A Siren’s Melody: Love and Family Book Two Read online

  “It matters to me!” she yelled.

  He did not like the fire in her eyes. She had no right to raise her voice to him when he was the one who had been betrayed. He would not let her place the blame on him before all these people. She was a cunning and manipulative woman who did not deserve his sympathy or kindness.

  “Why? After everything you made me go through, you want to hurt my feelings with more filthy accusations?”

  She was taken aback by the bitterness in his tone and the fact that he was confessing to having feelings for her. He had never talked to her after that incident, so she remained unaware of his conflicted feelings.

  “Russell, please,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I am sorry for everything.”

  She saw a flash of anger on his face and cowered in fright from his wrath. She had never seen him in anger. The only emotion she recalled from him was the rolling of eyes and the smile on his face. She did not know how to handle this situation.

  “Well, so am I,” he retorted angrily. “I am sorry for falling in love with you. I am sorry for believing that you loved me back. I am sorry that after everything that has happened, I am still in love with a manipulative noble lady.”

  He was hurting and he wanted to make her feel his pain. She was the only woman who ever managed to capture his heart, but in the end, she was also the only woman who broke the same heart into a million pieces.

  She touched her stomach for a second, but the gesture did not escape his notice. Blood rushed into his ears. She was bearing his child and she did not show him the courtesy of informing him. She was taking away his child from him without informing him.

  “Is it mine?” he asked sarcastically. “Or some other fool who was also a passing fancy for you?”

  Her head started to spin. His accusation about the identity of their child was something she had not anticipated. She swayed and fainted, but before she lost consciousness, she felt him beside her. Maybe it was her overactive imagination that was making her believe in the unthinkable, but she saw concern and worry in his eyes. She saw the same spark that was only reserved for her.

  Russell did not realize the amount of damage his one sentence could do. The moment he saw her becoming off balance, he rushed to her side and took her in his arms.

  He was not so vindictive as to take away a child from its mother, but if he managed to make her suffer for even a small fraction of a second, it would be enough for him. He was so deeply in love with her that he could not bring himself to take their child away from her, knowing what it would do to her.

  He ran towards his room, holding her in his arms, pushing anyone who stood in his way. He banged open the door to his room and laid her with care on his bed. He kneeled by the bedside on the carpet near her head and shed a tear for everything that was moving away from his grasp. She would leave him along with his child and he would never get to see them again.

  “Forgive me, my Siren,” he whispered only for her ears. “If you ask me to stay, I will abandon the whole world for you. Do you realize the amount of power you hold over me?”

  He felt the presence of his brother in his room when a hand touched him lightly on his shoulders. He was very observant when it came to feeling someone’s presence in his close proximity, but the worry for her health had surpassed all other feelings. His senses were not as keen as they used to be. It was the first time anyone had managed to sneak up on him.

  “I will wait for you in Elliot’s study.” He looked up at his brother and reluctantly nodded his head. “There is something you need to know.”

  Russell did not go after his brother immediately. He stayed by her side for a few more moments, taking notice of some unwanted changes in her features. He saw dark circles under her eyes and his conscience started to feel guilty. When he had first met her, she was flawless, but now while she lay on his bed, unaware of her surroundings, he saw the fatigue and sunken cheeks for the first time.

  He did not want to leave her side, but his brother would never interrupt him unless something very important had happened. He left her in his room with a soft kiss on her forehead. His farewell to the mother of his child.

  Her mother was waiting outside his room, restrained by their servant, Philip. He averted his gaze, not able to meet the eyes of a mother whose daughter lay unconscious on the other side of the door due to his harsh words. In his anger, he had forgotten about the woman who welcomed him with open arms into her house. Her anger was justified.

  “I treated you like a son, Mr. Simon. I can forgive many things, but if someone so much as raises a finger in my daughter’s direction, I will snap that finger in half. My daughter is not a plaything. You cannot use her and then refuse to accept the responsibility for your child.”

  He was so wrung out with everything that happened in the last hour that he could not bring himself to defend his honor. He could have told her that his heart was not a plaything for her daughter either, but he was too tired to engage in a conversation with a mother who would never hear the plea of a broken heart that was tattered into pieces at her daughter’s hands.

  “She is still unconscious, but she will be fine once she wakes up,” he said wearily. “Take her away from this place while I try to sort the tangled webs in my life.”

  He did not wait for her response, neither did he look back to see if she entered his room. He went straight to Elliot’s study and entered without bothering to knock.

  Elliot, Emily, and Shane were inside, waiting for him. A feeling of unease settled on his shoulders. Whatever his brother meant to say, Elliot and Emily were privy to that information, which meant Shane was not sharing something about their job. It concerned their private lives.

  “Have a seat, Brother,” Shane said, pointing to a chair. “I have to tell you something, but first you have to promise to let me finish my piece.”

  Russell had the feeling that after his brother was finished, the very foundation of their brotherhood would be shaken. The moisture in Lady Emily’s eyes and the protective hold of Elliot around her shoulders were the telltale signs of something important. Whatever his brother was about to disclose was not a secret to the two occupants in the room.

  When he sat on the chair, he looked expectantly at his brother. His worry became doubled when Elliot handed him a glass of brandy. Something that needed alcohol to hear was never good news.

  “The night our father died, I was there too.”

  Shane went on to explain in vivid details what transpired that night. It was the first time he was hearing about the man who came to his aid and his brother’s presence in the stables. Shane told him that another man had come bursting through the door and killed the three men single-handedly with a pistol and a sword. In their fight, a lamp fell which caused the fire in the stables. The man picked him up and deposited him with care on the grass outside.

  As he had promised, he did not interrupt his brother while he told him everything from the night he was attacked, to the secret meeting between him and Lady Isabella, but his heart was shattering with every new piece of information.

  His brother had made her promise to stay away from him because Shane believed he was not strong enough to handle the truth. No matter in how many layers of worry and concern his brother’s words were wrapped, it was still a betrayal of the highest form. His own brother who had been a reliable support for as long as he could recall was the one who was responsible for breaking the bond between him and the woman he loved. Shane was responsible for her reasons for depriving him of his child’s existence.

  “Do you know how I felt when those men attacked me?” Russell asked when Shane was finished. “I felt helpless and weak. Do you care to know how I feel now, Brother? Do you realize you are making me feel like an invalid? I am not a scared little boy anymore. I might still have certain issues, but I am dealing with them in my own way.”

  All his old memories came back to him with a vengeance. He was drowning in a sea of betrayals. Every link in the chain was conn
ected in his head now. He realized the cause for his brother’s insane request of dressing in the same manner. His brother had woven so many webs around him with his madman’s attitude that he never paid close attention to anything else. It never crossed his mind that his brother still saw him as a damaged person who needed to be protected. He had not suffered from a nightmare since his teens, but it seemed to him that his brother was not accepting his healing process.

  “He was doing this for you, Russell,” Elliot said. “Surely you can see that.”

  Russell looked from Elliot, to his brother and then to Lady Emily. He smirked sarcastically, realizing he was the only one who was not aware of his own history. Everyone in his life perceived him as less of a man. He was the boy who was once abused and was now in need of their protection.

  “My brother believes that I am damaged,” Russell said witheringly, downing the brandy in a single gulp. “My friend thinks I am a broken person who needs mending. The woman I love felt the need to save me from hurt by ripping my heart out. Does anyone care what I think? Does my opinion matter to anyone? Am I not allowed to have a say in matters that affect my life?”

  He saw a pained expression crossing his brother’s face, but he did not care about someone else’s feelings right now. He was glaring at his brother, waiting for his response to deny his accusations, but he knew he was right about his brother’s opinion of him. He was a broken man who needed protection at every turn in his life.

  The tension in the room was broken by the sudden appearance of a frantic Willy. His coat was all dusty and askew while his dirt-ridden face was scratched in a few places. He was holding a small piece of paper in his hand and was looking from him to Shane, deciding which one to entrust the paper to.

  “What happened, Willy?” the duchess asked worriedly. “Are you all right?”

  Russell took the letter from Willy and the duchess kneeled before the child, inspecting his face and wiping the dirt off it with her handkerchief with love and care.

  Shane and Elliot came near him to read the contents of the letter left behind for them. The letter mentioned that if they wanted to see her again, they have to stop hurting his business.

  “They took Margaret. I tried to save her, but they were very strong. They pushed me to the ground and took her away on a horse.”

  The criminal they had been following for so long was more dangerous than he assumed. Russell and Shane had closed down a number of small businesses that supplied weapons to him. They had exulted at their win at the time, but now that the criminal had struck back, he realized the chancy gamble he had been playing so far. The lives of everyone who was associated with him were at risk.

  “Who is this person?” Elliot asked.

  They had never shared the details of their job with Elliot. Their profession had been a secret so far. Elliot had never asked about their way of lives, respecting their privacy and never intruded before, but now that their personal lives were being affected, Elliot could not remain silent.

  “Someone who will regret bringing the war to my doorsteps,” Shane said angrily. “Hunting him down was a job so far, but now it has become personal.”

  Russell looked straight into his brother’s eyes and saw a lava of anger bubbling up. Shane had become attached to Margaret while she stayed with them. His brother adored her determination to make him stay at any cost. They would have left this house a long time ago, but Margaret managed to melt his heart and made him stay at Elliot’s house all this time. They could have easily stayed at an inn until Elliot had thrown his party, but they could not break her heart.

  “How do you want to do this, Brother?” Russell asked.

  They would decide about their personal matters once this issue was resolved. They were at odds with one another, but they were willing to put their own feelings aside and rush to the aid of the small girl who had managed to capture the hearts of both brothers at the same time.

  “Guns blazing and roofs collapsing,” Shane said, smirking.

  Russell rolled his eyes at the theatrics of his brother, already suspecting an answer that would make him doubt Shane’s intentions until the very end. The only thing that he wished at that moment was that his brother was not serious about what he said, but he was not very confident about what to think at that moment. His brother was a lunatic. It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the working of Shane’s twisted mind.

  Chapter 12

  Isabella woke up in her own room, surrounded by a concerned mother and Philip. The two other people who meant a lot to her were not present and that made her feel miserable. After the heart to heart, she had with her sister, she had expected to see her by her bedside, but then again, Russell’s charm was unparalleled. If he could wrap her around his finger, then a childlike Margaret did not stand a chance against resisting his allures.

  “How do you feel now, dear child?” Philip asked.

  She sat straight with the aid of her mother and opened her mouth to answer, but her throat had dried up. Her mother offered her a glass of water, which she accepted with a weak smile on her lips. While she drank the water, she thought of an answer that would not give away her grief and sorrow. She did not want to worry her mother or Philip. They had taken care of her all her life; she could not bring herself to put the burden of her misfortune on their shoulders too.

  “I am fine,” she said. “Thanks for asking.”

  When she did not comment anymore, her mother looked worriedly at Philip, communicating with her eyes. Isabella got worried with the secrecy. Something was not right. They were hiding something important from her. Again, secrecy had entered her life.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  Her mother sat beside her on the bed and pulled her into her embrace. Her worry became tenfold with that gesture. She looked towards Philip, trying to understand the situation, but nothing made sense to her.

  “Someone took Margaret,” Philip said.

  She was dumbstruck for a second and then she pushed her mother to the side and ran towards the door. She had to save her sister at any cost. She would face the Devil himself if it were necessary for bringing her sister back.

  She had only reached the doorknob when strong arms wrapped around her torso and picked her up while she kicked and screamed.

  “Let me go,” she yelled hysterically. “My sister needs me.”

  She was hard to console while her mother and Philip tried to calm her down. They were trying to hold her back from running out the door, but her hysteria had made her hard to control. The only thought that was running through her mind was that her little sister would be alone and scared in the clutches of heinous people. She did not bother to ask who took her sister because it did not matter to her. The only thing that was of the utmost importance at that moment was her sister’s safety.

  “He will bring her back,” her mother said. “Mr. Simon promised me that he will not let any harm befall our Margaret.”

  Her mother had been yelling for a long time, but these were the only words that penetrated her frenzied mind. She was still worried, but her hysteria was diminished with these magic words.

  “Russell is with her,” she whispered.

  He might despise her, but she knew he would come through on his promise. He was the only person who could save her sister without an ulterior motive. He would never leave Margaret to her fate because of her connection to her. He was a far nobler person than she could ever dream of being.

  “Yes, he is,” her mother said. “He also left you a missive.”

  Her head whipped around towards her mother. She was anxious to hear from him. She would treasure his final words, even if he cursed her to Hell and ruination in his letter. The joyous moments she spent in his company were already ingrained on her mind. A few harsh words on a piece of paper could not erase them, but the words would give her the satisfaction that he cared enough to impart final words before he left.

  “Give it to me,” she said urgently.

  Her mo
ther looked towards Philip who rummaged in his coat pockets and gave her a sealed envelope. In her dazed mind, it did not register that unlike the last time, her mother did not open this missive.

  She snatched the envelope from his hands and opened the seal with urgency, ignoring the company in her room. Inside the envelope, a letter was written in beautiful writing. He had not written the letter in urgency, but rather with care and took his time.

  My Siren,

  I know who your father was, yet I was impatient to make you mine because the man who raised me taught me that a person is not known by the crimes of their parents. My family abandoned me, and I was raised by a stranger, yet I possess many similar habits with that stranger, even though we were not related by blood. I know the man who gave you birth was not a nice person, but this is not how I see you. You are your own person. Also, you were raised by someone who protected me from a fate worse than death.

  I am going to marry you when I return. No one, not even you can take away what is mine, and keep in mind that you are mine, and so is the child growing inside your womb. I am coming for what belongs to me.

  Regards

  Russell Simon

  A new energy coursed through her. Her fatigue vanished when she was finished with the letter. She looked up towards the two people who were happy to see a genuine smile on her face after such a long time. Tears were streaming down her face, but everyone was aware that these were tears of joy.

  * * *

  After hours of searching for Margaret, he was successful in locating the criminal’s base of operation, which happened to be an opium den. Russell knocked on the door of the opium den and waited to the side of the door along with his brother.