All the Things You Never Knew Read online

  Leon hated to admit that the old marquess was correct with his assumption. His siblings would do whatever it takes to save his life. They would hand off the jewels just like that. God, he just hopes this devil man hasn’t yet send out his crew. He will never forgive himself if any of his siblings were sacrificed for him. He will never forgive this old man either and would not rest until he sees him dead!

  “And,” the marquess started again, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Your little whore would be dispose of after my son has his way with her, that is. You better think twice. Hand over the stone, or lose your siblings and your beloved whore.”

  Leon have to make a choice. He would never allow such a thing to happen to Rose, nor his siblings. His garnet stone, whoever thought that some idiot old man would go this far for it? There’s twelve totaled. If he sacrificed his, he could still protect his siblings’. Losing one is better than a whole set. Unless it’s already too late and this arse has sent his men to invade their manor. He will risk it and take the chance.

  “Fine,” Leon said through clenched fists and teeth. “I will give you the stone!”

  The marquess faced him and smiled. “Would you now?”

  “Sure,” Leon answered. “I will give you the stone.”

  “All right.” The old man stepped forward and held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

  “For your information, m’lord, I am chained up.”

  “Well, that’s too bad, is it?” He stepped back and gave out a loud whistle sending in four giant men.

  “Hell,” Leon cursed to himself. What now?

  “Yes, m’lord?” The men saluted, standing in a straight line in front of the marquess.

  “Search this bloody bastard for the garnet stone of the Sacred Cave,” he ordered. “Strip him off his clothes if needed.”

  “Yes, m’lord!”

  “You are quite a coward,” Leon replied, as the men came forward, holding his arms and legs still while one of them search him. “This is absurd. Let me go and I shall give it to you.”

  “And you are quite stupid to think I would fall for such a trick.”

  “I’m serious!” Leon said. This was his only choice if he’s not being fooled, which he knows for sure he is.

  “Just search him,” the marquess said to his men without paying him any attention. “Shred up his clothes.”

  “Yes, m’lord!”

  The unison answer from the men was starting to annoy Leon.

  One of them stripped off his shirt while the other three worked on his boots and breeches.

  “Enough!” Leon shook them off as hard as he could and glared down at the marquess. “I’m sorry, m’lord,” he said, mimicking the service men of the marquess. “Stripping me naked wouldn’t do you any good. I don’t even have the stone with me.”

  That was the truth. It had just dawned on him when the marquess’s men were taking off his boots. He had tossed them off at Rose’s place. His dagger was in there and the stone was on it. It must have flown out somewhere and he had forgotten. For sure it’s not with him.

  “You are not jesting, are you?” the marquess asked, eyeing him closely. “You do know that you’re at my advantage now. Lying won’t do you any good.”

  “Of course, I know,” Leon replied, blowing an exasperated breath. “You are wasting your time. Let me go and I shall go get the stone for you.”

  “No,” the old man answered. “I was afraid this would happen so I told my men to leave your wonderful friend a note at the inn. An earl, was it? It requested for the stone in exchange of your life. If they don’t bring it in three days, then you shall see your parents in hell.”

  Great! Now Longsword’s in this mess.

  “You actually think he will bring it?” asked Leon. “He doesn’t even know that it existed. And you are going to be the one going to hell while my parents laugh up in heaven. I would make sure of it.”

  The old man burst into laughter. “You are just as foolish as your father. Stubborn till his death.”

  “At least my father was brave enough to take a stand against you coward who needs five men to go against one.”

  “Which was not a wise decision for him,” said the marquess. “But if you want to follow those footsteps, go ahead. My men here would take care of you. Have fun with this bastard, boys.” With that, the marquess left and his men stepped forward.

  “Well,” said one of the them as they look at Leon. “This is going to be fun.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Lansing Villa

  Rose stood in front of the gates to Lansing Villa and took in a deep breath. She’s going to do this all right. She’s going to put on a big show

  to help Leon.

  Rose slowly pushed the gates open and step inside, the wind urging her onto the first few steps.

  “Well,” she said to herself as she reached the entrance. “Here goes nothing.”

  She raised her hand up and knocked on the door. When there was no answer she tried again, harder this time and finally a maid open up.

  That’s when her charade started rather rudely.

  “Ugh! Why are you so slow?” Rose started as she pushed pass the maid inside. “Where’s his lordship?” Her voice was getting screechy with her feigning of worries and sorrow. “I heard he was badly hurt. My beloved Lord, where is he?” she demanded with a stomp of her foot.

  The maid looked startled to the bottom of her soul, making Rose feel guilty. But the show must go on.

  “Where is he?” she demanded again with another loud stomp.

  “R-right…Right over in the s-sitting room,” the maid stuttered saying. “I-I w-will show you t-to him, m-m’lady.”

  Poor maid.

  She quickly led Rose down the hall and stop in front of a large French door.

  “His lordship is–”

  Rose cut the maid off with a push aside and threw open the door to find Lord Lansing resting on the couch. His head was bandaged all around; his face was swollen with bruises and one of his eyes was half shut.

  Boy, Leon did a good job.

  “Oh, Marcus!” Rose feigned the cry, running off to wrap her arms around him. “Who in the world did this to you?”

  He looked bewildered at first and then moaned in pain as he move his arms around her.

  “Lansing. Oh, Lord Lansing. Who the devil did this to you?” she asked, faking tears as she pulls him up in a loose embrace. “Tell me. Tell me and I shall see him sent to the devil.”

  “Seriously?” he wheezed out that made Rose had to stifle back an urge to laugh. This was all too amusing.

  “Yes,” she said, dropping kisses on his face full of bumps. Sorry, Leon. “I would sure emasculate him for doing such a ruthless thing to you. Tell me. Whoever, wherever he is, I shall go and blind him with his own manhood.”

  “You…are talking rather…improper, m’lady,” Lansing said, his voice merely a whisper.

  “Shut up!” Rose said, literally throwing his head back down on the couch.

  “Ouch!”

  “I’m serious about it,” she said. “Take me to that bastard and I will teach him a lesson.”

  “You do…know that it’s that b-bastard Leon of yours…right?”

  Bastard Leon of mine?

  How did he know? Rose wondered, but soon wiped it off to play along.

  “Is it?” Anger was feigned on her brows. “That bastard. Leaving me and now destroying you, the love of my life. We should have gotten married. Where is he? I want to go and give him a piece of my mind.”

  There was a gleam in the marquess’s eyes as she said that. “Do you really?”

  She sighed and kneeled down in front of him. “Yes,” she said, reluctantly pressing her lips to his. “I will. Anything for you, my love.”

  He smiled and clutched her head down to his. “I would like to see that.”

  Rose quickly pulled away before he can kiss her again and stood up. “Oh, you will. Whenever you’re well, we should go. He must pay for this. His
action is intolerable.”

  “How about now?” he inquired, wincing as he got up to sit. “He is in one of our torturing chamber in Islington. Short ride. I can get one of the footmen to–”

  “Oh, but you are not well!” Rose interjected, pushing the marquess back down. “You must rest.”

  “Must rest? Don’t kid me now. I want to see you torture that bastard, too,” he said, getting up again. “Pull that rope for me, will you? I think I’m excited enough to gain the strength.”

  Rose wasn’t having much of a good feeling at Lord Lansing’s remark, for she felt her act would be going over what she had wanted. But she nodded, and went to pull the rope anyway for Lord Lansing’s valet and left him to do his business. Whatever happens, she only hoped that she would make it back to tell the Earl of Longsword and save Leon’s life.

  Hargate Inn

  “So Heartily almost thrash the life out of Lansing? Damn, I would have enjoyed the sight,” exclaimed Laguna as Longsword summarized up all that had happened while he was gone.

  “Yes, so now we have to go save his ass. Lansing would be revenging, no doubt.”

  “You said Lady Rose would find out where he is held, right? We shouldn’t worry. Let her play her role, and then we will jump in to the rescue.”

  “Yes, I’m counting on her.”

  “So,” Hargate said, swirling the wine in his cup around as they sat. “How long do you think this is going to take? The notes said a limit of three days. A full day has passed, you know. Do you think Lady Rose have succeeded yet?”

  “Too quick to say, but she should be out to convince the marquess already. She has to save her bridegroom. After all, she and Leon are getting married.”

  “What? No way!” Hargate could hardly believe what Longsword just said. “Leon and Rose are getting married now? Lord, and he said they can never be. That fool. Lady Rose better succeed in this because I have to be his best man at the altar.”

  “Indeed,” Longsword threw in with a nod. “We have to make sure they both make it to the altar at the end with us cheering with the crowd.”

  “All right then. We have to start preparing for whatever is to come when Lady Rose calls in,” Hargate said with a snap of his fingers. “We cannot fail Leon now. He had come a long way.”

  “Crazy long way, that is,” Longsword said with a smile. “Really crazy long way.”

  “I can’t believe he almost drank the life out of him,” Hargate laughed. “He can’t say Lady Rose doesn’t mean anything to him now. She means a whole lot if he went through half the Scotch in the cellar.”

  “She means the world to him, all right.”

  “Well, a toast to their love,” Hargate said, holding up his cup towards Longsword. “May it last forever.”

  Islington

  “H-here we are, Lady Rose,” said the Marquess of Lansing as he held out his hand to help Rose down the carriage. “Welcome to our House of Doom where every arse in the world would have to face if they humiliate a Dent.”

  Rose looked at the stone mansion in front of her and scoffed, “Ha! I can’t wait to see that Leon. Let’s go.”

  Rose trotted behind the marquess slowly as he led them into the house and down a long corridor. She was quite excited to see Leon, though her heart fears for what he had faced while he was here. She just hopes he wasn’t hurt so badly. It would totally break her heart to see him in any fallen condition.

  “That bastard is down here now,” Lansing said to Rose as he slowly opens up a door with stone steps descending down to a pitch dark pit. “Careful now. I need to balance myself, too, because of that bastard.”

  “Sure.”

  Rose passes the marquess and hurried down the steps, giving him no assistance.

  Leon was all she could think about.

  Please be all right. Please be…Rose went blank with terror as she got to the bottom of the steps, and saw in the dimness of the room her beloved spread out on the wall.

  She covered her mouth with a gasp, and jumped as a deep voice spoke her name.

  “Rose. Lady Rose Dawson, Daughter of Viscount Herring. Welcome.”

  Rose saw that it was the old solicitor of the marquess that stepped out from the darkness to the dim light so she could see him.

  “Yes, it is I,” Rose answered with a nod. This old man intimidates the heck out of her.

  “And what reason do you have to be–”

  “Father,” came the marquess from behind her. “Lady Rose is here to give some torturing of revenge for what that bastard did to me. You should go get the whip for her to give him a hundred slashes.”

  What? Father? But the old man is…Marcus had always said that he was…

  “Don’t look so surprise,” the now Father of the Marquess said to her. “I am Marcus’s father. You should know that by our looks.”

  Rose hadn’t been that observant to realize their similar features. She had simply believed that the marquess’s father was dead, and this old man was really his solicitor when he said so the first time they met. But why? It angers her to think that she could have ended up in a marriage of deception.

  She turned her mind back to Leon to wipe away that fury and sighed. Slashing Leon wasn’t what she had in mind. Hurting him was a jest. Looking at him now, he’s already…looking almost as bad as that Lansing. His head was hung down and his top was half naked with wounded scars and...

  Oh! It was a heartbreaking sight. It’s all her fault. Everything was her fault. Her stupid lies and everything!

  “Ah, my future daughter-in-law is going to be fierce and dirty now, huh? Well, I would love to see that.”

  Future daughter-in-law? Never!

  The old marquess blew a whistle and a sliding door opened with four gigantic guards coming in carrying a whip, a sword, and a spear.

  This doesn’t look so good to Rose. She bet they were the one that hurt Leon. Well, they will pay soon enough.

  “Hand her that whip will you?” said the old marquess to the guard.

  Before Rose knew it, the whip was in her hand and Lansing was pushing her towards the unconscious Leon hanging on the wall.

  “I think he’s hurt bad enough. You all did a very good job at–”

  “Nonsense!” the marquess and his father interjected.

  “You must have your turn in the finishing touch,” said Lansing.

  Oh, what have she gotten herself into.

  Rose held herself together with a deep breath and strolled forward.

  “All right!” she said, swinging the whip about. “Let’s see to this rogue’s life, shall we?”

  “Now that’s my lady,” Marcus chimed.

  Rose step slowly towards Leon, clasping her hands together to keep them from trembling.

  Sorry, Leon.

  Another painful charade was about to begin.

  Feigning a powerful hatred towards Leon, Rose raised the whip up and launched it forward, striking Leon with a snap.

  He gave out a groan in pain and raised his head up, opening his eyes slowly to look at her.

  Oh, how it hurts her so to see the bruises and marks along his cheeks and blood glistening from his wounds.

  “R-Rose…” he murmured, leaning towards her. “Y-you. You’re…really–”

  Rose cut him off with a slap, striking him dumb.

  “Don’t ever talk to me again, you despicable fool!” she snapped.

  “Well done!” clapped Marcus and his father as they step up from behind her.

  I’m so sorry, Leon…

  “This i-is all your d-doing, isn’t it?” Leon hissed madly at his lordship.

  Rose wished dearly that it was the marquess’s doing but it was actually her charade to save him.

  “Foolish idiot,” Rose had to pretend again. “We were all in this together. It should have dawned on you already. Do you think I would still care for you? You’re just a pathetic fool!”

  That sparked anger in Leon’s eyes and he lunge towards her

  “So what hap
pened between us the other night…you don’t give a damn about?”

  Oh great! Did he really have to bring it up?

  Damn you, Leon!

  “Rot it all to the devil,” she answered, hoping he will stop to not cause any suspicion among his lordship. It wouldn’t be good.

  “So when you held me, kissed me, loved me…all that was a sham?”

  He was angry. Very angry.

  Please, Leon. Can’t you understand that I am playing a game of deception here for your survival?

  “Shut up!” she said, bringing the whip upon him once more. “Don’t think you can use nonsense to ruin the love between me and his lordship.”

  Leon winced and gathered himself up again to face her. His eyes were so dark it sent a shiver down her spine. If looks can kill, his would.

  “I-I c-can’t believe you would do this to me, Rose. You betrayed me.”

  “Like how you betrayed her,” Lansing add in. “My father and I knew about you two’s past. That’s why I will love her more than you ever did.”

  So they knew about Leon and me from the very start?

  Oh, blast them to the devil, Rose thought. She sees now that she had been a plot against Leon all along. They were trying to use her to bring him back. And coincidently, he did. He came back. He shouldn’t have.

  Darn! Leon’s going to hate her so much after this.

  “You’re right, my marquess,” Rose said saucily, backing off to trail a finger over the contour of Lansing’s lips. “You will love me and I will love you.”

  He gave her an upturning smile and bend down to kiss her before she can protest.

  “No!” Leon shouted, struggling in his chains. “You lied, Rose! You lied!”

  Rose ignored him, fighting back the tears forming in her eyes. Why does she always have to be so weak?

  Sorry.

  She wrapped her arms around Lansing’s neck and pulled back to meet the killing glare of Leon’s.

  “Go to hell,” she said, straightening up on her feet. “We must get going now,” she said to his lordship. “I don’t want to see this weakling’s face anymore.”

  With that, she turned away and strolled back up the stairs, tears rolling softly down her cheeks. In the background, she could hear Leon shouting her name and asking why she did that to him.