A Beast Sees No Beauty

Chapter Eleven

Mr. Chambers paced his office, both hands tightly clutched behind his back. He couldn't remember the last time he had been separated from his beloved daughter, much less for such a period of time. Never did he imagine such a string of events. Never did he imagine his own daughter being made a slave by that-that beast!

He could only imagine what that man was doing to his poor defenseless daughter. The entire reputation was ruined by this point. He wouldn't be able to find her a good husband unless he searched far, far away from Mabelle. After all that's transpired, he wasn't sure if he wanted his daughter to be so far away from him.

"Sir?" One of the younger workers stuck her head in, her brows creased in worry. "I-I knocked but..."

Mr. Chambers nodded his head, ignorant of the scowl on his lips. The girl shuffled awkwardly, opening the door wider for his second-oldest son, Lysander. He was tall and slender, just broad enough in his shoulders to tell his past as a boxer during his school days. His green eyes were similar to Juliet's, but his dark hair was nothing close to her blonde locks.

"Ah, Ly my boy! What took you so long?" The two men shook hands and embraced, trying to shake off the tension in the room. Lysander was supposed to show up months ago now, but he had a duty to protect his wife and daughter first. He loved his father and his sister, truly he did, but his role as a husband and a father came first.

"Louisa was feeling under the weather. Her mother refused to let me leave until she was feeling better. You know how Lottie is, always worrying." Lysander smiled as he spaced himself out from his father, shaking his head as he remembered his wife's pleas for his delay in travel. Even after little Louisa was better his wife forced him to stay, worried about a relapse, and having to face the worst outcome alone.

"Yes, I remember when Lottie was younger. She was always one to worry over the smallest of things," the elder of the two men took a seat at his desk, waiting for the younger to follow suit. He was stressed enough as it was, but he could not hold it against his son or his daughter-in-law. "But I have my own daughter to worry about. I'm afraid for her safety."

Lysander nodded his head as he pulled his briefcase out from under him and onto the desk. He unlocked the case and began to shuffle through several papers, finally settling on a stack. He began to straighten them before he spoke once more.

"You reached out to me because a Mister Vincent McCoy took a Miss Juliet Chambers as collateral for a loan made by a Mister Joshua Hayes, whose only relation to Miss Chambers is through his wife, Mrs. Ophelia Chambers Hayes, correct?" Mr. Chambers nodded his head, eagerly awaiting his son to finally get into the gritty details behind it all. He knew everything else, he knew his son could handle this, but he needed to be sure that his daughter would be safe and under his care sooner rather than later.

"I'm only a lawyer, but I think we have a case. A good case." Lysander turned the stack of papers around, pointing his pen around a circled section on the top of the first page.  The older man leaned closer, squinting his eyes to read the print carefully.

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

"Juliet did nothing wrong and was not convicted even if she did. The punishment she was given goes against both the thirteenth and eighth amendments. I can get her out of there easily, but the debt Joshua owes... That's another story." Lysander leaned back into the leather chair, not taking his eyes off his father. He studied the man, not liking the ill visage he was seeing. "I'm assuming that's why you let her go, to begin with."