Journey's End (Gilded Promises) Read Online Free

terribly tragic.
    Would she ever find a place to call home?
    Until she completed her task in this city, it was a question she dared not ask herself. Where she ended up after this ordeal was over didn’t matter. It couldn’t.

    Jackson Montgomery had a long, tedious afternoon ahead of him, one that promised nothing but trouble, assuming his assistant’s report proved correct. Since John Reilly was meticulous with his details, often to a fault, Jackson braced for the worst as he rounded the corner of Hester Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
    With his assistant following silently beside him, Jackson was able to study his surroundings without interruption or unnecessary input.
    Eyeing the general area, he drew in a sharp breath of air and swallowed back a hiss. The oppressive stench of rotting vegetables, day-old fish, and unwashed linens filled his nose. The low, mournful sound of a merchant’s shout rang out, followed by several more. Even though the end of the day approached, countless men, women, and—sadly—children continued to conduct their daily business, as if every sale mattered to their ultimate survival. Which, Jackson realized, was probably true.
    Various foreign languages wafted through the foul-scented air. Jackson recognized German, Italian, and several Slavic dialects. Even accented English from the British Isles joined the incomprehensible jumble of words as the people haggled over prices.
    He’d never seen so many desperate souls jammed in one place. Not even the opening-night crush at the opera compared with such chaos. Careful to avoid knocking someone over, he wove through the marketplace at a slow pace. After nearly careening into a cart of radishes, he turned onto Orchard Street, where the five tenement houses he owned were located.
    Tapping into the remaining scraps of his self-control, Jackson emptied his mind of all emotions, all thoughts, all intents save one: the landlord of his Orchard Street tenement houses had better be prepared with an explanation.
    Despite Jackson’s efforts to remain detached, icy anger surged. He swallowed back the emotion and focused on the alleyway to his right and then the one on his left. So many people. So little space available for them.
    As if reading his thoughts, John Reilly broke his silence. “So many people, living on top of one another, it’s unconscionable.”
    “Yes, it is.” Jackson swerved out of the way of a toddling child clinging to her mother’s skirt. “They pack themselves in the tenement houses along these streets, sometimes three generations to a room.”
    “That can’t be comfortable. Nor”—his eyes haunted and filled with distress, Reilly frowned at the overflowing gutters and trash on the street—“sanitary.”
    Left eye twitching, jaw tight, Jackson fisted his hand with a white-knuckle grip. “No, not without proper ventilation in the apartments it isn’t.”
    Hence the reason he’d given Smythe such a large sum of money last month. He’d instructed the landlord to make long overdue repairs as well as construct a series of interior windows that would allow the outside air to better flow through the individual apartments.
    With so many people living in one unit, the airless rooms had to be stifling on a good day, unbearable in the summer. The image brought a heavy dose of guilt. Why had he not come down here sooner?
    Jackson had never planned to own real estate, especially not tenement houses, but that was one of the many consequences of his father’s selfish actions. Yet, as he looked around him, Jackson’s own difficulties seemed trifling compared to the daily struggles these people faced. He was humbled by their fortitude, by their willingness to forge a life for themselves despite their cramped living conditions, lack of consistent employment, dismal wages, and often the inability to speak English.
    The least he could do was ensure they had a safe home to return to at night after a long, hard day of work.
    Why