by Naomi Niles
"Do you feel well enough to go downstairs? I've called a mandatory meeting for all the household staff, and I think it would be good if you could be there."
"Well, it would seem like I didn't care about my job if I weren't there." I worried.
"I don't give a shit about what other people think. If you don't feel up to it, I'll explain it to Stuart and Emma. And if they don't like it, they can go fuck themselves."
"Take it easy there." I soothed his hand. "I'll go. I think it would do me some good to get out of bed, and if I don't feel well, I'll say something right away."
"You'd better. I don't want anything else to happen to you. You mean too much to me." I felt moved to tears at the way Tate gazed at me tenderly. It must have been the head injury making me so emotional, and I blinked them back, but when I saw Tate welcome Halle into the room, the tears came back again.
He set the little girl beside me on the bed, and she handed me a card she'd made.
"Look, it says Get Well Soon, and I wrote it all by myself. Well, Daddy told me how to spell it, but I wrote the letters," she proclaimed proudly.
"You did such a wonderful job; I'm feeling better already." I squeezed her. "I'm sorry we had to cancel going to the zoo today."
"It's okay. Daddy said Scott could take me, but I want to wait until you're better so we can all go together."
It was a mighty compliment from the little girl, and I didn't know what to say in return. "I'll get better fast then," I choked.
"Good, because I don't want anybody else to take care of me but you." She kissed my cheek, and I hugged her back with all my strength. She wasn't my daughter, but I was developing a bond with this sweet little girl that was unlike anything I had experienced as a teacher.
"Come on, help me get dressed," I said to her as I swung my feet out of Tate's enormous bed. "We can be matching, like sisters."
Halle very gently helped me put on a flared skirt and pretty summer blouse with delicate pink lace. I pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail and Halle tied a pink ribbon around it in a crooked bow.
"Perfect." I beamed at her and waited till she ran into the nursery to adjust it.
"I have to go to a meeting downstairs. Why don't you pick out your favorite movie and you can watch it on television in the living room so I can see you while I'm in the meeting."
"I can watch downstairs like a big girl?” Halle beamed as I nodded yes. She picked a musical about a princess and insisted on carrying it herself down the stairs, along with her favorite stuffed giraffe.
It took me a few minutes to figure out how to work the television in the entertainment room just off the dining room. Tate had a complex media center, with surround sound, multiple view screens, and state-of-the-art technology.
"Why isn't there any sound?" Halle complained as I stared at the complicated remote with a blank expression.
"You have to select the speaker output here," Tate suddenly came up behind me, startling me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and showed me how to work the remote control with just a few easy clicks and the sound of a singing princess filled the air, much to Halle's delight.
"We're ready to begin as soon as you can join us." Tate nibbled my neck, and I blushed in his arms.
"I'm coming." Tate arched his left brow at me with a playful leer.
"Not yet. Save that for later tonight," he teased, and I swatted at him playfully.
Emma and Scott were already seated at the dining room table as Stuart stepped out of the kitchen carrying a tray of finger foods for us all to snack on during the meeting.
"It's about time you got here." Emma glared at me as I took my seat. "What's the matter? Did you get tied up in the master bedroom?"
Her innuendo was obvious, and I drew in a sharp breath. Did she know about the bondage toys that Tate kept in a secret room hidden behind his bookcase? Had she seen the sex swing? Tate said that I was the only woman he had used it with, but that didn't mean I was the only one who had seen it.
The shelves lined with toys in his secret room had been spotlessly clean. Did Emma go in there to dust and vacuum? Was it part of her duties or did she stumble upon it by accident one day when straightening the books shelves in his bedroom?
"Leave her alone, Emma. Have something to eat if you can't keep your mouth shut," Stuart snapped. He offered Emma the tray of delicious finger foods, and I was grateful to him for defending me.
Stuart was an interesting man. At times, I felt like he hated me. He treated me as if I were an unwelcome intruder in his life, always in the way. But then, he would turn around and say something that let me know he cared about me and had my best interests at heart. He supported Emma in wanting me to leave the mansion. But while Emma did it because she thought I was a disgusting whore, I got the feeling Stuart did it because he didn't want to see me get hurt. It made me like him despite his initial treatment of me. I trusted him; but how much did Tate?
It made me wonder about Tate's relationship with the chef. Stuart wasn't just the household's gourmet cook, but he was also in charge of Tate's fitness and exercise. I thought that meant he developed training programs for Tate in the gym or monitoring him when he swam laps in the pool. Now, I wondered if it meant he was aware Tate's extracurricular activities in the bedroom. After all, using that swing was quite the physical workout. Playing with whips required a certain amount of training and athletic skill. Did Stuart know that the reason Tate wanted to be so strong was so he had the strength to fuck me while lifting me against the wall of his secret room?
And what about that secret room; how secret was it? After all, someone must have installed it. Was it Scott? Had he been there for the construction? Did he monitor it as part of his bodyguard duties? Were there security cameras in there?
My heart pounded as I took my seat and looked at my coworkers sitting around the table. How many of them knew about the secret sex room and what went on in there? How many of them had seen the swing and the drops of blood that splattered the floor beneath it?
Tate had warned me never to reveal the things I had seen to anyone, but was I the only one who knew about them?
Someone had turned off the security cameras yesterday so that an intruder could slip into the house and assault me. Emma knew I was home alone. Scott claimed to be sitting in the car while Tate and Halle were out on their chartered yacht, but that meant there were several hours when he could have gone anywhere and done anything.
I no longer knew who I could trust. I was the one who had been working for Tate the shortest amount of time. They all knew each other much better than me, and it was clear that both Emma and Stuart disapproved of my sexual relationship with the boss.
Maybe they'd planted the blood spots to scare me off. Maybe one of them had killed Rose and was framing Tate for the crime. Maybe he really had done it and by keeping his secret, I was endangering us all. It was all so confusing, my head pounded.
Just then, Tate stood up at the head of the table and said, "Are you ready to get this meeting started?"
I nodded yes, but nothing was further from the truth.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Tate
"I want to thank you all for writing statements to give Detective Miller. If he has further questions, he'll contact you all individually."
I began the meeting with a cordial smile. I was mad as hell about what had happened to Rachelle, but it wouldn't do any good to come in yelling and screaming, no matter how much I wanted to. They were the only ones who had keys, but I couldn't just accuse them of letting in an intruder. I still needed the support of my staff to run my household and get to the bottom of who had assaulted Rachelle.
So, I smiled broadly and said, "I know things have been difficult around here lately; first with the investigation over Rose's death and now this assault on Rachelle. I want to assure you all that I'm doing everything I can to ensure the safety of everyone."
I caught Emma making a smirking expression, and I knew she doubted my sincerity. Staring right at her
, I said, "Every employee here is like a member of the family to me, and I don't want to see any of you hurt or scared."
Emma broke her gaze with me, and I felt confident that I'd made my point with her. Moving on with the purpose of my meeting, I continued, "I'm working closely with Detective Miller to help with his investigation of both crimes. Brighton Security will be reviewing all their video surveillance tapes and equipment to see if they can determine how the power was cut and who may have done it. In the meantime, they will be doubling the amount of guards who patrol the house, even at times when I'm not home. Never again will there be an instance when I'm out with Halle and the house is left unguarded. "
Nods of approval went around the table as everyone looked pleased. That was good because their moods were about to be dampened. With as friendly a spin as I could put on it, I said casually, "Finally, I'll be having all the locks changed, so I need all of you to give me your keys."
"What? Why?" Emma was the first to object as everyone else exchanged worried glances. "Why do you need my old key if it's no good anyway?"
"I just want all the old keys that go with the old locks," I stated firmly. She didn't need to know that I was checking to see if any of them had lost their key or given it away to someone.
"Here." Scott was the first to set his key in the center of the dining table, followed by Stuart and Rachelle.
Emma scowled as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her key. She slammed it on the table with excessive force, muttering under her breath, "He wants some damn worthless key, he can have it. I don't give a crap."
"Thank you." I picked up all the keys and examined them with a subtle glance before pocketing them. They were the proper shape of the original keys, and each was stamped with the words Do Not Copy, so I felt satisfied that none of them had given their key to the intruder or had it copied or stolen.
Of course, that still left the possibility that one of them had simply opened the door, letting the intruder in, or even assaulted Rachelle themselves. After all, she hadn't seen her attacker, except for his shoes.
"When do we get our new keys?" Emma asked gruffly. I knew she was really going to hate my answer.
"You don't." All the faces around the table turned white with shock.
"You're firing us?" Scott said, and I was quick to correct him.
"No, not at all. You're valued members of the family, and I want you all to stay on. The new locks being installed have a special electronic signature that can only be programmed into the key at the factory site. I've ordered enough for all of you, but they won't be here for several weeks.
“In the meantime, I only have two keys. I'm keeping one, and the other is for Halle, so it will be kept by Rachelle since she is her guardian."
All heads turned to Rachelle with shocked expressions, but none looked more surprise than she did.
"Me. But I don't need or want the only other key," she stammered.
"Nonsense. You need to be able to take Halle to appointments and playdates. If I'm out at a meeting or business trip, I don't want her stranded with no way to come and go. It's your responsibility to take care of her, and having the key to the house is part of that." I stated my speech so sternly, there could be no arguing with it, but leave it to Emma to come up with a way.
"It's going to be awfully hard for me to come to work in the morning if I can't get into the damn house," she barked.
Stuart nodded his head in agreement. "How will I get in to start breakfast if you are still in bed and can't let me in?"
I spoke quickly to calm their nerves. "I'm giving Rachelle a copy of your schedules. She'll know when you arrive and when you leave for the day and make certain you can get in and out of the house for work. She gets up very early with Halle, anyway. If you have any changes to your regular schedule, like appointments or errands, just make sure you communicate that with her. Any other questions?"
"Fine. Can I get back to work now?" Emma snapped. Her face with livid with rage, but at least she had the good sense not to question my decision.
"That will be a lot of extra responsibility," Stuart said sympathetically to Rachelle with his hand on her shoulder.
She smiled at him and said, "I can handle it."
"I know you can." He gave her shoulder a parting pat and returned to the kitchen, followed by Scott on his way to the garage to wash and maintain the cars.
"Well, I think that went well." I sighed with relief once Rachelle and were finally alone in the dining room.
"How could you do this to me without any warning?" the petite blonde turned on me with surprising fury.
"What are you talking about?" I held up hands defensively.
"Emma hates me enough as it is, now she wants to kill me. Stuart and I were finally becoming friends, and now you're going to undo all that. And how the hell am I supposed to ask Scott to report to me when he's coming and going when I rely on him to keep me safe when we're driving anywhere? You've put me in an impossibly awkward situation, and you didn't even warn me so I could be prepared."
Seeing things from her perspective, I suddenly felt like a shit pile. I pulled her into my arms and gently stroked her shoulders. "You're right. I'm sorry, I should have told you. I just thought it would be better if you were as surprised as everyone else so they wouldn't think I was playing favorites and we'd planned this together."
"I think they're going to believe you're playing favorites no matter what," Rachelle teased. "After all, we are sleeping together."
She kissed my neck then, driving me wild with desire, and I took her mouth with my own, kissing her hungrily.
When we broke for air, I smiled down at her. "You know, speaking of sleeping together... I've been thinking that we should make you sleeping in my bed a more permanent arrangement."
"But last night you said that was just so you could keep an eye on me because of my concussion. We didn't even have sex."
"I know, but I've been thinking about it, and it was so much more convenient, I don't see any reason why you need to rush back to sleeping in your own room. Stay in my suite again tonight, and let's see how it goes when you're not concussed."
I leered at her playfully and gave her perfectly round ass a pleasant squeeze. She squealed with delight and wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing my mouth happily. But then her expression became serious, and she shook her finger at me, saying, "What about Halle?"
"She has her own bed," I joked. Rachelle slapped at me in mock anger.
"You know what I mean. What will she think about our sharing a bed together? I don't want to upset her or ruin my authority."
"She didn't seem to mind this morning. In fact, it was her idea. When I tucked her in last night while you were getting fresh ice for your head, she suggested to me that since you were sick, maybe I should take care of you by letting you sleep in my bed."
"That's so sweet." Rachelle smiled wistfully.
"I thought so." I grinned. "So what do you say? Move into my room."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," she hesitated, but the sparkle in her eye told me she wanted to.
She offered a string of excuses. "We hardly know each other. I don't want to cause further problems with the rest of the staff, and if my mother found out, she'd be heartbroken. Detective Miller already suspects something is up between us, and we don't need to give him any more fuel for his investigation Besides, my room connects to the nursery so I can hear Halle if she needs me."
"Okay, settle down." I stroked her back to soothe her. "Keep your own bedroom, but sleep in my room tonight just to see how it goes. If you like it, you can try it again another night. If you don't, you can return to your own room, no hard feelings."
"You're sure?" she asked cautiously.
"I promise. I don't want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. It just felt so nice having another person in the bed, even if we didn't have sex. It brought me a sense of comfort and peace just having you there. Didn't you feel the same thing?"
> She did. I knew she did the moment her gaze met mine. "Okay, we'll give it a try."
"Good. Now let's get back to work." I felt the weight of worry lifted from my shoulders. Ever since she was assaulted, all I could do was worry about her safety.
The previous night I was preoccupied with the condition of her concussion, but now that her health was out of danger, I found myself worrying even more. What if the bastard that managed to get into the house came back to finish the job? It was all I could think about, and although I was taking every step possible to ensure her safety, I knew that I'd just lie awake all night long if I couldn't see her to know that she was alright. It was extremely disconcerting to know that someone had come into my home and hurt her. It robbed me of all real sense of security.
"Your new locks are installed." The locksmith handed me a large plastic bag heavy with all the removed locks and handed me the new keys.
"Thank you." I shook his hand and wrote him a check for his work. I went out to the garage to store them and then thought better of it. Perhaps Detective Miller's team should analyze them. They might be able to figure out how someone opened the locks without a key, I thought.
I climbed into my Porsche and prepared to back out of the garage. That's when I saw it. The digital camera I'd confiscated from the photographer in my driveway yesterday. He'd said he'd get it back and a lot more. And, he'd been wearing black athletic shoes. Perhaps he had snuck into the house looking for his camera, and when Rachelle found him, he knocked her out to avoid being caught. Maybe she hadn't been assaulted by the same person who killed Rose, after all.
The only thing I knew for certain was I was never going to let anyone hurt her ever again. Despite all my efforts to keep things professional between us, I was falling in love with her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Rachelle
"Tate, are you coming to bed?" I called out seductively.
Halle was deep asleep in the nursery, and I'd come to Tate's lavish suite, ready for him. He was so caring and sweet, not to mention incredibly handsome with those mesmerizing hazel green eyes flecked with gold and that dazzling sexy smile.
