Her stomach turned.
Their eyes locked. Recognition flickered across his face, and John Lambert headed straight for them.
Francesca gripped Alma’s arm. “He’s seen me!”
Alma swore. “I’ll usher Lambert to his office and talk to him there. You go on to the matron’s office. I’ll come for you—”
“Alma!” Lambert called as he darted toward the door. “Alma!”
They ignored him and picked up their pace until they were nearly running.
Francesca’s pulse pounded in her ears, and visions of a fist at her temple flashed behind her eyes. A bloodied lip. A deep ache in her abdomen. Flashes of memories she’d buried rose with a vengeance to batter her will, to frighten her and tell her she was nothing. She gasped, nearly stumbled, but kept pace.
They weren’t fast enough.
“Ladies!” John caught up to them, grabbing Alma by the arm. He flashed them a bright smile. “Where are we headed to in such a hurry? I see you’ve brought a guest. How fortunate we are. Hello, Miss Ricci.”
A roaring began in her ears.
“Can we speak in your office.” Alma’s request was more of a command.
“What about?” he snapped, his charm falling away in an instant. “I’m very busy at the moment. It’s not a good time to be seen shirking my duties.”
“It can’t wait,” she pressed.
Francesca self-consciously covered the bump at her middle.
His gaze followed her movements, and a tiger’s smile carved his face. “My, my, pregnant already? I can’t say that I’m surprised, given the way you throw yourself at men. I might ask what you’re doing here. Again.”
The memories of Francesca’s father came again, unbidden, and suddenly her fear vanished and anger took its place. Her eyes narrowed. “I grew up with a man like you. Someone who takes advantage of those who can’t fight back, but I’m not afraid of you!” Rage heated her throat, her chest. “You’ll never mean anything to anyone, no matter how powerful you think you are. And now you’ll lose everything for the wrong you’ve done, just as you deserve.”
He bared his teeth again. “You’re nothing but a little whore, and do you know what we do with women like you? We throw them out like the trash they are. Better pack your things. I’m booking you on the next ship to Naples.”
“No!” Alma said firmly. “She’s done nothing wrong. You can’t do that!”
“I can and I will.”
Francesca faltered, shocked the order had come so swiftly. But he only had power over her if she allowed it—and she’d rather rot in hell than let this man take away the life she had built in America. She’d worked too hard to be here. She would go, all right, but it wouldn’t be on a ship and it wouldn’t be at his order. Tomorrow morning while the city was still sleeping, she would board a train and leave town.
Rather than dissolve into tears and pleading, she met his dark eyes.
“Say what you will, little man, but I will do as I please.”
*
Lambert smirked as if amused by the fit of a petulant child. “Is that so? Well, I guess I’ll have to call the guards to detain you.”
Alma yanked Fran behind her, as if somehow she could shield her friend from Lambert’s threats. “No, I won’t accept this. We’re going to see the commissioner.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Lambert said.
“Fran, I’m going to talk to him about the engagement,” Alma said in Italian to prevent Lambert from understanding, “and while I’m distracting him, you go to Williams’s office. Go right inside. Don’t wait for me. Tell him all you know. I’ll be behind you as soon as I can.”
“No. Absolutely not,” Fran said emphatically. “I won’t leave you alone with this man.”
“Please go,” she implored her friend. “It’s the only way to protect you.”
Several groups of immigrants pressed around them as they passed in the hallway, making the hall crowded, stuffy.
But Alma didn’t lose eye contact with John. This couldn’t go on. “I need to talk to you!” she shouted over the noise. “In your office.”
“What do you want?” he snapped as the last of the immigrants passed them. “I don’t have time for this.”
“I think we should speak privately,” she insisted, her voice even, “but if you want me to embarrass you in front of everyone in this hall, we can do this here.”
Frustrated, he gripped Alma’s arm and roughly directed her to his office. She cast a look over her shoulder to ensure Fran was doing as she should—staying as far away from this man as possible and going on to Williams’s office. But fury burned in her friend’s eyes, and her cheeks were pink with rage. She hesitated only an instant and followed them.
As Lambert unlocked the door, Fran slipped her hand into Alma’s. “I don’t care what he does to me. I’m not leaving you to face him alone.”
Alma’s heart flooded with gratitude, and before John could close the door, the words rushed out. “The engagement is off, John. I know about your misconduct. I’ve already told my parents, and I’ll be talking with the minister this weekend. It’s over.” Confidence coursed through her as she continued. “I can’t believe you would do those things! All of those poor women.”
He laughed cruelly. “You’re too ugly for my taste anyway, Brauer. I’d have had to roll you over every night so I wouldn’t have to look at your face.”
She gasped, reeling from the horrible words. How had she not seen this side of him before? His kindness had been a ruse, his thoughtful gifts and concern nothing more than a ploy to get what he wanted—his inheritance and an association with a German family moving up in the world.
“Now, you’re to come with me.” He gripped Fran’s arm as if to drag her away.
Fran didn’t waste a moment. She kicked Lambert as hard as she could, letting loose a stream of obscenities in Italian.
He howled, clutching his knee. “You bitch!”
“What the hell is going on here?” a male voice boomed in the doorway. Commissioner Williams. At last. “I thought I told you to wait for me, Miss Brauer. I could hear your shouting in the hallway! I want all of you, in my office, now!”
Fran scooted to Alma’s side and they followed Williams as he stormed to his office. Several other employees still waited by his door and on the bench outside. Their faces were lined with fear.
Once inside, Alma and Lambert began talking at once.
Mr. Williams held up his hand and cast Lambert a dirty look. “Ladies first.”
She relayed everything that had happened in John’s office and, lastly, presented Fran as the proof the commissioner had been seeking. Williams’s eyes turned shrewd when he noticed her rotund belly.
“This is all lies!” Lambert shouted. “That woman threw herself at me! What man turns away a tryst with an eager and beautiful woman? Surely you understand that, Williams.”
Fran stepped forward. “Sir, he threatened to deport me if I did not. My home is not a safe place so I agreed. What choice did I have? Now I pay a different price.” She rested her hands on her pregnant belly.