Read Online The Robber Bride by Jerrica Knight-Catania - Free Book Online

times even she wondered why she risked it all, but then an incident like with Anna and Mrs. Potts would happen. What would they have done had she not been there? Anna might have died if Victoria hadn’t found Mrs. Potts. Molly might have died without Sarah’s constant attention to bringing down her fever.
    Yes, there was a reason she did what she did, and Fin would never understand.
    She walked alone back to the supper box. Fin was there, pretending to be in good spirits as he regaled her parents with a story about a painting. Tom was absent, probably off somewhere on a lonely garden path with that vile Lady Beecham. No one paid Victoria any mind while she took her seat and turned her attention to the musicians.
    As she listened, she scanned the patrons carefully, looking for her next victim. She needed an easy target, someone who wouldn’t put up any kind of fight when she held them at gunpoint. And someone with a large enough purse to make a difference at the hospital.
    Her gaze landed on a box full of some of London’s most notorious and downright annoying dandies. The flashes of color that erupted from their group were almost offensive to the eye. However, among them would be a generous donor. She just had to figure out which one.
    She rose from her seat and started to leave the box again.
    “Victoria, where are you going?” her mother asked.
    “Just for a bit of air,” she replied, hoping her mother wouldn’t note that the entire theater was open to the air.
    “Not without an escort.”
    Victoria’s eyes darted to Fin. He wore a pained look on his face. The one that said he would rather eat horse excrement than accompany her on a walk right then.
    “I saw Tom,” she said. “He’s only just outside.”
    She prayed her mother would take her word for it, for she truly had no earthly idea where her brother was at the moment.
    “Fine. Be gone with you then.”
    With an internal sigh of relief, Victoria left the box again and set to her plan. She would infiltrate the box of dandies. She had the charm of a porcupine and mediocre looks, but still, she had to try.
    She counted the boxes as she walked around the outside, and when she was sure she’d found the right one, she peeked her head inside.
    “Oh, dear,” she said, loudly enough for the men inside to hear. Seven heads swung her way, some with smiles, some with questioning looks. “I seem to have lost my way. I could have sworn this was my father’s box.”
    She leaned back, pretending to look about at the other boxes. There was a bit of a scuffle inside and then one of the dandies—a rather attractive one, at that—appeared in front of her.
    “Well, you needn’t rush off so quickly, miss. Would you care for a glass of champagne?”
    “Oh, no! I couldn’t possibly drink your champagne!” She gave a nauseating bat of her eyelashes.
    “Please,” the young man replied. “It would be our honor to have such a lovely lady grace our box.”
    Victoria wanted to laugh. As a matter of fact, it was all she could do not to laugh. “Well, I suppose one glass couldn’t hurt.”
    An hour and several glasses of champagne later, Victoria had the dandies eating out of her hand. They seemed fascinated by her, and why shouldn’t they be? She swore, she told bawdy jokes and her ability to deliver sarcasm could not be matched by most men, let alone young debutantes. Part of her hated that she had to choose one to rob in the near future, but it was her job, and she would not be swayed.
    She even surprised herself by her ability to keep up with their banter while trying to distinguish the rich from the poor. Or rather, the ones who had the money to spend, and the ones who didn’t but spent it anyway. By the end of the hour, she had come to a decision, and it almost pained her to make it. She would rob the one who had invited her into the box and offered the champagne.
    The others called him Woodmore . He was a mister, not a lord, and an only child from what she