Chapter One
London – April 1902
“You’ve gone mad!” Heather Fields backed slowly away from Jacob Lindon, shaking her head in dismay at the preposterous idea he’d just proposed. “I can’t do that. Jacob... You know I can’t.”
She stood in the headquarters of the Citizens Committee, thoughheadquarterswas perhaps too grand a word to describe the rundown warehouse near the docks that had been all they could afford. Jacob had summoned her here this morning, then immediately taken her aside in an attempt to gain her assistance for his newest wild plan to take down the establishment.
When she’d first joined the Citizens Committee, she’d been completely enamored with the group’s rakish leader. Her interest in the Communist Party had been fueled by his passionate speeches and dark good looks. She’d previously participated in the Suffragist movement and had found that very fulfilling, and she’d expected her involvement with the Citizens Committee to be very similar.
However, in the past few months, she’d found herself in over her head. Jacob and the others had roped her into more and more dangerous and illegal activities—vandalism, trespassing, and intimidation— nothing like the pacifism and sign-holding she’d been used to. But now... What they wanted to do now was beyond stupid. It would get them all imprisoned or killed.
“He’ll never know you were in on it,” Jacob coaxed, his green eyes shining with reckless glee. “That’s the beauty of it. He’ll want to protect you, like the hero he thinks he is, and we can use that weakness to make him do whatever we want.”
“But... the assistant police commissioner? All of Scotland Yard will be looking for him! And I’ve met him before. He knows me!” In all honesty, she wasn’t at all certain that Mandrake Blackstone would remember her. Their meeting had been brief, only a few seconds, and he’d seemed as though he had more pressing things on his mind than being introduced to a lady’s maid. In fact, he’d seemed surprised that his friend Quinn O’Brien had bothered to introduce him to one of his servants at all.
Still, Commissioner Blackstone had made an impression on her. Tall and broad-shouldered, with inky black hair and dark, penetrating eyes, he’d definitely given off an air of power and capability.
She shivered at the thought of getting on his bad side. And what Jacob wanted her to do would definitely put her on his bad side.
“Well, that’s even better. If he knows you, he’ll be even more interested in keeping you safe.” Jacob gave her a cold smile. “I’m starting to think you’re losing your nerve, love.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with the cause,” she snapped back, the chill inside her intensifying.
Their last mission had finally made her see that she couldn’t be a part of this any longer. Jacob had enlisted her to be a lookout, but she hadn’t realized that their plan had been to blow up a business the Committee felt had been engaging in unfair labor practices. The moment she’d heard the explosion and seen the burst of flames down the alley, she’d known she’d been duped, that her desire to help the common man had been turned against her.
She’d found out later that the owner had just been someone Jacob had a grudge against, and it had nothing to do with the Communist movement at all.
By some miracle, no one had been killed, although several people had been seriously injured. She still found herself constantly looking over her shoulder, expecting the police to come knocking on her door. She’d been trying to break ties with the group ever since, but these were dangerous men, and she knew far too much about them.
She very much feared they would never let her go, and she’d be drawn into even more terrible things. This latest mad plan was the perfect example. Jacob planned to kidnap Mandrake Blackstone and throw her into the man’s prison with him, making her pretend she was also a captive. Jacob believed that Blackstone would either tell her what the police knew about their organization or they could threaten that they’d hurt her if he didn’t give them what they wanted.
“You know they’re closing in on us,” Jacob said, his eyes darkening. “If anyone can tell us what they know, it will be that bastard.”
“But what happens afterward?” she asked, though she was afraid she already knew. “He’ll be able to identify us all after we do this. It will make matters far worse.”
“He’ll only be able to identify you,” Jacob said coldly. “The rest of us will be masked when we talk to him. And that’s why you’d better make him believe you’re just an innocent victim too. If you give him any reason to doubt that you’ve also been taken captive, you’ll be arrested for certain.”
She shook her head, her unease growing. “So, you’re just going to let him go in the end? After he’s given you what you want?”
Jacob laughed uproariously, and she wondered why she hadn’t seen that spark of madness in his beautiful green eyes from the beginning. How could she have ever believed that he wanted to help people? “Of course, love. What else would we do with him?”
“Kill him,” she said daringly, her heart thundering in her chest as she finally voiced her deepest fear. “That’s what you do to other people who get in your way, isn’t it?”
He sobered, reaching out to grab her forearms, shaking her roughly as he looked into her eyes. “You’d better not get in my way, Heather. The lads have already been telling me that you can’t be trusted, that you don’t have what it takes to do what needs to be done. Have I made a mistake in letting you so far into the organization?”
No. I’m the one who’s made a mistake.
She swallowed, finding it hard to believe that she’d once thought herself in love with this man. She’d let him into her heart, into herbody, only to realize that he was not the revolutionary hero she’d thought but a small, petty man who enjoyed violence and anarchy and didn’t care about the body count he left in his wake.
“You haven’t made a mistake,” she said nervously, knowing she had no other choice. If she didn’t do what he wanted, he’d make certain she never told anyone of the things he’d done, the atrocities he’d committed.
He squeezed her arms until tears stung her eyes, then flung her away from him with a laugh. “Good girl. I knew you’d come around.” He let his gaze rake her from head to toe. “Blackstone won’t be able to resist you, love. You’re a gorgeous little tart, and I expect you to give him some of what you gave to me if it will get the results we need.”
She gasped, nausea twisting her belly. “You want me to...?”
He smiled coldly. “What does it matter? Not as though you can get it back, is it?”
My virginity. He is talking about my virginity. A rush of stinging tears threatened to spill over, and she blinked rapidly, determined not to let him see how much his cruel words had affected her. That’s what he wanted, after all.