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“William?” she asked once he turned away.

He turned back, a brow raised in question.

“What happened to Neville?”

He cleared his throat. “He died.”

“How?”

William hung his head. “When Hades opened his hell, I left their group because I couldn’t be close to a place that ran a brothel, no matter what type of brothel. But Neville… he decided to stay. He wanted an honest job, whatever that meant. And I let him.” He raised his head and met her gaze. “I left him. We’ve been through hell and back together. And when the tide had shifted and everything was good again, I left him behind. And he died. I wasn’t even there when it happened. I haven’t had a single friend since. Never cared for anyone since. Until you.”

Victoria didn’t quite know how to react to that. But some things started to make sense about her husband. She realized why he didn’t have friends, why he didn’t allow himself to get tangled up in relationships, and perhaps even why he had tricked her into marrying him. He had fallen in love with her very quickly and hadn’t wanted to leave her behind. In his mind, the only way to ensure it had been to marry her, to tie her to him forever. However, it ended up tearing them apart instead.

Victoria walked toward him and took his arm. “Do you need help stealing the journal?”

A soft smile played about his lips for the first time in days. “Yes.”

Chapter 28

They walked out of the parlor, Victoria’s hand on William’s arm, her warmth along his side, her scent in his nostrils. He’d missed this. He had missed this a lot.

He loved her.

Of course, he would do her any favor she wished. She had a hold over him no other person ever had.

Unfortunately for him, she didn’t truly love him back.

She wanted him. She appreciated his skill. But she’d worked so hard to find good in him, something she could latch on to, that she’d missed everything else. She couldn’t accept him for what he was, no matter how hard he tried.

When he hid his status as a bastard, he’d always thought their love would overpower that hurdle. But in the past two months, he’d come to understand that she had never loved him at all. Not truly. And most of all, she didn’t trust him. Not even a little.

And he was tired of trying to win her back.

Their time together was coming to an end, and once the time lapsed, he would have to live with the fact that they were going to separate. Perhaps get a divorce. And she would be able to pursue a legitimate duke’s son.

Just as they reached the doors to the ballroom, a man rushed out, and they nearly crashed into him.

Porter!

His eyes wide, he backed away before giving them a wide berth.

Victoria raised her gaze to William. “He is here. Should we do something?”

William shrugged. “You don’t have to worry about him. He won’t be a threat.” And he wouldn’t be. William had spread the message that if anyone in the criminal world ever worked with Porter, they would be severely punished. He’d also made certain to let Porter know that the rumors of his proclivities would spread were anything to happen to William. But most of all, Porter was too bewildered by William’s easy escape and frightened by the note he’d left on his bed. At least, William assumed this was what had finally forced Porter to leave William alone.

Victoria gave him a strange look, then glanced after Porter. “Have you noticed his lips?” William raised a brow, and she raised her eyes heavenward. “Not in that way. His lips are deformed!”

“Oh, that…” William tensed as he led Victoria inside the ball. “I might have had something to do with that.”

Victoria blinked up at him. “After he abducted you?”

William lowered his head so Victoria would hear him over the noise in the ballroom. “No, after he kissed you.”

“Oh.” Her eyes shifted, her fingers tightening on his forearm.

They didn’t get far from the door when William spotted Pembroke cutting a path toward the exit.

“What do you want me to do?” Victoria whispered in William’s ear as she spotted Pembroke, too.