistol at someone else. “Now continue.”

Oliver’s heart pounded with a mixture of fear for Kitty and pure fury that this man dared to threaten his wife. He inched closer and caught sight of Jack, who stood next to the desk; Kitty stood behind it. Jack lifted his gaze to Oliver then, and gave a brief nod, acknowledging that he saw him as well. He tipped his head slightly and shifted his eyes toward Dominic. A signal!

That was it. Oliver took a deep breath and charged at Kitty’s uncle. Jack joined him. They both wrestled to get the gun from Larson.

Oliver grasped and tugged at it. Larson roared and flailed, trying to keep the pistol but get them away from him. The gun went off with a loud boom, a puff of smoke, and the acrid scent of gunpowder. Oliver finally wrenched it away, looking around frantically and worried about who might be hit.

His gaze darted to Kitty. She peeked up from behind the desk. “I’m fine.”

Jack hurried to Shannon, studying her and she, him. They turned to Oliver and said, “We are fine too.”

Meanwhile, Larson stood still, looking up at the plastered ceiling, now sporting a blackened hole, the only victim of his wrath. He dropped his chin to stare directly at Oliver with widened eyes.

“You could have killed my wife!” Oliver growled, overcome with feelings. Time slowed and everything narrowed down to this one moment, just as it did in battle.