Brazen and the Beast (The Bareknuckle Bastards #2)(20)

Hattie’s brows furrowed and she considered the ships’ logs she’d left on her desk earlier in the day. No shipments were missing from her father’s records. “What do you mean, lost?”

“Remember the tulips?” She shook her head. There hadn’t been tulips in a cargo since—“It was in the summer,” he added.

The ship had come in laden with tulip bulbs, fresh from Antwerp, already marked for estates across Britain. Augie had been responsible for the cargo and the delivery. The first he’d overseen after their father had announced his plan to pass on the business. The first her father had insisted Augie manage from start to finish—to prove his mettle.

“I lost them.”

It didn’t make sense. She’d seen the shipment marked unloaded in the books. The overland transport had been marked complete. “Lost them where?”

“I thought—” He shook his head. “I didn’t know they had to be delivered immediately. I put it off. I couldn’t find the men to do the job when it came in. They were working other cargo, and so I let them sit.”

“In the warehouse,” she said.

He nodded.

“In the dead of London summer.” Wet London summer.

Another nod.

She sighed. “For how long?”

“I don’t know. For Christ sakes, Hattie, it wasn’t beef. It was fucking tulips. How was I to know they’d go to rot?”

Hattie thought she showed immense restraint when she wanted to say, You’d know they’d go to rot if you’d ever paid an ounce of attention to the business. “And then what?”

“I knew we’d have to return the payment to the customers. I knew he’d be furious.” Their father would have raged, and he would have been right to do so. A full hold of good Dutch tulips was worth at least ten thousand pounds. Losing it would have cost them goodwill and enough money to matter.

But they hadn’t lost it. Somehow, Augie had hidden it. Dread spiraled low in her stomach. “Augie . . . what did you do?”

He shook his head, looking down at his feet. “It was only supposed to be once.”

Hattie turned to Nora, who had given up any pretense of not paying attention. When her friend shrugged her shoulders, she turned back to her brother and said, “What was only supposed to be once?”

“I had to pay the debt to the customers. Without Father discovering it. And then there was a way.” He looked up, met her gaze. “I came upon their delivery route.”

He took something of mine. Beast’s words earlier.

Nora let out a soft curse.

Hattie sucked in a breath. “You stole from him.”

“It was only—”

She cut him off. “How many times?”

He hesitated. “I paid the debt with the first one.”

“But you didn’t stop.” Augie opened his mouth. Closed it. Of course he hadn’t stopped. It was Hattie’s turn to curse. “How many times?”

He met her eyes, and she saw the fear in them. “Tonight was the fourth.”

“Four times.” She gave a little humorless laugh. “You’ve robbed them four times . . . It’s a miracle you weren’t killed.”

“Hang on,” Nora said from her place across the kitchen. “How did you subdue that man?”

He scowled at her. “What does that mean?”

She cut him a look. “Augie. That man was twice as broad as you on your very broadest day. And you have a knife in your thigh.”

He looked as though he might argue, then admitted, “Russell knocked him out.”

Of course those two had made a mess of this. And now, as usual, it fell to Hattie to clear it up. “It should be illegal for the two of you to speak to each other. You make each other less intelligent.” She looked to the ceiling, mind racing, then said on a sigh, “You’ve made a hash of it.”

“I know,” her brother said, and she wondered if he truly did.

“What you told me about him? The Beast?” Augie met her eyes, trepidation in his own. “He’s coming for you, Augie. It’s a miracle he hasn’t found you yet. But tonight—what you did—it was immensely stupid. What would possess you to tie him up? In the carriage?”

“I wasn’t thinking. I’d been stabbed. And Russell . . .”

“Ah, yes. Russell.” She stopped him. “He’s through, too. This ends now. We don’t sell another drop of their cargo. Where is the cargo you took tonight?”

“Russell took it to our buyer.”

She cocked a brow. “Another brilliant tactician, no doubt. Who is that?”

If possible, her brother grew even paler. “I won’t have you involved with him.”

“As though I am not in deep enough with you?”

Augie shook his head. “You’ve no idea how deep you could find yourself. The man is barely sane.”

“Now you find your sense of familial preservation?” Hattie resisted the urge to scream. “I suppose I should be grateful that our most pressing foe is merely vengeful, not mad.”

“I’m sorry,” Augie said.

“No, you’re not,” Hattie retorted. “If I had to guess, you’re happy I’m willing to fix this. And I can fix this.”