Wards castle, p.1
Ward’s Castle, page 1
WARD’S CASTLE
ELLA GOODE
CONTENTS
Summary
Chapter 1
Hendrix
Chapter 2
Lila
Chapter 3
Hendrix
Chapter 4
Lila
Chapter 5
Hendrix
Chapter 6
Lila
Chapter 7
Hendrix
Chapter 8
Lila
Chapter 9
Hendrix
Chapter 10
Lila
Chapter 11
Hendrix
Chapter 12
Lila
Chapter 13
Hendrix
Chapter 14
Lila
Chapter 15
Hendrix
Chapter 16
Lila
Chapter 17
Hendrix
Chapter 18
Lila
Chapter 19
Hendrix
Epilogue
Epilogue
Also by Ella Goode
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SUMMARY
Finding a teenage girl and her foster baby brother in the basement of my high rise office building wasn’t on the agenda. With her bright eyes and smart mouth, she made me uncomfortable, so I shipped her off to a boarding school immediately. I demanded regular updates to ensure my investment was sound, and in return received letters that ranged from cold to exasperating. When Lila was finished with high school, she wasn’t a student anymore, and she had me wanting to teach her a few things I had no business teaching her.
Hendrix sees me as a child and not a woman, but if there’s one thing I learned from the foster system and then during my exile at boarding school, it’s that you can’t make anyone love you. What I also know is you can’t stop yourself from loving someone. Hendrix is the one I want, but he's too worried about doing right by me to see it. Even so, I can feel the heat in his eyes along with the love in his heart. I just have to convince him that needing each other is exactly what love is all about.
1
HENDRIX
“Mr. Mason, logistics is waiting for you. I’m not supposed to share this, but apparently the semi-conductor shipment will be two months late.”
“Mr. Mason, Marketing wants a word. They’ve secured the agreement for Shinn Wall to be the brand ambassador.”
“Mr. Mason, Petra Young from ADAM Institute is holding. She is reaching out again to see if you would speak at this year’s commencement.”
“Check and see if we can pay the port fee for some of their other shipments to see if that will speed up delivery for us. For Marketing, I don’t think Shinn Wall is the right move for us. Saw that he got into an online fight with some random account. We don’t need that energy. Tell Ms. Young I appreciate the invitation, but I don’t give public speeches. Colin, this contract needs revising. These liability clauses don’t favor us at all.” My assistant hurries forward and grabs the contract I hold up. The other members of my staff leave after getting my instruction. I turn my attention to the next contract.
Someone clears their throat.
I lift my head and see Trey Park, the head of my security, standing at attention. He’s been out of the Army for a decade but still has all the bearing of a captain of a hundred troops. To be honest, he scares me sometimes. I toss my pen aside. “What can I do for you, Captain Park?”
“Sir, we have a situation downstairs.”
“That sounds ominous. What kind of situation?”
“One that requires your attention, sir. I wouldn’t come up here personally if I didn’t think it was important.”
“Fair enough.” Colin comes over with my suit coat before I even ask. A good assistant is worth their weight in gold. I shrug the suit coat on, adjust my cuffs, and give a nod for Captain Park to lead the way.
In the elevator, he reminds me, “The Captain is unnecessary, sir.”
“Sir?”
Captain Park falls silent and then says, “Right” as the doors open.
“Glad we understand each other.” Titles are unnecessary, but we both would be uncomfortable not using them even though we wish the other would stop. The main reason Captain Park has lasted so long in my employ is that we both are cut from the same cloth. We don’t like over-friendly people and believe a barrier should be kept between us and the rest of the world at all times. Intimacy is overrated. I like my own company, and others are extraneous.
He leads me down the basement halls past the kitchens, past storage, and to the heating and cooling center. I arch an eyebrow. These sort of maintenance issues should be left to the maintenance staff, and Park knows it.
The expression on his face grows uncomfortable, but he pushes the door open resolutely and gestures for me to enter.
I look over my shoulder at Colin, who shrugs. He doesn’t know what is going on either. Inside the darkened maintenance room, I allow my eyes to adjust to the dim light and my ears to accustom themselves to the whirring of fans and engines. Park again takes the lead. We wind around two large, and loud, HVAC units until we hit a corner. Park stops and steps aside.
I walk forward with the vague thought that this would be a good space to kill someone and hope that I don’t find a dead body on the premises. That’s never good for business. I stop abruptly.
There is a body down here. Two of them, to be precise, but they aren’t dead. At least not yet. A girl of an indeterminate age stares up at me with a mixture of fear and bravado. Her chin is high, but her eyes are quavering. In her arms lies the second body. A small child is cradled against her chest. From the looks of the blanket underneath them and the dirt on their faces, this isn’t their first day in this hideaway.
“How long?” I ask Park.
“She won’t say.”
“Security footage?”
“Unclear. We think she may have snuck in with a food delivery two days ago, but it could have also been a hospitality delivery three days ago.”
“No one heard anything?” I think of the noise and realize that’s a dumb question. “Forget it. Did you call the police?”
“No. I wasn’t sure if you wanted that kind of attention.”
“I don’t.” The police means news reports and questionable publicity. I hate that. I crouch down so that I’m at eye level with the girl. “Name,” I order.
She presses her lips tight. So it’s going to be that way, is it? I hold up my hand to gesture for Colin, and the girl flinches away. Disgust curdles in my gut. Someone’s abused this girl.
“Yes, Mr. Mason?” Colin hovers close.
“Get Doc Sallaway up to my office ASAP.” Quick as lightning, I reach out and snatch the small child or maybe a baby. The girl launches herself at me, but I’m too fast for her. I slide away and rise. The kid starts crying, realizing that I’m not her…friend, mother, sister? It’s hard to say. This young girl in front of me looks far too young to be a mother. “You’re on my property, so you belong to me now. Both of you do. Pick up your things. We’re going upstairs to talk and figure out what to do with you. Captain Park, I won’t need your services any further.”
“Are you certain, sir?”
“Yes. Colin and I will handle it from here.” I walk away holding the child in my arms, knowing that wherever this young, fragile being goes so does the other young, fragile thing. Two days? Three days? They have to be starved. “Colin, food right after Doc Sallaway.”
Colin nods to me, his phone already to his ear.
Without looking behind me, I say, “Come now. No arguments. You can devise a way to murder me later. You’ll be a more formidable opponent when your stomach isn’t growling.”
“You don’t own me,” says the girl.
“You’re wrong. I do.”
2
LILA
“Slow down,” the giant man in the fancy suit orders.
I glare at him as I take a much-needed breath before I shove another fry into my mouth. I go for the cheeseburger next but only take a small bite. He gives a small nod of approval. My stomach gives a strange dip which I chalk up to being over the food. I haven’t had anything warm to eat in days.
The first three nights I was here, they never locked the cafeteria, but last night they had. Thankfully, Beau only needed warm water for me to make his toddler formula which he favored. I had a stash of his other snacks of fruits and jarred items, but I was down to my last can of the formula. He can have whole milk, but he doesn’t care much for it, and it’s harder to keep with me. I was hoping I could lay low here for longer, but we both needed food, and I was never going to find that formula here.
Then again, I might be wrong because when the tray of food arrived, so had three giant cans of toddler formula with it. It was like magic how it popped out of nowhere. It seems that the suit says what he wants, and it appears. I’ve learned that in the short time I’ve been in his presence.
Of course, the same day I plan to leave our newest home I end up getting caught. I’m not even sure what to make of the man that’s caught me. When I first saw him, I almost peed myself. The man is likely three times my size. Then he went and plucked Beau out of my arms. He didn’t seem so scary with Beau cradled gently in his thick arms. Everyone else looked as perplexed as I did about him taking Beau from me.
“Are you going to give me your name?” he asks when I’m halfway through my cheeseburger.
I can’t remember the last time I ate something so good. My stomach is
“Does it matter?” I say before taking another bite. His eyes stay trained on me. They never seem to leave me. If they do, it’s only for a moment to check on Beau in his arms. Does he think I’m going to bolt? I can’t. Not while he still has Beau. I think he knows that.
“You know I can’t let you walk out of here with him. Especially when I don't think he’s yours.”
“He could be mine,” I blurt out defensively.
“You’re lying.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“You better be lying,” he half growls, making me sit up straighter.
“Or what?” I try to act tough and challenge him, but it comes out as more of a whisper. Something dark flashes in his eyes. I swear the whole temperature in the room starts to change. “He’s not mine but I, I—” I stumble over my words, not sure what Beau is to me. The thought of someone taking him from me makes my heart ache, but at the same time wouldn’t he be better off with a good solid family? Wouldn't we all, actually?
“You want to keep him.” He rocks Beau in his arms.
“I’ve been taking care of him since he came to my fo—” I clamp my lips together. Why do I keep spilling my truths to this handsome stranger? There’s something about him that puts me at ease. A feeling I’m not accustomed to after being in foster care.
“Foster home,” he finishes for me. A knock sounds at the door before it opens a second later. In walks one of the men from before. I think his name is Colin.
“As you requested, sir.” He sets a bunch of bags down. “Anything else, Mr. Mason?”
“That will be all, Colin.” Colin nods, his eyes bouncing between me and the big man in the suit before he’s back out the door. “I haven’t called the police, and I think it’s clear I’m not harming you either.”
“I’m scared,” I admit. I hate saying it out loud, but it’s the truth.
“I can help you, but I can’t do it blind.”
“They’ll take him either way.”
“Will his parents be looking for him?”
I shake my head. “They died. It’s how he ended up in my group house. I’ve been watching him. God knows my foster family isn’t going to.” I’ve tended to his every need.
Taking care of younger kids wasn’t new to me. It's something you always do in the system. I’ve bounced around a lot. We all try to take care of each other. Some homes are better than others. This one hadn’t been bad really. The Porters just wanted their state checks and to be left alone. If you stayed out of the way, it was all fine.
“Why did you run from there?”
“You won’t believe me.” I’m still trying to believe what I heard.
“Try me.” I chew on my bottom lip, not sure how much I should tell. “You have nothing to lose at this point.”
“I heard Ms. Jacobs, the social worker assigned to Beau, talking to Mr. and Mrs. Porter. They were discussing selling him. They were going into detail about how they could make a fortune off him, but they needed to act soon cause he’s getting older. The younger the better. They planned to say he’d gone missing. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they were going to say that I had him last. I know it sounds crazy. I didn’t believe it at first, but I know what I heard. I couldn’t let that happen. I mean, who were they going to sell Beau to? Just someone who wanted a baby? Or like organs or some other thing I don’t even want to think about? I just—"
“No one is going to take him from us,” Mr. Mason says, cutting in. His tone is calm, but that darkness in his eyes flashes once again.
“Us?” A small flame of hope lights inside of me. He nods.
“Colin brought you something.” He motions toward the bags. “My bathroom has a shower if you’d like to use it. Everything you’ll need is in the bags.”
The thought of a shower makes me want to cry. I stand, going over to the bags, shuffling through them. He wasn’t lying. There is everything I’ll need in them. Not only for me but Beau too. I get a pile of things I’ll need to shower. I can feel him watching me the whole time.
“You think I’m going to run?”
“No, I have Beau. I’m not worried about you running.” Right.
“Why are you doing this for us?”
“I thought I already answered that.” My mind flashes back to when I said he didn’t own me. His response was I do. No one has ever claimed me before. Not in my whole life. I’ve never belonged to anyone.
“I’m Lila,” I tell him. “Be careful what you claim.”
3
HENDRIX
* * *
Dear Mr. Mason:
Thank you for the monthly allowance you deposited. As you can see by the bank balance, I have not spent the last ten monthly allowances you have given me. Please do not deposit any more. Thank you.
Lila
PS I only received one photo of Beau when we agreed you would send at least three each month.
* * *
Dear Mr. Mason:
No, I am not attending any dances. This is an all girls’ school. We don’t have dances so there’s nothing for you to forbid me to attend. Also just because you’re paying for my school and taking care of Beau doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do.
Lila
PS The photos of Beau were nice. Thanks.
* * *
Dear Mr. Mason:
Thank you for your generous contribution to the St. Mary’s Academy. Per your request, we have replaced the interschool meet and greet with a museum outing. The girls were delighted to attend, and the lecture on the Theories of Interdimensional Light and Sound was fascinating. I am certain that these girls gained more from this visit than they would have with a co-ed gathering.
Indebtedly yours,
Headmistress Elizabeth Kura
* * *
Dear Mr. Mason:
My friends heard that we were supposed to have a get together with St. Peter’s Reform School but that you donated a boatload of money so we had to go to some dumb museum? Thanks for nothing. I’m now an outcast. Everyone hates me!
Lila
PS Stop depositing money in my account!
* * *
Dear Mr. Mason:
Yes, I was exaggerating about everyone hating me. No, I do not want to go on a ski trip to Aspen with the Williams. I want to come home and see Beau. Does he even remember me? I miss him. Besides, I don’t know how to ski and I don’t have any ski wear. I’ll see you in a month. I mean, I’ll see you and Beau. But mostly Beau. I’m coming back to see Beau.
Lila
* * *
Dear Mr. Mason:
I received the box of Moncler ski-wear. Apparently it’s all very expensive? My classmates loved it. Carole looks great in the knit pants and Wendy loved the shiny blue puffer. They’re excited to take those items with them on their Aspen vacation while I come and see Beau. They asked me to pass on the thanks for your generous gifts.
