by Rachel Angel
HOUSE
The House Series
Rachel Angel
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you for picking up HOUSE, the first book in the HOUSE Series.
This series is a RH New Adult Dark Bully Romance and contains bullying, sex, and some triggers.
Summary
It was his last will and testament.
For one week, four of us was to live together. Play nice to each other like we used to when we were kids.
Seb, Thomas, Ashford and me.
Three of Mr. Keystone's sons and me, the maid's daughter.
All those years, the three sons bullied and ridiculed me because I was the maid's daughter.
So, why was I back? Why did I cared to be in the same house as those three tormentors?
Because I was in Mr. Keystone's will.
He had always been kind to me, even if his sons weren't, so I could only honor his wishes. And he was like a father to me, and didn't treat me like the maid's daughter. But as soon as I could, I left to go to college. Two years ago. Meanwhile, the boys went their separate ways, too. Estranged from each other.
So why was I here having to live in the same house with his sons for a week?
I don't know, but I'm about to find out, even if it meant my old adolescent feelings for all three of them might surface again. And if being in the mansion we called a house together might jog some memories of the wild nights we've had here.
It's just one week. I could survive that. Or could I?
**House is the first book in The House Series, which is a Reverse Harem Dark College Romance recommended for age 18+ due to mature themes.
Prologue
Sebastian (Seb)
I was numbed when I first heard the news.
The man who always seemed so invincible was gone, and the last words I said to him was, “I fucking hate you.”
That was two years ago.
And…damn, I have to admit, I honestly felt the same. Nothing had changed. Except he was dead.
He didn’t try to contact me after I left either, nor did I tried getting in touch with him.
So strong was the rift between us that neither one of us could stand to see or hear from each other again. Except this one last time when he could summon me to meet, even beyond the grave.
As far as my father and his billions were worth to me, it was nothing. I wanted none of it. I even moved as far away as I could from him and the house I lived in with him and my two younger brothers Thomas and Ash, to attend college in Cambridge, England instead of his alma mater... the other Cambridge, his university – Harvard.
I transferred to Cambridge University from Harvard after working so hard to get into Harvard just because it was too close to Keystone Manor. I did everything to get into Dad’s alma mater… the grades, the extracurriculars as President of the elite private academy I attended, the references, and connections only to step away from my dream college.
“Are you going to go?” Thomas’ logical voice asked over the phone. He was just a year younger than me, but he sounded older. He had always been the more serious of us Keystone brothers.
“Why would you ask?” I asked.
He let out an exasperated sigh, “because I get the feeling you probably won’t. Even to say your last good-byes.”
“You know what he did,” I said.
Another exasperated sigh, “Yes, I know, but that was years ago, and…”
“Fuck Thomas, what he did was unforgivable, and I can’t believe you would take his side.”
“The man’s gone for God’s sake. Dead.” Thomas said in a shaky voice. “He was our father, Seb. Like it or not, we need to move on. Get some closure from this.”
“Ash going?” I asked.
“I tried reaching him but he’s on tour with his band. Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. You know him.”
“Yeah, I know him,” I said. Ash had always been the playful casual type. The youngest one of us brothers. The least responsible one, because he didn’t feel the wrath from our father.
“So you’ll go?” Thomas asked.
“Will she be there?” I asked.
“Angelica Crawford?” Thomas asked. “I don’t know. Now that he’s gone, would she stay?”
“And Kaley?” I asked, my mind drifting off at the thought of Angelica’s gorgeous and hot daughter. The one who made me hard just thinking about her.
“Kaley,” Thomas said, almost like a whisper. He still wasn’t over her, even after two years.
Despite what we did to her. Despite how she deserved it.
“Thomas?” I asked. “You there?”
He sighed. “Yes. Just needed to take a moment.”
“I know. It’s Kaley,” I said, remembering how good she tasted, and how warm it felt to be inside her. And how beautiful she looked when she climaxed.
“She hasn’t stepped back into the Keystone Manor since she left two years ago, Seb,” Thomas said. “I doubt she would want to. After everything.”
I bunched up my fists, remembering why she left. And why none of us brothers went to look for her after she left, despite how much we craved her.
“If she dared to show up,” I said to Thomas, “I’ll personally remind her how much we want her gone and out of the house.” I punched the wall near my bed, making a hole in it as an emphasis.
“Did you just punched the wall?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I did. It’s better than punching her, her mother, and Dad. After all, those three killed her.”
“Damn,” Thomas said. “How could I forget what Kaley did? What Dad did?”
“Fuck, if I see her again,” I said. “She’d better run. She’d better hide from me, because something’s telling me, she’s behind all of this shit, too.”
Chapter 1
Kaley
This can’t be real.
He couldn’t be dead. Not Mr. Keystone.
I looked over the vellum letter from Slate and Sloan Law Firm.
“You are invited to the reading of the last will and testament of Mr. Clay Keystone at Keystone Manor,” I read from the letter.
“What are you going to do?” Clara, my roommate asked. “I thought you said you would never go back home. Even for a visit.”
I gripped the letter so strongly that I almost tore it in half. “I did say that,” I said. “And I meant it.”
“Aren’t you even remotely curious what’s in the will of Clay Keystone, the billionaire construction and real estate mogul?” Clara asked. “And why you were invited by his lawyer to attend?”
“If it means going back to the house and seeing any one of those boys, then I’m not that curious,” I said.
“Come on Kaley,” Clara said. “It can’t hurt to find out if you were given something from Mr. Keystone. Especially since you’re struggling as it is to pay for college and all your living expenses.”
“I have a couple of jobs on campus,” I said.
“More than a couple of jobs, Kaley,” Clara said. “One is almost full time, and the other two make up to full time. You’re practically working 100 hours a week. Where do you even find time for school and sleep, Kaley?”
“I don’t need sleep, and I’m getting by enough on my classes,” I said.
“You’re a freshman, Kaley,” Clara said. “In Harvard. You may have gotten in, but you have to be able to stay in. Freshman year is tough, too. That’s the year with the most students drop outs. You have to study to stay, and the rate you’re going…”
“Okay, okay,” I said. “I’ll go check out what the whole thing is about. It couldn’t hurt, and I do need to see what it’s all about.”
“Good,” Clara said.
Plus I promised Mom that I will do everything I can to stay in college and to graduate. I didn’
t want Mom to be a maid forever. Despite her youth, I didn’t want her doing the backbreaking work she had been doing for the Keystones for years as their maid.
“Executive housekeeper,” Mom had said.
“When there’s only you and me to take care of this place, it’s not exactly being the head housekeeper,” I said.
“So sarcastic, Kaley,” Mom had said.
“Nope, just being realistic, Mom,” I said back. “And someday, Mom, I’ll get a great job and support you so you don’t have to be anyone’s maid.”
“This is a good job,” Mom said. “For someone like me, without a college education, without a husband, and parents who can help out; this is a pretty good job.”
“You can’t do this forever,” I said.
“I’m still young, Kaley,” Mom said. “Only 19 years old when I had you. I’m still strong and full of energy.”
“But you’re still the maid,” I said.
“And Mr. Keystone is paying for your tuition at the same private academy his own sons are attending. This job has more perks like that than other jobs. I don’t want to give that up.”
“Okay Mom,” I had said when we first moved to Keystone Manor. “Thank you for taking care of me, but I promise you someday I will help take care of you.”
Chapter 2
Kaley
Driving in from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Keystone Manor out in Majesty, Massachusetts was a nice scenic hour-long drive. Because of the size of Mr. Keystone’s estate, which consisted of a 14,000 square feet house with separate wings, a tennis court, swimming pool, basketball court, and even a helicopter pad with a helicopter on it all nestled into acres of land and woods; Keystone Manor was hidden in a remote part of Massachusetts where the uber rich lived. Isolated like most estates and hidden away from roads and highways, Keystone Manor was stamped with upper-crust status and the air of loftiness that went along with the industrialist billionaires of America’s past. Mr. Keystone may have been the master of the manor most recently, but Keystone Manor was built during the time of the Biltmore’s and the Rockefellers. Not quite gothic like Hearst Castle, but just as grand and just as large.
Although Mom and I lived at Keystone Manor with Mr. Keystone, his three sons, and his fragile wife for years since we moved there when I was 16, I still couldn’t get used to the massiveness of the house.
It was even larger when you have to clean it and maintain it like Mom and I had to. And after being away for two years, while driving through the wrought-iron gates and up the long driveway pass the manicured lawn, trees, and fragrant flowers; I still felt the full grandeur of the estate.
Although he had inherited the manor itself, Mr. Keystone was a building and real estate tycoon in his own right, even venturing out to own hotels and casinos, it was expected that his own home would be outlandishly luxurious, large, and a showplace of grandeur. From the ornate Spanish gates to the tree-lined drive, to the 18th century cherub statue in the middle of a fountain in front of the grand entrance; everything about Keystone Manor shouted nobility, old money, tradition, and power.
Just like the Keystones themselves. Especially Seb, Thomas, and Ash whom I secretly referred to as the 3 Keys. My 3 Keys….because once ago, I called them that in an affectionate way since I once thought they were the 3 keys to my heart. Three of the hottest, most handsome guys I’ve ever met and immediately had a crush on when I first met them in person at age 16, and Seb was 18, Thomas was 17, and Ash was 16.
Most definitely, like almost every female, I thought they were perfect with their perfect smiles, rock star hair, chiseled chins, angular cheekbones, and muscular bodies. All three of the Keystone brothers trained with personal trainers and coaches each week and was placed on special diets to maintain their peak athletic bodies since being part of the Keystone legacies meant they were also the star athletes in school. One look at them, you’d think they were in a boy band and definitely models, with their hazel golden eyes that gleam in the sun, and their inky black hair that contrasted nicely with their flawless porcelain skin.
I fell for their beauty once, and I would be damn if I fell for it again, knowing what I knew about these boys with angelic faces. I fell for their charms and then the way they made me feel so special as their girl, the girl they couldn’t get enough of, the girl one brother would fuck while another watched and the girl who was shared amongst them. Of course I loved it at the time. Of course I couldn’t get enough of them.
But all that ended two years ago when everything came crashing down.
And they burned me and betrayed me.
As I parked Mom’s old white mustang in front of the door, signaling my entrance as a guest of the house instead of the maid’s daughter, I made my entrance into Keystone Manor.
Ready to fight if I had to. And definitely ready for revenge.
Two years was not enough time to get over what they did to me and my mother.
I took a deep breath and braced myself mentally and emotionally. Just touching the knob on the door was enough to sweep me back into the past when I was so naïve, vulnerable and so emotionally wrapped up in the lives of the Keystones. I loved each of the Keystone boys deeply, but then they betrayed me and broke me. I ran off to Harvard instead of staying at Keystone Manor, taking what I had on me, while my mother was left consoling me and later on, moving what I needed to the apartment I rented near campus.
What they did broke my mother’s heart, too. That was why she didn’t push me to ever come back to the Manor. If it wasn’t for Mr. Keystone, my mother would have left with me, too. But she stayed on.
The three boys left the Manor instead.
Now they were back. The sleek silver Audi parked in front, and the white Porsche next to it were the telltale signs of Seb and Thomas being back. The only other key in the group, Ash, with his blue Ferrari, was nowhere to be found. Typical of Ash.
I opened the door to the Manor with my own set of keys which Mr. Keystone said was mine for keeps. It was the only thing I took with me from Keystone to Harvard. The keys to Keystone’s Kingdom. He said it was mine to have, like I truly belonged here. Knowing and understanding I never knew my father growing up, and that I never had a real place to stay long enough to call a home as I would go from one place to another with Mom as we moved with each job, Mr. Keystone knew that if I had a key of my own for Keystone Manor, it would help me settle in at Keystone.
He made me feel like family, like I could trust them, especially his boys.
Little did I know, it was how the Keystone charm worked. It was how I fell hard for them, too, before I knew better.
So why was I here again? Why did I willingly walked into this madhouse?
Because of what Clara said I needed. Closure.
And because something deep and dark, perhaps twisted inside me wanted to know what would happen if I came face to face with my tormentors again. Would I cave to my desires or would I fight them?
I opened the door and stepped in.
Immediately, I knew it was a mistake.
Chapter 3
Seb
Kaley was standing there at the doorway of the grand entrance, looking like a vision. Dressed in a white lace mini-dress, which hugged her like a glove in all the right places, I could tell she was thinner, but tighter, having lost some weight, which made her natural curves stand out. Her full brunette hair had grown longer down past her breasts, and her aquamarine eyes were larger, brighter along with her sharper cheekbones and chin because of her weight loss.
I thought she was gorgeous and sexy before, but now she was breathtaking.
I had almost forgotten how much my body craved her like a bee to honey. It instinctively pulled me closer to her, like we were equal parts of a magnet. Like a bee to her honey, I was instantly on fire for her.
Fuck I was already hard for her.
In just a few steps, I pulled her into the house, shutting the door behind her.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, daring her to lie…dari
ng her to be the conniving liar that she turned out to be.
“I received a letter from your father’s lawyer,” she said, her eyes at first hurt, then slowly but surely defiant.
Just a twitch of her eyes, like the lying actress she was, could get men to fall for her. Like Cleopatra, she knew how to use her beauty to get men to do whatever she wanted.
“Really?” I asked, my chest pushing her to the wall as I looked down at her. She was so small and petite compared to me, I towered over her. For a second, she looked frightened. And I almost fell for her act, almost eased up on her.
