Chapter 114

Cassandra had spent enough time with her father’s documents that the contents no longer surprised her.

She had gone through them alone first, studying every detail carefully. Dates had been compared against one another, names traced from one record to the next, figures examined where they appeared more than once, and every inconsistency had been marked in her mind.

Ruth had done very well and Cassandra intended to reward her efforts.

She called Sebastian back to the palace only after she was satisfied with her personal inspection.

Together, they went over the documents for a second time, seated across from each other in the private room Adrian had arranged for their meetings. This time, however, Adrian was absent, occupied with his royal duties and unable to serve as their chaperone.

Before their meeting, Cassandra made two extra copies of their evidence in case something happened to the original.

She gave Sebastian one of them for the Watch Office, while Cassandra had kept the other two separately. Losing them would not mean losing everything, including the leverage she had over her father and that was not a possibility she wanted to consider.

The papers lay between her and Sebastian now, the afternoon light falling across the desk as they returned to one particular matter.

Adam Dawson.

The information concerning his whereabouts had been buried among the other material, but they had found enough to give them an idea of where to begin looking.

Cassandra rested her fingertips against the edge of the document while Sebastian studied the location again.

"If we can reach him before either of them," she said, "everything becomes considerably easier."

Sebastian lifted his eyes from the page. "What are you considering?" He questioned. Years of friendship made it easy to tell when something big was on her mind.

"I believe my father wants to know what John knows, and I believe John has his own reasons for wanting Dawson." Cassandra leaned back slightly, her thoughts turning over the implications once more. "Now that I understand John’s connection to Camille and the Dawson family, I cannot ignore the possibility that he intends to use Adam against my father."

John might have managed to keep Cassandra blind to his true nature during their courtship, but the cruelty he subjected her to in their marriage had eventually stripped away every deception.

She had seen the man beneath the charming facade, and now she recognized his tricks before he could even put them into motion. Adam Dawson was nothing more than another pawn in one of John’s many schemes.

The thought had troubled Cassandra ever since it first occurred to her. After everything that poor man had already endured, he was being dragged into another nightmare, caught between the machinations of two ruthless men. It hardly seemed fair that even after surviving so much, Adam could not be left in peace.

For so long, Cassandra had thought her family’s attachment to John was stronger than it perhaps was.

They chose him over her without hesitation, and that choice had convinced her that whatever bond existed between them was firm enough to withstand almost anything. Yet John was acting in ways that suggested he was perfectly willing to turn against them if it served him.

Perhaps her father had never trusted him as completely as she had imagined.

Perhaps John had never trusted them either.

Cassandra found that she cared very little about which of them eventually betrayed the other. They had made their choices, and she had no intention of involving herself in the consequences of those choices beyond what affected her directly.

What concerned her was the possibility of being caught between them if both men began reaching for the same piece of leverage.

She had no intention of waiting for that to happen.

"Adam needs to be found first," she said finally. "And once you find him, I want him placed somewhere neither of them can find him."

Sebastian nodded. "He can be kept under protection."

"Good. If we need him to testify later, he must be alive and safe enough to do so."

That was the first matter settled. The second required more subtlety.

Cassandra gathered the papers into a smaller stack, but she did not immediately put them away. Her gaze remained fixed on the desk as she considered the name that had dominated so much of her life.

Nathaniel Ashford.

Bringing the evidence forward would eventually be necessary, but she had no intention of giving her father the opportunity to face a formal accusation while his position remained as strong as it was now.

His wealth had bought him influence for years, and his influence had surrounded him with people who benefited from remaining on his side. Men who owed him favours, businessmen who profited from his connections, and acquaintances who had learned that it was far more convenient to stand beside Nathaniel than against him. If Cassandra wanted the truth to have its full effect, she needed to begin dismantling that protection before she ever brought her evidence to a magistrate.

His social standing would be the first thing she attacked.

Rumours were much more useful, and they were the surest way to puncture holes in her father’s perfectly maintained reputation. A formal accusation could be challenged, denied, or buried. Gossip was harder to control once it had escaped into society.

People already knew there had been a mining disaster ten years ago, but it was Cassandra’s job to make the public aware of the truths her father had carefully tucked away.

From gentlemen’s clubs to coffeehouses, the story could reach men who dealt directly with Nathaniel. From those men, it would travel home to their wives.

By the time she was done, there would hardly be anyone in Arden who did not know the type of man her father truly was.

Cassandra could already see her plan unfurling before her.

Her mother was a different matter entirely.

Vivienne had spent years cultivating friendships with women who moved through the highest circles of society. She knew who was invited where, who was feuding with whom, whose marriage was failing, whose husband was keeping a mistress, and which family had recently suffered some private humiliation they desperately wanted kept out of the public eye

Her mother had befriended and tolerated some of the vilest gossips in Caldor, shallow women who would not think twice before harshly tearing down anyone who failed to meet their impossibly high standards. Vivienne frequently joined in herself.

Birds of a feather.

Cassandra could make use of that network in her scheme, and her mother would not know until it was too late. She would not even have to tear Vivienne down herself. The rabid pack of dogs she called friends would do it for her.

Cassandra did not want someone repeating details that could only have come from the documents. That would make the source too obvious and give her father something to investigate.

She wanted the sort of gossip that people embellished themselves, each person adding a little more to the story until no one could remember where the original tale had begun.

A question about Ashford’s mines could become concern about his business dealings.

Concern could become suspicion.

Suspicion could become judgment.

And once they decided that a man was questionable, his closest friends began to reconsider how closely they wished to associate with him.

Cassandra had seen it happen before.

"Use your acquaintances, preferably ones who have wide circles," she continued. "People who attend everything and speak to everyone. Let them hear that there are concerns surrounding the Ashfords. Poison their minds and make sure they repeat the same poison to others."

Sebastian understood exactly what she wanted from him, and he was happy to oblige her.

When their meeting finally ended, Cassandra remained seated for a moment after Sebastian had gathered his copy of the documents. There was something strangely calm about having a plan now. The anger was still there, as fierce as it had ever been, but it no longer moved blindly inside her. It had been given direction.

Find Adam. Protect him.

Ignite the rumours that would soon become her father’s undoing.

Sebastian left to begin the search, and Cassandra made her way through the palace toward Theodore’s study.

She had one more thing to do.