Chapter 7
SEVEN
There wasn’t much time.
A few days after that incident, in the dead of the night, I packed my duffel bag quickly. I couldn’t take any clothes with me since they were all bought for me by the family. Although I wanted to take the few dresses, I knew I couldn't afford them once I lost this job.
I hadn’t even been around long enough to get my first paycheck.
I kept telling myself it was alright because my ultimate goal was to live through this. The family was fucking crazy, and I didn’t want to be part of this anymore. Devin knew the stuff that happened with Barbara was murder, but he’d chosen to stay silent. He was protecting someone, and he was dragging me down with him.
This was some kind of twisted family conspiracy.
Staying on this property for almost two weeks had taught me about most of the exits within the mansion. The servant’s quarters stairs were the easiest way out of here.
The only question was how I was going to walk through the property without being seen, and the worst part was going to be convincing the guards to let me through.
Or…
I could do this the hard way.
Find a road through the woods.
Either way, it was still going to be a challenge.
I was going to be back to square one, and how stupid of me to think this was the best job I ever had. Of course, there was a catch.
There’s always a catch. It was too good to be true.
I looked at myself in the mirror before running my fingers through my dark hair. I didn’t even have time to comb them. Then, I tied the laces of my sneakers and I was ready to go, but my feet wouldn’t move forward, it’s like fear had locked me in place.
Where would I go from here? What awaited me in the near future?
I told myself that I would get through this just as I have for every other situation.
I opened the door of my room and closed it behind me slowly, making sure I wasn’t making even the slightest sound. I tiptoed down the hallway and onto the first floor, and then made my way to the kitchen. I had little money, but I could at least use some food on my way to nowhere.
I found some ham and cheese in the fridge, so I made myself a quick sandwich because a girl’s got to keep her priorities straight. I wrapped the sandwich in a saran wrap and dumped Dr. Pepper and a Coke into the bag. Next, I attacked the pantry and tossed packets of salted peanuts, pretzels, and a bag of potato chips into it.
I felt guilty for stealing so much food, but I didn’t know how long I was going to be living on the streets with no job and nowhere to go and there was no chance in hell I was going back to my uncle’s place.
I’d rather be homeless than go back to that monster.
Remembering the past disgusted me.
“Hey sweetpea, remember Bruce? He’d like to say hi to you. Now be a good girl and take care of Bruce for me, okay?” Uncle Mark slurred as he barged into my room that night.
I looked up to find Bruce leering at me, and I heard the sounds of his belt jiggling and knew what was coming next. Uncle Mark told him one hour only, and that he was doing him a favor this time. It would be over soon…
I brushed off all those thoughts and walked out of the kitchen. I’d studied the route that the maids usually took when they went into their rooms in a connected outbuilding that was also part of the mansion. I successfully found the stairs I was looking for and I made sure that no one was following me before walking ahead.
Once I made it outside into the courtyard, I made a run towards the woods. Now I only hoped I could find a road that led me outside of Montgomery’s property. I used my phone’s flashlight to navigate my way through the thick forest.
And I was in for another surprise.
I walked for about forty minutes, ignoring the eerie sounds coming from deep inside the forest.
My legs had turned leaden, but I ignored the pain and kept going. When I reached the clearing, disappointment flooded my emotions.
A lake surrounded the property, and a small villa stood right beside it. I couldn’t stop cursing myself for the sheer bad luck that kept weighing me down.
There was more vegetation on the other side of the lake. Two small boats and a yacht stood near the pier. The boats seemed to be tied loosely with thick ropes.
I had to untangle one of them if I wanted to use one. It would be difficult for me to row the boats alone using the oars, but I didn’t have any other choice. Sure I could go back to the mansion and walk to the main gates which would have led me to the bus station, but as Devin had already told me before, no one left the property without his permission so chances of the guards stopping me were higher.
I couldn’t risk that.
I tossed my bag on the ground and began working on the rope tied to the dock, which is when I heard a faint crunching sound behind me, like the snapping sound of a twig.
I spun around quickly, afraid of being caught, or worse, attacked by an animal.
Castle was standing a few feet away from me.
I wondered if he was a figment of my imagination, but that wasn’t the case. He was really standing here before me, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. His wavy hair looked messy.
“What are you doing here?” I asked brusquely.
He stared at me with those innocent whiskey eyes.
“Did you follow me the entire way from the house?” I tried again. “You’re not supposed to be here. I put you to bed.”
Castle liked to wander around the house at night, and I’d purposely made sure he’d gone to bed and waited for an hour before I left, but I never thought he would follow me out of the house.
That only meant he’d been carefully tracing my steps until now.
“Millie…” He said in a soft voice.
I trudged back to where he was standing.
Castle was huge compared to my size. He could flick my forehead playfully, and I’d likely go rolling into the lake.
I reached out and took his large hands into mine.
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered, and it completely broke me listening to him plead.
He knew I was leaving for good and he’d followed.
“Please, Millie…” his hands wrapped around my waist and he tugged me against him.
I pulled away to look at him, and in the moonlight, his eyes looked dark. “Castle, I can’t stay here, sweetie, I need to go or someone will…” I swallowed, but I willed the words to come out. “Or someone will kill me too, just like they did Barbara. You’ll find another caregiver.”
“You,” He said accusingly, shaking his head vigorously. “I want you.”
The intensity in his eyes and the deepness in his voice would have suggested something else entirely.
I felt this alien feeling brewing inside me as I heard him begging me to stay.
Nobody had needed me before.
I felt guilty doing this; running away without letting him know when I knew that as the days had passed, Castle had become attached to me and I don’t mean that in any romantic way, he enjoyed being where I was, and he would follow me around the house and I didn’t care as long as he wasn’t harming me in any way. He would watch me shyly throughout meals, let me read books to him, go on walks together, and that told me he enjoyed my company immensely as a friend, someone who could understand him more than anyone else in his family could so the thought of leaving him was hard, but it was that or get killed.
I cupped his jaw and felt his grip tightening around my waist as his fingers dug into the fabric of my top, clinging to me desperately. “I’ll get help from outside and I’ll tell someone about you, but I can’t stay here in the house.”
“I…” He started to say, but the words were stuck in his throat like he couldn’t remember what he wanted to say. “I…”
“You what, sweetie?”
“I’ll go with you.” He said finally.
I shook my head. “This is your family and your home. You can’t come with me.”
“No!” He screamed, and I jumped back a little. “I’ll go with you!”
Think Millie, think.
How could I possibly take him with me? If Castle tagged along, Devin would call the cops and there would be a manhunt to find me. Knowing how smart Devin was, he might tell the authorities that I’d kidnapped his brother. Either way, the man could twist the story in a way that he saw fit.
Castle couldn’t come with me. End of story.
That also meant I couldn’t leave today.
“Let’s head back to the house,” I suggested, and when he didn’t move from the spot, I added. “I won’t go anywhere.”
He seemed content hearing that.
I picked up my duffel bag and headed back towards the forest. Castle walked close behind me. I guess he didn’t trust me not to flee with him, so he kept his gaze trailed on me.
The dark sky was being blanketed with gray clouds and, as they churned closer, the sound of thunder resonated within the forest. It was a sign of the impending rainstorm.
I picked up speed and jogged ahead through the muddy trail that my shoe prints had left behind, so it was easier for me to know where I was going.
Until…
I dropped to the ground and was screaming at the top of my lungs from the pain that surged through my left leg. Sobbing loudly, I forced myself to look down and saw that my leg was caught in a trap, the sharp edges digging into my skin.
Castle was on his knees beside me, frantically trying to open the trap with his bare hands, but it made the pain much worse.
From a distance, I heard the familiar voice moving closer.
Devin walked towards us, carrying a hunting rifle, and his expression was downright evil.