“Was Anant always working for you? Or was he ever loyal to Hollingford?”

Nigel shook his head in regret. “He came to work for me last year, after I brought his family under my—“ he paused to consider the right word ”—protection, if you will. Anant saw that it was better to keep his loyalty to me, instead of Hollingford. In addition, I provided him with as much opium as he wished.”

Stephen did not betray a thread of his fear. “There was no need to take my family captive.”

“Oh, they brought that upon themselves.” Nigel poured himself a cup of tea from the silver pot and added several spoonfuls of sugar. “But they may be of use to me.”

“Emily believed you were a man of honor.” With a hard look toward Freddie, Stephen added, “Both of you betrayed her.”

“Freddie has been working for me for several years now,” Nigel admitted. He grimaced at the tea and added more sugar. “Killing is one of his greatest talents. Along with extortion, of course. He managed to get quite a bit of money out of Carstairs.” He lifted the cup to his lips and drank. “Few would suspect it of him, which is what makes him quite good.”

Freddie rebuttoned the cuffs of his shirt, a slight smile playing upon his lips.

“You killed Emily’s brother,” Stephen guessed. “And Carstairs.”

“I did,” Freddie admitted. “Hollingford owed me a great deal of money, and it was good to bestow justice.” The smile deepened, showing his pleasure in the deed.

Stephen struggled to loosen the ropes without drawing more attention. And yet, with each movement, the knots seemed to grow tighter. His skin had rubbed raw in a few places, but he kept working at his bonds.

The ropes did not budge, but right now he wished he could wrap them around Reynolds’s neck. He wanted to suffocate the smile of satisfaction gleaming upon Freddie’s face.

“Were you the one who attacked my wife in the garden?” Stephen gritted out.

“It was a hired man,” Nigel responded. “I sent him to talk to my niece.”

“Threaten her, you mean.”

Nigel shrugged. “Stronger means were necessary to gain what I needed. Emily knew where her brother kept his ledgers. I was afraid he’d kept records that might lead back to me.”

“You stole the shipping profits.”

“Of course I did. And if you hadn’t turned up alive, no one would be the wiser.” He reclined upon the Grecian couch and sipped at the tea. “Opium is quite a profitable export, really. A shame the Chinese keep interfering.”

“What is it you want, Nigel?”

The older man lifted his cup of tea. “I should think that’s obvious, Whitmore. I want to live my life in luxury. And no one needs to worry about how I got my money. Which is why, I’m afraid, there are several of you who will have to be silenced.”