☆ ᴡᴀᴛᴛʏꜱ 2024 SHORTLISTER!! ☆
A tragic misunderstanding. A murder. A secret. An unlikely partnership. A spirited countess and an enterprising racketeer.
~~~
Manchester, England. May 1925.
The Roarin' 20s. An era of glamor, decadent parties, jazz mus...
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That evening, after leaving the offices of Mercer Industries, Liam sat in his study at Warwick Hall, leaning back in his desk chair as he puffed on a lit cigarette.
On occasion, he tapped the loose ashes into a nearby ashtray, creating a small mound of discarded cinders.
He was waiting for Kitty to arrive, as the two of them had agreed that she'd come by for a visit. The arrangement and timing were ideal, as it happened, because halfway through the afternoon he'd received a telephone call at his office from Rose. Employing an especially jolly tone of voice, she'd pointedly referred to herself as Rose Appelbaum and called Liam ‘cousin Henry.’ He took this to mean Gallagher was within earshot, and played along. Through brief, cryptic verbiage, she relayed that she'd be late returning home tonight, and that ‘he and cousin Mary’ should have dinner without her.
Liam chuckled, recalling the exchange. Such a clever girl. She must have something of value brewing.
And he planned to make the most of her absence.
It had been quite awhile since Kitty had last dropped by. A visit was overdue. That night of rekindled lust in his office seemed like ages ago, and his skin was humming for a reprise.
But as he waited, his thoughts inadvertently returned to Rose. Where was she? What was she getting up to? With whom? Was she safe? These queries had no business intruding on his mind, not at the current moment, but he couldn't seem to help himself. Even as his body craved Kitty's visit, it was Rose he saw every time he closed his eyes.
With the twist of a key, Liam opened the top drawer of his desk. Rose's engagement ring laid in the shadowed confines, immediately adjacent to the gold signet ring of Dmitri Kuragin. He nearly picked up the sizable diamond, but his spoken promise from the previous day stayed his hand. He'd told Rose no one would touch her ring. Not even him.
Instead, he retrieved the golden family heirloom of his deceased gardener, rolling it with care between his thumb and forefinger. Killing Kuragin was an unforgivable aberration Liam would never regret. It had brought Rose into his life.
【♖】
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