A/N: I just realized we only have a few more chapters until this book is finished! WHAT! Someone pinch me because this is impossible to believe.

The carriage could not get any colder than it was now, even if it frozen by a layer of ice. There was at least a mile between Sophia and Colette in the carriage and Colette didn't think that space was enough for Sophia. If her sister had a choice, she would stay across the world from her brethren.

"Father, why are we leaving?" Colette tentatively asked the Earl sitting in front of them. He had returned home the previous day, from wherever he generally rotted and told Sophia and Colette to pack their bags. Despite their protests and questions, he staunchly refused to acknowledge them. In the end, right before they left, he told them that they were going to their country house, possibly because he was ultimately fed up and nearing the point he was ready to hit something.

Sophia and Colette reckoned it would be them, but thankfully they had left after that and the Earl had cooled his boiling blood.

The Earl pursed his lips as he drew lazy circles on his paunch, his voice low and gruff. "It seems someone knew what we did to the Marquess in Scotland. We are not sure if it is the authorities or someone else after us. The locals must have thought we wouldn't go through with our promise of destroying them. But, until then, we can't risk getting caught. We need to concoct an appropriate story as a cover-up."

Colette risked a glance at Sophia to discern her reaction. Her sister's hand that lay protectively over her bulging stomach had gone completely still and white, her face drawn into a picture of pain when Blake's name was mentioned. But her eyes... her eyes glowered with fury. Burning a hole into their father.

Her father barely even acknowledged her. Sophia's eyes brightened with a burning spite at that.

"Are we going to stay in the country house till this ends father, Father? How long will that be?"

"Until I say it is over."

"When?"

The Earl's eyes shot towards Colette and his lips pulled into a sneer. "As long as I say. I don't want any more complaints. The Duke and Darius Kent will join us there for a few days to plan. After it is done we will go home." He slightly leaned forward and Colette flinched. "Now be quiet and remain like that. Your voice is giving me a headache."

"Yes, Father."

The rest of the three-hour drive was driven in silence, but Colette relinquished in that. She needed this peace after everything that had happened. After everything at she had caused.

Despite the manor being unused for several years, the Earl had sent servants ahead to ready it up and it was now clean. The cobwebs were minimal and the floor clear of dust. The most surprising thing was the fact that the dining hall was full of food. Colette tensed up and froze, Sophia mimicking her.

Sophia had managed to save money and had kept them going for the past years with sufficient food, but what was in front of them now, was a feast. They both looked up at their father. He just grunted.

"The Duke promised to clear my debts and payed me a little extra too for successfully getting rid of the Marquess. The least I could do was buy myself a good meal, which is extended to my daughters."

Sophia's eyes had widened and her mouth had slightly drooled at all the food, but when she heard the reason, her mouth immediately clammed up and her face turned pinched.

"Excuse me," she said, cold and foreign. "I am going to take some rest. I am tired after the day's journey. I am going to write and letter to Jeanne and Jeffrey, letting them know that we are here for now and for them to remain in our grandparents house until we return."

The Earl grabbed her arm, tugging her back. "You can do that later. I have paid for this. You. Will. Eat."

Her eyes flashed with rage and her lips pulled back over her teeth, ready to attack. Colette stepped slightly forward to stop her from doing whatever was flashing through her mind.

But all she hissed was, "Very well then."

The three of them sat down to eat their meals, the Earl attacking his plate like he had been starved for months. In all possibility he had been so consumed with liquor that he barely had eaten. Colette wouldn't know. Her father barely made his whereabouts know to his children. Hadn't cared to.

And perhaps that had all been for the best, for the shadows that haunted Sophia and herself were just from some months in his presence.

Colette shuddered at the possibility of a whole lifetime, every waking moment in his presence.

She didn't like it.

"Where is she? Where is she?" Blake howled, his world spinning on a red, red axis. His fingers curled over the edge of the table, the nails digging into the wood.

"Alton. Calm down." James said, lifting his hands up trying to calm Blake as if he were a feral animal, his voice soothing and passive.

"I can't calm down! Sophia is missing! I don't know where she is. The servants that I also sent to check if the Earl was in his usual den, reported to me that he wasn't there. He must then be with his daughters. I have never heard him go anywhere else, during the time I had sent him letters when I was asking for Colette's hand."

Blake was panting heavily and he pushed the small articles that were on the table in his living room. They came crashing down with a resplendent crash. He turned his broken, panicked eyes at James. "Don't you see? She's gone and I can't save her." Tears collected in his eyes and burned.

Sophia. He needed to see her. Her eyes, her lips. How he missed that sharp tongue, that intelligence. That love.

James put a reassuring hand on Blake's shoulder, his voice soft and once losing the mockery that always laced it. "We will find her. I will talk to the Chief Constable, see if he can spare some more men to search. The Earl, with a pregnant woman and another child-woman, cannot have gone far. The earl of Conway doesn't have too many properties left, besides his house in London. He has gambled most of it away. There are not too many places to look. We'll start from there."

"Well, what hasn't he gambled away? He could only be headed there."

James then frowned. "But from what you told me about happened to you, he could always be camped with the Duke. Then, there are a lot of places. Let me ask the Chief, Alton. He may have a more efficient way of gathering information."

Blake nodded faintly, his jaw clenched in anger. If the earl did anything to Sophia....

Olivia Cavendish cleared her throat as she stopped into the room. "I don't think that would be necessary. I had sent a letter a couple days ago, questioning Lady Colette if she would allow me to visit Sophia secretly again. To help her with my granddaughter or grandson. I despise corresponding with the woman who was the cause of your near death, but Sophia needs my help and she is child who has made mistakes."

Blake whipped towards her and practically spat, "What did she say, other."

Olivia's nostrils flared. "Careful, Blake. Mind your manners."

He mumbled. "Sorry, mother. Not knowing where Sophia has gone is driving me mad. Anything could have happened to her, our child. Not letting her know I am alive either is horrible as it could reach her father's ears if he intercepts a letter or he sees me as well. Then he would run and we would never find him."

"I know, my son. The thing is, Blake I may possess the answer you seek. Colette managed to scribble this and her father dragged her and her sister out of the house, managing to get my servants to bring this back to me. She said her father is with them and taking them to some country house, a few hours from their manor in London." She passed the parchment to Blake and he snatched it, devouring it with greedy eyes.

Blake's heart leaped to his throat in joy. He beckoned James. "Let's go. Call the constable and his officers and tell them we need a few more. Now that the Brighton sisters have been moved and we know the Earl is with them, his associates may be joining him soon. When we first went, it was about getting Sophia and Colette out of her house and then handling her father. But now... Now the mission is different."

James gave him a curt nod. "Got it, Alton. I shall go get the men immediately." He quickly left the room, exited the house, mounted his carriage and trotted off, Blake regarding him with a pensive look which he then turned on his mother.

"Thank you, Mother."

She raised a palm to cup his cheek. "Be careful, my sweet boy. Use the officers to arrest them. Don't hurt yourself, and make sure Sophia doesn't get hurt. And get her out. Her sister too."

Blake nodded. "I will."

He tucked in the gun the Reverend had given him though it felt foreign in his hands. He much preferred a bow and an arrow but he couldn't lug those around if he was aiming for stealth and quick self-defense. However, if it came down to pointing and shooting pistols, he would let the constables do it, avoiding it himself.

Gulping nervously at what was to come, he walked out of the house, finally ready to put an end to it all.

Sophia could hear her father arguing with the bastard Darius and his father. The walls in this house weren't as thick as their own home, as this was meant for a quiet retreat in general. It was like a spacious cottage, with one floor, three bedrooms, a study and a dining room, kitchen and small garden in the back.

Currently, the shouts were coming from the study and Sophia paced in her room. She had been trying to shut her ears so she could sleep, but the shouts prevented her from doing so. As the days passed by, the baby in her womb grew and she became tired quicker. It didn't help that heartbreak and sorrow was permanently nestled in her heart dragging her down even more.

How much she missed Blake. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. Every second.

She no longer cried for him, for all her tears had been wasted in those first few days he heart had been cut out of her chest, She couldn't even summon them if she wanted to, though her throat still bobbed as sobs tried to come out.

Her fingers traced the necklaced her had give her that was lying on the table, feeling the cool blue stones under her fingertips. His last gift to her.

No, that was not correct. Her last gift to her was the child. She would name him Blake if it was a boy, Lillian after her mother, if it was a girl. She smiled softly at that, though her heart squeezed painfully.

Suddenly a creak came from outside her room and she froze, her eyes darting up to the door in panic.

Colette. It was Colette trying to talk to her again, probably, but Sophia didn't want to hear it.

She had been giving her sister the cold shoulder from the day Blake had died and still had barely spoken a word to her. The root of her betrayal... stung. So badly. Too badly for forgiveness just yet.

Suddenly a few voices-male voices- drifted in from the hall and she could hear multiple footsteps thundering through the room.
Her breath stilled. That was most assuredly not Colette. She stepped cautiously towards the door her quivering hand stretching out to reach the handle, when the door opened with a bang. She stepped back in surprise. The man who opened it, was pointing a pistol at her and Sophia's heart thundered in her chest.

However, when he realized she wasn't who he was looking for, he dropped the marginally to point at the floor. He looked a few years younger than her, but his piercing blue eyes raked over her with sharpness and maturity. His gaze wasn't lewd, just... methodical. Analyzing. His posture was stiff and curt, and when Sophia ran his eyes over his torso, she knew why,
A police officer.

He turned his head back and called out softly to someone she could not see, "We found one of the women."

The echoing whisper came, "We found the other as well."

That was when she realized her father's and his associate's voices had dimmed and she could no longer here them in the room, chatting. They must have realized, like her, that they weren't alone.

Another voice called out, "No one in this room."

"We swept the kitchen and the dining room. The perimeter of the house is clear and the two other men, including the Duke are staying outside to make sure they don't jump out of the window and run. They will make sure they don't get very far if they do. The bastards must be behind this door." The second voice called out again.

From her room, she could faintly hear her father say something to his partners. "What's happening?" There was actual fear in his voice and Sophia's eyes raised up in surprise. She had never heard her father scared.

But what froze her heart was the final voice that came bellowing out. "Come on out, my lords. It's over."

Blake.

No. How was that possible? He was dead!

She had seen him die. The blood. The pain. Thee screams. She had seen and heard everything.

Her heart pounded in her ears and she pushed pack the constable who seemingly let her go.

He was supposed to be dead. A corpse.

Yet here he was.

And she saw him.

Green eyes, tousled hair and his beard unshaven and rugged. His face was shaper and more angular than before, a haunted look on his face turned towards hers, his gun slightly shaking in his hands as pointed it at the study door.

But it was him. It was truly him.

Sophia let out a little choke. "How?" She was frozen, her blooded chilled in her veins. Her limbs, her arms. It didn't feel like her own.
She couldn't breathe as all the air was sucked out of her lungs. She could only stare.

He regarded her with a soft expression, his eyes sagging in relief. "Sophia. Miss me, angel?"

She could only let out another sound that make her sound like a strangled cat and she made her way towards him. "Don't... don't call me angel." She choked out.

"I will take that as a yes."

He didn't even sound like himself, so very, very cold as he barked, all softness gone, "Open the door and come out with your hands in the air, head low. Drop all your weapons."

Slowly the door clicked open and Darius, the Duke and her father walked out, heads bowed.

"Kneel."

They knelt and finally faced Blake.
All three of their faces simultaneously paled when they saw him and he gave them a sneer.

"Surprised to see me, my lords?"

"You are dead. We killed you. I killed you! Darius whispered his voice sounding strangled. The Duke just gaped at him, his usual silent, brooding self, while Sophia's father curled his lip.

"How?" This question came from her father.

"You did you job poorly," Blake spat, his usually warm green eyes like flint.

Blake inclined his head to the three other men-officers- in the room. "Cuff them."

The men slowly slinked toward them, holstering, guns limply in one hand and handcuffs in the other. The one who was going to cuff her father, reached their first. Holstering his gun, the officer opened the shackles to put them on.

But right as he was going to snap their cuffs on her father, finally getting this ordeal over, he attacked. He knocked the cuffs from the officer's hand and officer let it drop, too surprised that her father was fighting back. Growling he shoved at the officers legs and they both sprawled on on another punching and clawing.

Darius and his Father weren't as quick to respond and the officers held on to their guns, not holstering it as they made their way to the men. But clearly the duke had been in the army as he lept up, and twisted the guns out of the officer's grasp. Side by side, father and son work to fight the officers. Blood from broken noses, spewed, as elbows jammed into faces. It all happened so fast, both Blake and Sophia stared stunned at them for several seconds.

Blake waved his gun around, but his fingers were shaking. "Stop! Stop or I will shoot, my lord." He made a movement as if he was going to join in the fight to apprehend the villains, but there was too many flying fists and he couldn't get close.

He then turned slightly towards the front door and screamed, "James! James bring in the officer and come in here!"

It appeared the man who Blake called for didn't hear them as the grunts in the room increased, drowning out his words. But they would eventually. Though the walls of the house were thicker than the inside ones, it still wasn't sound proof.

When her father jammed his elbow into one of the officer's gut, a small squeak came behind Sophia. Colette stood a few steps away staring at the fight, yet not seeming inclined to somehow help her stop it.

Typical of her sister.

Sophia hissed as the officer groaned in pain. "Stop it. Stop it, Father!" She grimaced another crunch went in the officer's face that her father had hit and he finally went down, dazed. Her father, left opponent less, turned towards Blake. His knuckles were bloody and bruised, and seeing it, caused the faintest memory of seeing those knuckles as he beat her mother. The memory made her clench her jaw.

He walked towards them, a drunken swagger in his step. On closer inspection, it appeared the officer had delivered some good kicks to the earl as well, as he was limping and his face was scraped. His bloodshot eyes leered at Blake. Blake kept the pistol trained on the Earl, but clearly he hadn't had much practice with it before, as it was held awkwardly in front of him. If she could recall, he liked arrows. Stubborn man. Why didn't he bring it?

Btu she knew how to hold one and she had better chances of defending herself with it. She lurched forward and grabbed the gun from Blake' hands and trained it at her father. She stepped forward, pushing Blake behind her.

"Don't come one step closer. You are outnumbered here." Finally, the men who were posted outside heard the commotion and she could hear them coming in. The men fighting against the Duke and Darius were beaten bloody, but were still working towards detain them, as they tried to get a hold on their handcuffs.

The Earl's lips curled at the pistol that was trained at him, surprise in his eyes as his daughter beheld it. She could see Blake looking at her with awe and warning.

"Sophia..." he whispered, urging her to back down but Sophia didn't listen.

The Earl let out a low, slimy chuckle. "You won't shoot. You are just like your mother. Weak. Fragile. Soft."

"I am not." Sophia eyes burned into him.

The Earl raised his arms wide, stretching it on either side of him. "I challenge you. Do what you mother could never do to me, though she wished to. Challenge me. Kill me."

Sophia gulped. "No. I am not a murderer like you. I know your father did terrible things to you, like beat you and starve you. I know, Father, what had happened and that is why you are like this. I know that now. But I won't turn into you. I won't follow your steps."

He lurched toward her and Blake stepped in front of Sophia, weaponless but still protecting her.

"Shoot me," her father bellowed, his paunch jiggling and his red rimmed eyes full of spite. "Kill me! I dare you, daughter."

"Handcuff him, Blake. We'll have a trial for them." Sophia tipped her chin towards the cuffs on the floor.

Blake warily moved towards the Earl, grabbing the handcuffs of the fallen officer. Sophia's gun stayed still and pointed at her Father, as Blake clicked open the locks of the cuffs that had closed as it had fallen down.
"Don't fight, Father." Her father cast a glance at Blake who was picking at the lock, the key twisting in it to make it open. Realizing the vulnerability of Blake, as his focus was elsewhere, he made his move, launching himself towards Blake.

He pulled a knife stuck in his belt from under his shirt, hidden from view and he lunged, howling.

Sophia shot.

A/N: Do you think the Earl is dead and Sophia killed him? Comment thoughts!

And I feel so evil leaving you all with this cliffhanger but it's gotta be done! HAHAHAH

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