Chapter 16
Sixteen
“Isla?” I call down the hallway.
My voice reverberates between the stonewalls and I continue forward through the gloom.
Up here on the third floor of the castle, there is very little to see.
No furniture, no windows to speak of, and certainly no little girls.
I am about to turn around when I hear the faintest scuff against the stone floor. Pausing, I listen intently.
Silent footsteps sneak carefully across the stone floor somewhere a few yards behind me. Turning, I catch a glimpse of Isla’s wild red hair and one tattered black pant leg. If it weren’t for that, I would think I had been hearing things.
Sucking in a breath, I slipped out of my shoes and pad over to the doorway in my bare feet. Isla actually peaks her head out of the room right before I round the doorway and we both get a start. Her eyes widen and my heart is racing in my chest.
“Jesus,” I say. “Isla, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why are you hiding up here all alone?”
Her face is so expressive, instantly turning pouting. “I’m not hiding. I’m just busy.”
I briefly close my eyes, my hands forming fists for the briefest moment. I definitely don’t want Isla to see that she’s winning but it’s hard to repress my outward emotions.
Opening my eyes, I give her my most placid smile. “I’ve heard you say that before. What are you busy with?”
She shrugs. “All kinds of things. Secret things.”
Nodding slowly, I kneel down so that our eyes are almost level. “Your dad will be back today. Are you excited about that?”
She puckers her lip. “I guess so. I don’t like it when he leaves.”
“I wouldn’t either. That would make me feel isolated and like I was all by myself. Is that how it makes you feel?”
Isla’s eyes narrow on my face. “Maybe,” she shrugs. “I’m not sure.”
I know that she has to be feeling something, because I spied her crying two different times when she thought no one was looking.
It’s only been four days since Keir went to Glasgow for business, but I think I have a good grasp on exactly what makes Isla tick.
That is, everything that I can know from observation and in lieu of asking her questions about her mother and how she and Keir came to live here.
“Mrs. Wolf sent me to find you. She says that she has a special treat for you when you go down to eat lunch.”
Her eyes light up. “Is it Oreos?”
“It could be. Are you going to go find out?”
“Yes!” She shouts. She pivots and pushes past me, running as fast as her feet will carry her. I look after her, feeling tired from just being in her presence. That kid can really burn off some excess energy.
I head down the stairs after her, my mind sticking on one question.
Who is Isla’s mother? Where is she?
And how did both Isla and Keir decide that living here was the best choice?
I pick my way down the stairs, carefully skirting several areas with loose pebbles scattered on the stair tread. It is blatantly unsafe, particularly in the house of someone with a young child. The thought occurs to me again: why would Keir decide to live here?
I am so absorbed in my own world and trying to figure everything out, that I run into Natasha on the stairs.
She has a whole arm full of unwashed clothes and she is carrying them upstairs for some unknown reason.
She yelps when I run into her and almost falls backward.
I grab her arm and hold her up but the clothes that she is holding go flying all over the place.
She makes a disgruntled sound. “Look what you’ve done! So clumsy!”
Squinting at her, I loosen my grip on her arm and let her go. She wobbles and almost falls backward again, righting herself at the last moment. She glares at me and clutches at the wall for stability.
“Seriously?” she asks.
I roll my eyes and gesture toward her, trying to get her to move.
“Excuse me. I’m trying to go downstairs to catch up with Isla. You’re in my way.”
Natasha arches a brow and her expression turns hot.
“Just because you’re in the castle right now doesn’t mean anything. Keir will be back before you know it and he’ll probably bring someone else to take your place. Mark my words.”
I roll my eyes and start down the stairs, shouldering her aside. As I go, I hear her make a noise.
“Rude!” she says sharply.
I stop and turn, giving her a sweet, innocent smile.
“What was that?” I said.
“Why are you even here?” she asks, putting her hands on her hips. “I mean, really though. Why is Keir so interested in keeping you close?”
Crossing my arms across my chest, I size her up. “You’re awfully salty for a personal assistant. If Keir says that he wants me here, that should be enough for you.”
She pokes her tongue out of her mouth, looking dour.
“I’m just looking out for his best interests. I am always on the lookout for anybody that doesn’t have his back, like I do. Keir and Isla have enough on their plates without having some strange woman appear in their lives to cause drama.”
I sigh. “It looks like they are great at starting drama with or without me. Keir can’t seem to look up from his phone and Isla seems like she is dead set on any kind of distraction that will grab his attention for any length of time. Things are not good here.”
I swirl my fingers in a gesture, squinting at Natasha. She rolls her eyes.
“I’ll say this a thousand times if I have to. If you don’t like it, you can leave. There is the door. I don’t even know why you’re here in the first place.”
Making a face, I tilt my head at Natasha.
“Let me turn around and ask you the same thing. Why are you guys here? Why did Keir decide to bring Isla all the way out here when you could be living so much more comfortably in Edinburgh? I’ve seen the lifestyle that Keir is accustomed to and the kind of houses he inhabits.
Why would you come all the way out here to this burnt-down castle, instead of living in one of those penthouse suites? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Natasha juts out her hip and rests her hand on it.
“If you must know, there was an incident about two years ago. Isla got into a fight with another student, a physical altercation. I guess the other little girl said something negative about Isla’s mother and Isla really lost her mind and attacked the other little girl.
And it happened to be during a field trip.
So there were other parents present. Isla’s behavior became an immediate touchpoint for all the parents that felt she was receiving too much attention and too many resources, as opposed to their children.
It didn’t really make sense, because Keir essentially bankrolled their entire class.
He paid for everything and everyone, just to be there.
But that wasn’t enough for the other parents.
They jumped on an anti-Isla bandwagon and essentially made the school expel her. ”
“They expelled her?” I ask, my eyebrows rising.
She nods. “Yeah. There was a lot of drama. Threats of lawsuits, kids taken to emergency rooms for psychological trauma following the event… It was a whole thing. “When Keir looked at all of his options after that, it made the most sense for them both to move out here. At least this way, they’re away from Kingsley.”
“Wait, wait. Who is Kingsley?”
A surprised laugh bursts from Natasha’s lips. “God, you really don’t know anything.” She smirks at me, her gaze lighting up and down my body. “If Keir wants you to know about that, about his past, he can tell you himself.”
She turns in her spot and heads up the stairs, dismissing me without another word. But I follow her, much to her dismay. She takes a left from the foot of the stairs and I trail after her, full of questions.
“When is Keir supposed to be back? Isla has been asking.”
She shrugs a shoulder. “Who knows? Have you met Keir? He doesn’t exactly like to live by other people's rules.”
She opens a door and passes through it, turning around and stopping me from entering.
“Seriously? I have things to do. You are supposed to be babysitting Isla. Not asking me twenty questions.”
She gestures dismissively and I narrow my eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere. Not until…” I pause, unsure how to end my sentence.
“It sounds like Keir hasn’t been clear with me about when I am supposed to leave.
” I pinch my lips together and draw in a breath.
“You won’t get anywhere with me being nasty.
But you haven’t gotten a fair shake either. Can we just start over?”
Her laugh in response is cold and distant.
“I don’t know what Keir has been telling you.
I still don’t know why you’re here. But I definitely do know one thing.
When Lord Grayrose stops letting his libido make his decisions for him, you’ll be gone.
And I’ll be here, as always. And then it will be just me and Keir once again. ”
My brow arches. “What do you mean? Isla has been here the entire time, hasn’t she?”
She screws up her face. “Well, yeah. But that’s really not my point. Keir needs to be free of your hedonistic temptations in order to think clearly. And he’ll do that. Soon, I’m sure.”
“My hedonistic temptations?” The words roll off my tongue awkwardly.
“Is that your way of saying that you think that Keir will open his eyes and see you as a future wife?”
She sniffs. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter what you think. No one asked you.”
I half out a laugh. “I can’t believe you have been here for three years, pining after Keir. You realize that he’s a total asshole, right?”
Natasha surprises me by pushing at the center of my chest, making me back away. “Leave the members of this household alone. This is the last time I’m going to tell you. The next time, I won’t be nice about it.”
I screw my face up. But before I can get an another word, she shuts the door firmly in my face and I hear a lock turning.
As I head back downstairs, my phone buzzes in my pocket. My right knee wobbles for just the faintest moment as I dig deep inside my pants for my cell phone. I stretch out a hand and clutch the wall beside me, waylaid by my own body.
I push out a hiss and tip my chin upward, making a face at my own knee. After a moment, the muscle in my knee stops spasming and I push upward onto my tiptoe, trying to straighten it completely. Pain lances through my knee like a bolt of lightning and I wince.
I mutter a curse to myself and make sure the balls of my feet are flat on the floor before I look down at my phone screen again.
“What’s up?” The text reads. It’s from my sister. I know, because it is followed by a string of incomprehensible emojis. My lips turn upward and I smile at that. It’s been a long-standing joke between the two of us to make our signature a long string of nonsensical images.
I text her back. “Not much. No big news here. Anything over there?”
I follow it by a picture of a shrimp, a fire truck, and an arrow.
“Nope. Just missing you. Do you have any news on when you’ll return?”
I scrunch my face up. “Not yet. Soon. I’ll be back before you know it. You doing okay?”
There’s no follow up text for almost a minute.
I slip my phone in my pocket and continue downstairs, my mind halfway on the text message thread and halfway on making sure I am going to the right place.
After all, I wouldn’t want a repeat of yesterday, where I ended up in a dormant seller instead of going outside through the back of the castle. No, today I will do better.
My phone buzzes in my pocket again. I check it quickly and find that my sister has written me back. “I have to run. But I miss you? I hope we can FaceTime soon?”
“Of course. Love you.” Then I text her a lobster, a pig, and a CD picture. She responds with a simple Chinese character and for some reason that cracks me up.
Putting my phone away, I look up as I head outside in search of Isla.