I balled my hands, trying to stop my mind racing with scenarios of what he would make me do.

Cut spun around, pointing a finger like a professor teaching a vital lesson. “Here’s where it gets complicated, Nila, so pay attention. Bennett Hawk despised what the Weavers did to his family. He ached constantly from the rape and time moved forward where daily atrocities were delivered. As much as he hated it, his family continued to work for the Weavers. Indebted to them with unpayable taxes and outstanding warrants. They could never leave the Weaver’s employ, thanks to a bribed police officer.

“More years passed where no hope of being saved seemed possible. Until Mabel Hawk, the mother who saved, not only her family but her bloodline, did what she had to do to repair their future.”

Cut smiled broadly. “She thought outside the box. She used whatever assets she had and fought against society and social standing.” He shook his head, almost in awe of his ancestor. “She took out a loan, Nila. Not just a loan, but a carefully plotted move and effortlessly executed design. Once her husband, Frank, died of sickness, instead of giving up, she blossomed. She approached a wealthy earl and bedded him. She’d learned the art of seduction thanks to Percy Weaver raping her every night and put that training to good use. Through sheer determination, she earned the good graces of the earl, who agreed to grant her money for revenge.

“His heart grew fond of her. After her tale of what the Weavers had done, along with evidence of her nightly terrors, husband’s death, and her son’s troubles, he agreed to take the Hawks in and helped them with legal counsel and the drawing up of the Debt Inheritance.

“Bennett Hawk was mentally unstable from his tragedy when it came to signing the Debt Inheritance. However, it didn’t stop the document being lodged with the crown thanks to the earl who’d become mesmerised by Mabel Hawk. On the day of the signing, Bennett didn’t have an heir but Mabel circumnavigated that problem by writing an unborn son called William Hawk into the binding contract. She thought of everything, never resting as she prepared to overthrow the Weavers. It didn’t matter to her there would be an age gap. She had bigger plans than taking Sonya’s life.

“In a few short years, she’d earned the affection of a powerful gentleman, all for her own ends, protected her family, and ensured retribution to those that’d hurt her.”

Cut stopped pacing. “But it wasn’t enough.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “She was on her own with no husband or help. If she failed, the Weavers would ensure she’d be arrested and rot in jail for ever daring to leave their employ. The Debt Inheritance was flimsy at best. She had no wealth to back up her claim. No court on her side. No crown to defend her. She’d done all she could with the earl’s help, but she needed more. More money, more power, more protection.

“As it was, living in the earl’s house, she and Bennett were untouchable for a short time. She worked tirelessly, never failing in her quest to bring the Weavers down, but despite the earl helping her, his small amount of power wasn’t enough to ensure the Debt Inheritance would be enforced.

“A few years passed and the threat of the Debt Inheritance kept the Weavers from coming after her. However, Sonya grew older and Bennett still had no heir. The ages to be claimed would become void, and Mabel wasn’t getting any younger. So she put the next part of her plan in place.

“Despite her hoodwinking the earl in the bedroom, he wouldn’t do anything more. He wouldn’t publicly announce his involvement with her—relationships outside classes were forbidden—and she grew tired of being yet another secret and burden.

“Instead, she set her sights higher. Her family had their freedom—for now—and were the proud owners of a document stating Bennett Hawk’s heir could claim Sonya Weaver to extract the debts his family had endured. However, Bennett refused. His fight was gone and he slipped into sickness and depression.

“Mabel noticed her son fading and did what any mother would do to immortalise her family’s lineage. She hired a girl off the street—a whore she knew in passing, a girl who’d fallen for the malicious sins of the upper class. She interviewed this girl, got close to her, and ensured she was good stock to breed the perfect offspring. Only once she was sure she was strong and untouched by disease did she get her son drunk enough to make love to her night after night until she was pregnant with a new heir.”

Cut pursed his lips. “What was the name of that heir, Nila?”

Despite the sudden switch from storytelling to questioning, I remembered easily. “William Hawk.” A firstborn son. Fate smiling kindly on a family who’d endured so much. How different would history have been if he’d had a girl instead?

He nodded, satisfied. “Yes, exactly.”

Breaking eye contact, Cut continued to roam the room, unable to stay still. Jethro followed him with his gaze, like me. While Cut talked, we were safe. However, the moment the lesson was over…we wouldn’t be.

I didn’t want to listen. I wanted to plot an escape. But Cut’s voice dragged me back under his tortuous spell.

“Bennett sprang to life when the whore gave birth to his son, but it wasn’t enough to completely drag him from his demons. He lived a little longer, enough to see his son grow up from toddler to young boy, before succumbing to the sweating-sickness that plagued London with no warning.

“Instead of mourning her son’s death, Mabel Hawk kept it a secret and summoned a meeting with Sonya Weaver. She had already hit maturity and was old enough to understand her place in society. She was of claiming age, but William was still too young. However, that was never Mabel’s intention, and it didn’t stop her from setting things into motion. Things she’d planned for years now she had an heir to fulfil her prized future.