“Secrets aren’t those unknown, but are those which kill”

One week after leaving London, Eva and Miss Davis got to Portsmouth, in the Southeast of England, trying this way to be as far as possible from Luis and Christine.

They were tired and hungry, because of the long road, but they decided not to stop for long in no place to not be recognized by someone, who could report their location to their chasers. They just stopped for a half an hour, from time to time, in some secluded spot, and only Albert left the carriage and went to buy some food in a small restaurant or shop, and it did a little bit difficult the road for Eva, who was already started to feel the tiredness caused by her pregnancy, but she also knew that her baby is a secret that can’t be yet revealed to anyone.

Emily told the girl that she waits for a baby two weeks later, after the doctor’s visit, and this was only because she was eating too much and it was something that couldn’t be passed without being noticed by Christine, who could right away understand about the pregnancy and to move Eva to a secret place, till Brian won’t do something important for her. So, Miss Davis decided not to take that risk and told the girl to be careful with what she says or how much eats, at least till Emily will find a solution for that problem.

And this was a problem for Eva, only at the beginning, because she felt that her life is ending, and if Brian won’t accept the baby, then she will be forced to raise him alone and this wasn’t something to fit Eva’s plans for the future. But about one week later, she started to feel a kind of warmth in her heart and when she was sure that nobody is listening or spying on her, Eva started to talk to the baby: about her dreams, about what she read in an interesting book, or about her dreams related to Brian and their love story.

She also thought a lot about telling Brian about their baby, but Emily convinced her that it wasn’t a good idea, because Brian was now involved in a project controlled by Christine and he couldn’t help her or protect her from “Red Ants”. So, Eva kept silent and decided to wait.

It was late dusk already when the carriage stopped in front of the house of Lorenne Fabeau, a French woman, married with an English lord, about a quarter of a century ago, but now, being a widow, she decided to do something useful for her and for other women so, she accepted to be Emily’s ally and her house became in time the hidden den of the “Red Ants” or at least of the part controlled by Emily.

“Finally, you are here,” Lorenne said loudly while approaching the carriage and helping Emily to descend. “Friend, so long time without seeing you,” and hugging Emily, Lorenne was so happy that she could finally help her with something.

Eva approached the two women, a few seconds later, after Albert helped her to descend from the carriage, and her coming had amazed Lorenne so much, who started to look, one by one, at her two visitors. “And this gorgeous miss?” asked Lorenne.

“My pupil,” simply answered Emily and smiled, a sign that the rest of the conversation must be private, and Lorenne decided to listen to her because Emily was wise and she never did anything without an aim.

***

“Pregnant?” asked Lorenne surprised, when she and Emily were sitting in her small library, in the Eastern part of the house, with a big window heading to the garden.

“Yes. She’s waiting for the Lord Brian Beneath’s child, but it must be a secret for the moment … a secret for everyone, Lorenne. For everyone.

“What about Lord Beneath? Does he know about the baby?”

“No. At least not for the moment. Christine has something on him and I think that something is related to the girl.”

“But this means that he’s interested in the girl and if he finds out about his baby…”

“Perhaps, Lorenne, but you forgot that he’s married and that his wife is nobody else than Sophie Anderson Bell, and a cobra-like her won’t ever accept to raise someone else’s baby.”

Lorenne kept silent for a few moments and then, she stood up and, approaching the window, she half-opened it and lit a cigarette. “How to forget who's Sophie Anderson Bell? Because of her family, I’m now how I am.”

Emily approached Lorenne and, staring into her eyes, she whispered. “It’s time, Lorenne. It’s time to start our mission and the first to fall has to be Luis Chesterman”.

The wind is playing with the window, making it slowly scream, but nobody is interested in closing it, because the two women are too involved in their secret talk, whispering and planning something that it’s about to start.

***

Luis and Marianne Chesterman had a girl who was born a year after their marriage, but that girl disappeared at the age of 5, after a long journey with her mother through Europe.

Nobody ever found out what happened to that girl that day and what fate she had after her missing, but this never bothered her parents too much who understood that they aren’t bounded anymore and that without a child in common they can live their life how they want and so had started to be dug the abyss between them.

When the girl disappeared, Marianne was in Paris. She left the girl to stay in the carriage, till she will visit the jewelry store and she ordered her teamster to look for the girl, but when she returned, 5 hours later, she found only the empty carriage and no trace of the girl or of the teamster.

She started to ask around about where they went, but nobody saw anything or listened to anything, so Marianne decided to go to the police, but there they told her that she is the only one guilty for their missing and if she needs to find her child, she must do it by herself.

“You are just stupid dogs, hungry for money,” Marianne told to the policemen and left the police station in a hurry and half an hour later she was in her hotel room, writing a letter to her husband, but she never sent it, because after a night of thinking about it she decided that it was the best which could happen to them and she gave up to the idea to find her girl.

When she returned to London, half a year later, she just told Luis: the girl is missing. It has been 6 months already. I tried to find her, but it turned out to be impossible and I think that her missing isn’t something that bothers you too much, as you never loved her and you had always looked for a boy, instead of a girl.”

“Useless as always,” mumbled Luis, while he was leaving the house, and it definitely wasn’t something of his interest, but even so, only to not be later judged by the society, he decided to hire someone to look for the girl.

Years had passed, Luis found another interest in Christine and he dreamt about having a boy with her, but Christine never wished to be a mother and when she first got pregnant, she didn’t tell Luis about the baby, but in great secret, she got rid of him.

Chesterman found out about that aborted pregnancy, much later and he decided to get revenge on the woman who he was loving so much, but he couldn’t forgive her the fact that she lost a baby without telling him about it and this hurt his pride.

It was a dark, cold night of January, when Christine was returning home, after a journey in the Northern part of the country, when her small crew, made up of only 5 people, had been attacked by a group of masked people and they had been slaughtered till the last one.

Christine woke up 5 days later, in her home and she found amazed that she had a deep wound in her belly, after being stabbed by one of the assailants and that she had also been raped. It was something she never expected and she felt that it hadn’t also been random, because if they had been attacked for money, nobody would have been killed so easily, but those who attacked them never asked them for money - they just started to slaughter the crew, and when she tried to escape, somebody hit her down her neck and she lost consciousness.

Much later, about 8 or 10 months after that incident, the memories of that night started to return to Christine and she found out that after losing consciousness that night she had been dragged on the ground, grabbed by a hand, and then she had been put in somebody’s carriage, but she doesn’t remember his face, because when to watch at him, that mysterious man, who was wearing a long, black cloak, covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief that was smelling bad and she soon fell asleep.

Christine tried to find out about that night and not because it was so important for her just to know who had hurt her, but because she was dreaming to get revenge on that person, to make him suffer a lot, but days passed and she got nothing, a sign that her attacker is someone influential enough and she started to suspect Marianne, who not only once threatened her with killing her.

But fate was smiling at her and a year later, when she found out about Emily’s pregnancy, Christine decided to tease Marianne, so she presented herself to Chesterman’s house and told her rival: “your days are counted, Marianne: as Chesterman’s wife and as a noblewoman, because soon you will be chased out of this house and my pupil will take your place. She is expecting a child from him and I feel that it will be a boy - that boy Luis always dreamt about,” but she had been so surprised to see a smile on Marianne’s face.

“Do you think I don’t know about that baby? You are such a fool, Christine Bircham. You never knew me and you will never know how to kill me, but even so, I propose to you a deal, not something that should be known by many, only for show.”

“I’m listening to you,” Christine told her rival, so interested to find out what the other was planning and she also felt that their alliance can bring her a lot of benefits because nobody else could destroy a person other than Marianne Chesterman.

“Get rid of that baby for me!” Marianne finally said, causing a burst of laughter in Christine. “If you do this, I’ll tell you who tried to kill you that night.”

“It was you who tried to kill me,” whizzed Christine through his teeth, but Marianne just nodded and smiled. “If I wanted to see you dead,” said Marianne, “you would have been dead by now. But you aren’t someone so important to ask somebody to get rid of you. Don’t be silly. They are people much more interested to see you dead than me and those people are somebody so close to you, but you don’t even suspect them.”

Two days later, Emily fell down the stairs in the theatre and only two women, dressed as men, had been there: Christine and Marianne, but only one had been seen by Miss Davis, who never found out that she had been made responsible for what happened to Christine, even if it wasn’t true.