A Study In Seduction(97)

He held out a hand to take the paper, but Jane kept it from his reach. Determination hardened her features.

“First release Lydia,” she ordered.

Cole shook his head. “Not until I have the document.”

“How do I know you’ll let her go?”

“You’ll have to trust me. I am your father, after all.”

“No, you are not.”

A vibration of impatience went through Cole’s body. “Give me the paper, Jane,” he snapped.

Jane’s eyes darted to where Alexander stood beside the fire. Lydia’s heart jumped at his sudden movement. He hurled himself forward, his big hand coiling around Lydia’s arm as he tore her from Cole’s grasp.

The gun went off. Lydia stumbled to her knees. Jane screamed. A collective gasp rose from the crowd below, followed by a surge of movement.

Alexander plowed into Cole and slammed him against the gallery railing. The wood fractured and cracked. Cole grunted, swinging his arm back to catch Alexander on the side of the head.

Jane ran to Lydia. The document fell as she gripped Lydia with both hands and tried to drag her away from the brawling men. Lydia pressed a hand to her stomach, her vision blurring. She blinked and tried to focus, tried to…

“The girl!” a man shouted. “Get her away!”

Lydia pushed Jane toward the stranger’s voice. The crowd below seemed to swell and shift like an ocean’s tide.

A sickening thud echoed through the room as Alexander gripped Cole’s collar and shoved him against the railing again. A bloody gash bloomed on Cole’s forehead.

He cursed and kicked his foot upward, catching Alexander hard in the knee. The crack was enough to make Alexander loosen his grip. Cole tore away from him.

The gun. Where was the gun?

Lydia pushed to her feet, desperate, but Cole was advancing, closing in. He grabbed the gun from where it had fallen by the hearth. He swung it up, firing at the men advancing on the stairs, then toward the crowd.

People screamed. Doors slammed open and closed. Footsteps thundered.

Alexander crashed against Cole’s back, bringing him to the ground. The gun went flying. Both men grunted, bones cracking.

Jane darted forward and grabbed the birth certificate. Cole twisted, breaking from Alexander’s grip. He plunged forward and dove for Jane.

Lydia knew what was going to happen before it came to pass. Just as she knew she could do nothing to prevent it.

Horror flooded her as she watched Cole plow into her daughter, breaking through the splintered railing with a thunderous crack.

Unable to stop the forward movement, Cole shoved Jane aside before he crashed through the railing. With a shriek, Jane skidded against the floor as pieces of wood crashed onto the globe display below.

The crowd swarmed in a mass of confusion, shouts and gasps rising.

“Jane!” Alexander yelled.

He lunged for the girl, his hand clamping around her wrist just as she started to slide over the edge. He yanked her to a halt and braced one foot against a post.

Panic swamped Lydia. She stretched to reach for Jane’s other hand and sent up a million prayers of gratitude when her daughter’s fingers closed around hers.

She looked over the edge. Cole had grasped a broken post to prevent himself from falling. Beneath them, a dozen globes gleamed, the round surfaces of earth and sky undulating in the twilight.

Fear and exertion contorted Cole’s features. His legs thrashed in midair. The wood cracked again, jerking him downward.

Alexander and Lydia hauled Jane back to the safety of the gallery. Jane flung herself into Lydia’s arms, sobs tearing from her throat and her body shaking.

Alexander reached his hand to where Cole still hung suspended. Cole’s sheet-white face glistened with sweat. Alexander cursed and stretched farther. Cole released one hand from the post and tried to grab Alexander’s hand. His legs kicked to find purchase. The post splintered with a noise like a fired bullet.

Oh, dear God.

Pressing Jane’s face to her shoulder, Lydia stared down at Cole. His gaze, wide-eyed and panicked, met hers.

The post broke. With a cry, Cole fell, his arms flailing. His head smashed against a massive glass globe, a sickening crash splitting through the hall. Blood sprayed over the clear surface before Cole crumpled to the floor and lay still.

Screams rent the air as chaos erupted below.





Chapter Twenty-Nine




Commotion flooded St. Martin’s Hall—shouts, thundering footsteps, the shrill noise of constables’ whistles.