Echos in the ally - jack Dawkins x oc

ON PAUSE

After years of thievery, Jack Dawkins has finally built a quiet life in the small town of Port Victoria, working as one of the town's surgeons. But the streets he left behind are never far away.

When Jack's old father figure, Fagin, arrives unexpectedly, Jack takes him in as his convicted servant, keeping him close and his mouth shut. Jack has worked too hard to build his new life to let the past ruin it now.

Lady Clara Fox, the middle sister of Belle and Fanny Fox, is the daughter often forgotten. With Lady Jane's attention fixed on Belle and desperate to marry her off, and Fanny desperately trying to find love herself, Clara is left to fade quietly into the background.

Clara shares the same interest in medicine as her sister, though on a much smaller scale. She has no desire to become the first female surgeon like Belle. All she wants is to help.

But for the past few months, Clara has been experiencing strange and painful episodes. Prof believes it to be an ulcer, yet after her own research through every one of Belle's medical books, Clara fears something far worse, an aortic aneurysm. After weeks of trying every remedy she can find, nothing helps. In every book she reads, the ending is always the same.

Death.

Unwilling to waste what little time she may have left, Clara begins secretly helping the less fortunate people of Port Victoria. These are the ones turned away from the hospital, or too poor and sick to reach it. She even ventures as far as the Devil's Elbow.

With none of her family aware of her condition or her whereabouts, Clara spends her days helping those who need it most.

Until one tragic and hectic day changes everything.

After performing a surgery never before attempted in her own home with two thieves among those helping, Clara suffers another violent episode.

This time Jack Dawkins is there to help her.

But Clara already knows his secret.

And instead of thanking him, she blackmails him in return for her silence.