On instinct, Robert slipped his hand under his pillow and brought out his steel pistol. He glanced beside him and once he noticed Ella was still next to him, his heartbeat normalised again. Who the frigg is screaming like this so early in the morning?

"Did you hear that?" Ella asked, yawning. She looked beautiful under the honey morning light which encompassed her face with a warm glow. But there would be enough time to admire her later. That bloody scream...

Who was it?

"Yes I did," Robert said, tossing her chemise to her. "Dress up quickly, we have to see what's going on downstairs."

He had already put on his clothes and was waiting for Ella to slip into her chemise. She was late as usual. When would she learn?

"Stay behind me," he told her after she had worn the dress and they both exited the room. The hallway was quiet but Robert's ears picked up on faint whimpering and grunting. Whatever it is that was going on down there, it wasn't a good thing.

Slowly, they slinked down the stairs, Robert holding firmly to his gun. By the time they reached the down floor, he used the chance to cock the gun. The lobby was calm, the sounds of the magpies outside singing melodies. If there was no one in the lobby, the next place he had to check was the living room.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure Ella was still with him. Her usually beautiful barely curls were dishevelled and he thought it was wonderful that he got to see her in such a raw state. It was quite hilarious too. And annoying that they had to spend their morning after their first sex like this. It was meant to be spent in each other's hold as they reminisced on the night before.

The corridor that led to the living room was empty and Robert made sure his footsteps were lighter than a feather. Leaning against the doorframe of the living room, he took in a deep breath before he entered with his gun held up.

Fuck.

Everyone in the household was held at gunpoint by men in black. Mrs Tucker was sitting on her usual seat, her hands trembling on the cane she was holding. She was scared, but he assumed she wasn't strong enough to scream that loudly.

The maid hold onto the twins tightly as she cowered with them by the corner. Dorice and Campbell were fidgeting in her hold and Robert was pissed off that Mr Pittsbury would not let this wonderful family be.

The bastard was dressed in a white frock coat and had Howard and the Captain knelt before him, the henchmen holding rifles at their heads. Both of their faces were bruised up and Robert could tell that Howard was beaten up because of his big mouth.

"Ah it's you," Pittsbury said, smiling at Robert. "Drop the gun or everyone gets a bullet in their heads."

Robert didn't hesitate. He slid his pistol across the marble tiles and Pittsbury caught it with his feet.

"Good," the piece of shite said. "Now where's my money?"

"You lost, Mr Pittsbury," Robert said, holding Ella by the forearm and making sure she was behind him. "Be a gentleman and accept defeat."

"That's the problem, he's not a gentleman, he's a bloody lost cause," Howard said and got rewarded with a punch by one of the henchmen. He doesn't ever learn, does he?

"I agree I was a bit overconfident in Ayomide. I didn't know you were that strong, Mr Dickson." Ella stifled a laugh and Robert knew it was because of the odd name. Well, it was the captain who chose to answer a name that included an interesting part of the male body.

"Listen," Pittsbury started, his hand fixing his monocles. "I own this fucking town. And anything I say happens." He motioned at the captain. "So you better bring the money, or I'll kill every single person in this room."

What a situation to be put in. Robert's mind went working at full speed as he tried to decipher a way out of this bloody mess. But it all narrowed down to one thing. He had to give Pittsbury the money because they didn't have a way to attack him. Robert could always give Mrs Tucker twice the amount Pittsbury wanted to take.

"You better not be thinking of giving him the money," The Captain warned, looking Robert dead in the fucking eye.

"That's the only way out of this."

"If you give him the bloody money, there's no guarantee he'll let Mrs Tucker and her family rest."

"Well, we can't be so sure."

"Listen," the Captain growled and for a split second, Robert thought there was a lion in the room. "If you give him the money, we're fucked as well. This man is corrupt."

"Okay, that's enough." Pittsbury sighed, took out his gun and aimed it at the Captain. He gazed lethally at Robert. "So are you going to bring the money or not?"

Captain Asher's brown eyes turned hard and Robert was sure as hell that the Captain may shoot him down if he went on with his decision. His breath hitched when flashes of red appeared in the corner of his eyes.

"Put those guns away! We order you by the power of the British army!"

A troop of soldiers in red uniforms marched into the room with their muskets directed at Pittsbury and his henchmen. Robert recognised these men. They were the Captain's soldiers! He didn't remember the Captain coming with them. Or was this part of his plan all along?

Pittsbury removed the gun from Captain Asher's forehead and two policemen in blue swept in and locked him with cuffs. They did the same with his henchmen.

"You didn't think I'll come to Crawley without my soldiers, did you?" The Captain smirked and patted Robert's shoulder. He advanced to Pittsybury who was still in shock from the surprise takeover. Approaching him, he patted his cheeks, smiling. "I knew a man as corrupt as you wouldn't be satisfied with losing. Your ego won't let you. So I fixed some soldiers around the house and I knew you would bite on the bait."

"Who the fuck are you?" Pittsbury asked.

"Captain Asher Newman of the British army. And today," Captain Asher shook his head. "you stepped on the wrong shoes."

******

The dining room was designed with a golden rimmed table with a white covering, the chairs furnished with white cushions. Everyone except the maid was seated at the table and Mrs Tucker sat at the head. Ella could guess why she called this meeting and she hoped it was what she thought.

"Firstly, I would like to use this opportunity to thank you all again, you've been of huge help to my family. And thanks to you, I can sleep well at night again," she began. "I'm sure all of you could guess why I called this meeting."

Everyone nodded in accord.

"As our part of the deal, I would tell you who the Captain's children are."

Goodness, finally! Ella and Robert locked eyes with each other and put on a smile. Last night was amazing and she didn't believe their morning was going to start the way it did. Nonetheless, there was no reason to feel terrible. She had all the time in the world to spend with him and together they would conquer whatever Gerrard threw at them.

Last night, she was hesitant to come to his room because she felt it may lead to them having sex. However, after much deliberation, she decided to let the night lead the way. She knew she wanted him and there was no need to hide those burning desires.

She had heard about how men would take away a woman's virginity and leave them. Robert was a former rake but was changing for her. He never had the chance to understand the true meaning of love since he barely got any from his parents. She couldn't blame him for such a shortcoming.

He was even reading a romance novel so he could love her better. That was the most romantic thing she had ever seen and was glad he was her first. She loved him and trusted him. And she knew he did too.

"But there's good news," Mrs Tucker's eyes darkened with an ominous cloud. "And bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

"The bad," Captain Asher said. It was his right to decide. They were his children after all. But Ella hoped nothing bad happened to them. Though she had to be optimistic. Besides, they had already won. Gerrard Finley couldn't stop them.

"Before you all came here, two men were here already and claimed they were looking for your children. They claimed you sent them. They had the letter I sent to your house. And I told them who your children were."

"Fuck," Robert said, clenching his jaw as Ella's eyes widened with realization. "Gerrard."

"He was here," Howard ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

Ella was wrong. They hadn't won. In fact, they were far from winning. For the fact that Gerrard was here before them, it meant he was already one step ahead. And she could already guess that the second man was her father. It was funny considering that the man she was trying to make proud was the one pushing her dream away from her.

Captain Asher didn't react like Robert and Howard. He was calm, but his brown eyes were raging and you could see the red streaks surrounding his cornea increasing. Ella was convinced that he was the one who was hurt the most by this. Gerrard was taking away his happiness.

"He wanted to kill me," Mrs Tucker said, locking her hands together. "But he decided to let me leave. He claimed it would piss His Lordship off to know he was a step ahead of him."

"Typical Gerrard," Robert said, his fist tightening.

Howard pursed his lip and looked at Mrs Tucker questionably. "Why didn't you tell us this when we came."

"I wanted to. But when I saw how close the twins were with the Captain, I saw it as a chance to know how ready he was to be a father. And the Pittsbury situation was a good way to do so." She sighed and looked apologetically at the Captain. "I know it was selfish of me even using the opportunity to save my hair too. But I made a promise to Emily. She told me that if you were ever to come back, I should make sure you were ready to father the children."

"What is the good news?" the Captain asked, not bothering to respond to the apology. He must've been too enraged to even care.

"A plan I made eighteen years ago helped me prevent this situation from getting worse. I know Gerrard Finley means no good with that information. He's just like his father."

"What is this plan?" Captain Asher prodded. Ella leaned in closer too. She needed to hear this. What could save them from complete humiliation by Gerrard?

Mrs Tucker's eyes closed shut. "You don't have twins. You have triplets."

The Captain blinked.

And blinked.

And blinked again.

Then his jaw dropped.

That was Ella's reaction but in her mind. There was no way that was possible. The letter read that the Captain had twins.

"After Emily gave birth, she asked me to write this letter which I did. But the original one had the information that you had triplets," Mrs Tucker explained.

"But I was scared that the letter would get in the hands of Edmund since he sent soldiers to find Emily. So I made it twins so that if the letter were to ever fall into the wrong hand, at least one of your children would be safe." The room was so silent you could hear Captain Asher's racing breath.

"Before I took them to be adopted to their various families, I gave the firstborn the locket you gave Emily. It was a sign of respect since it was the only thing any of them could have of you. It was a tough decision, but it was given to the first child. If you read the letter, you'll remember the code at the right bottom of the paper."

"YHTC," Robert drew out, his eyeballs threatening to pop off.

"Yes, it stands for, 'you have three children," Mrs Tucker said. "I added it with the hopes that you'll be able to understand what it meant."

How did she expect them to decipher that? They weren't omniscient. The room went silent once again. They were all dumbfounded to speak. No one saw this bloody twist coming. And Ella felt like this wasn't the last one either. Her guts keep telling her that.

"I have triplets," The Captain said under his breath and brought out a locket from his shirt. It was the locket Ella saw him talking to the other day. Somewhere out there, there was another child of his who had this same golden heart-shaped locket.

Ella noticed Robert's eyes narrow at the locket. It looked like he had seen it somewhere before. Mrs Tucker left the room and returned with a brown file. She held up something that looked like a piece of paper. Settling one down, Ella realised it was a bloody picture.

Everyone went close to see who it was. The boy was tall with high cheekbones and dark hair that fell to the sides of his face

"That's your son. He goes by the name Arthur. His foster father is a stable manager," Mrs Tucker said giving the picture to the Captain. He looked at it, his eyes watering.

"He has my good looks," He said with a laugh that felt like his throat was constricting it. Then the tears came pouring."

"Bloody hell," Robert muttered, pointing at the boy. "I know that lad! He works at my father's stable."

Captain Asher was still emotionally invested in his newly found son that he didn't seem shocked at the prospect that Robert had already known his son a long time ago.

"Your first daughter," Mrs Tucker said and settled another picture on the table. The lady was beautiful with a round face and eyes which didn't look black. She was sitting on a stair, watching a football match. How did Mrs Tucker manage to get her hands on these pictures?

"She has the locket," Captain Asher rubbed his thumb over his locket as he watched the locket on the girl's neck. The salty tears were already slipping into his lips. Howard massaged his back, comforting him. This was a very thoughtful moment for the Captain. It wasn't easy to come this far. He was finally going to

"I knew I had seen that locket somewhere," Robert said, his eyes widening with amazement. "That's Helen. That's bloody Helen!"

"How did you know her?" Mrs Tucker asked, holding the last picture in her hand.

Robert raked his hair, taking a step back as he tried to process it all. He had known two of the children of the Captain already. What sort of coincidence was that?

"I met her one time I went to Gerrard's estate." Robert softly tapped the Captain's shoulder. "Captain, do you remember that person I told you sneaked into Gerrard's office to get Emily's parents' file?"

The Captain cleaned his tears with his forearm and looked up at Robert with inquisitiveness. "Yes, I do."

"That's Helen."

"Blimey," Captain Asher said, covering his mouth with surprise. "Who would have ever known? She's just as brave as her mother."

"I think it's getting a bit unusual that you know all the children, My Lord," Howard observed. Took you long enough.

Mrs Tucker dropped the last picture. "And your last daughter."

Everyone looked at it.

Ella's heart dropped.

Everyone turned to look at her.

Mrs Tucker smiled compassionately. "You're the last daughter, Ella."

Oh, fuck it.

********