Royce(22)

The house was lovely. Huge, but very well made. The furnishings had been sold; he’d not had the same tastes as Benton and was having two of the bedrooms converted into an office on the second floor. The kitchen had been remolded recently so, when he’d moved in, he’d been able to cook for himself. He was enjoying the ability to play around in the kitchen again.

The house was a three-story colonial that had been built of brick. The front of the façade had been sandblasted of the white paint some years ago and the dark color meshed well with the four large white columns that graced the front. The double doors, oak and very old, opened into a large entrance hall that opened to a long, curving staircase that led to the upper floors.

Seven bedrooms filled the second floor with five baths. The halls were knotty pine and wide with indirect lighting along the floors. The stairs leading up to the third level were also curved and oak and spilled out into a room alight with skylights everywhere. Royce had been using the room as a large office/gym until the office on the first floor was ready. He had no idea what he was going to do with the room once he moved his things out of it, but it was a really nice room.

The master suite was on the main level. There was a fireplace in the bath and in the main room. His mom had told him that the two rooms off from the suite were a nursery and a maid’s room. He hadn’t been in either of them since he’d moved in. Royce cringed whenever he thought of his mom hinting about using those two rooms.

The kitchen and living room, the two rooms where he spent the most time, were the most furnished. He had gotten a living room suite that he wanted, complete with overstuffed chairs and a big screen television, and the kitchen was perfect.

He was standing in front of the refrigerator when his phone rang. He frowned when he realized who it was.

“I’m not happy with you, young man.”

Royce straightened up when his mother spoke.

“Why? What did you hear?” If Curtis told her what he swore he wouldn’t, Royce was going to kill him.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Miss York quit working for us? I think after all we’ve been through with her you’d at least let me know when she decided to move on.”

That was news to Royce too. “I didn’t know. When did she quit?”

“She told human resources this morning. I probably wouldn’t have found about it then if I hadn’t been in the lunch room when one of the guards happened by. He told me that she had another job and that she had moved into her own place.”

Royce slammed the door closed. Damn her. She had no right to move on when he was so fucking miserable that he was barking at everyone. He realized his mom was still speaking.

“I can understand that she’d want to not be in that office again. Poor girl probably has nightmares just thinking about it. But to up and quit without letting us find her something else. Well, I have to tell you I feel slightly miffed. And you say you didn’t know either? I thought the two of you had gotten close.”

Closer than she thought, he wanted to tell her, but didn’t. “Do you know where she moved to? I’d like to make sure it’s a better place than she was in before. That place was a dump.”

“No. All he told me was that he’d been to her house just over the weekend, that a bunch of the guards had helped her move her things in. He said it was a nice place. Small but nice. He didn’t know what she was doing for a job, though. He said that he guessed she was going to go to work for some company downtown.”

Royce was going to find out. Just as soon as he hung up from this call, he was going to be making a few of his own. The woman had made him suffer long enough. He was finished waiting on her.

After telling his mom he’d let her know what he found out he called Daniel. Daniel said he’d need until tomorrow, but he’d get back to him. He wondered why he didn’t ask why, but his phone was beeping again and he hung up.

“Mr. Hunter, it’s Herman Gordon with the fire department. There’s a fire at the old Benton warehouse. We were wondering if you could come down and help us out?”





Chapter 8



Leah was exhausted. Her head was pounding too. She put her untouched dinner in the sink and went into the living room to watch a little television and to relax. Maybe if she was lucky, her headache would stop hurting so bad and she could go to bed. She’d been tired all day.

She hadn’t worked for several days. Her body was just too tired to make it out of bed and she hurt more and more when she simply moved from the bed to the couch. Tonight was the first time in a few days that she had been in the kitchen and she had made a mess of it. She’d get to it tomorrow, she decided, after she had a good nap.