A Love Restored

I thought of him every day, I had done so, for the last five years. He was in my prayers, in my dreams. I just never spoke to anyone about him. Dad had forbidden any mention of our previous Eves in the house. And I couldn’t tell any of my friends. I barely had any, there was just Tommy, and Lexi, my friend who had told me about this job. I couldn’t tell them, because that would mean endangering their lives and safety by opening them up to the secrets of the mafia.

could tell Felix now. I could tell him what happened. He was mad but he would listen. But even though some days I hated my father, I could never let Felix know what he had done. God knows what he would do if he found out. God knows what his father would do. Actually no, I knew very well what they would do. Which is exactly why I couldn’t tell anyone.

I cleaned up the kitchen and dusted the living room. Since we had just cleaned up yesterday, there wasn’t much to do. I opened up the fridge to see what we had, and my eyes found my untouched cherry cobbler. Felix hadn’t even touched it. He knew I had made it, and he hadn’t touched it. That pinched my heart a little. I took it out and grabbed a spoon, taking a bite. It was really good. Felix would have loved it. Shoving it back in the fridge, 1 decided to go take a walk around the compound. After that, I’d come back and prepare dinner

Felix’s house was really big. Like, really big. Too big for one person. I wondered if he never felt alone here at night. After all the servants were gone and the lights were out. I’d be totally spooked. I couldn’t live in this silence.

Once you stepped off the porch, there was a pathway leading down to the car parking, and one that went further to the main gates. The rest was all green–covered with grass and the most beautiful plants. It would look so lovely with some tending to. I had always dreamed of having my own garden, just like this one, but I guess now I could just look at this one and enjoy it. It was really so beautiful. There was some wooden furniture on the non- grassy area. I could see a cute family eating breakfast here on Sundays.

Or hosting branch with friends. Felix would do all that. It would be lovely

To the side, there was a medium sized swimming pool. Felix had always loved swimming, so it was no surprise he had gotten this installed.

I went round the back, and saw a shed like structure. It was probably for storage and some tools. But I liked this area, I could take my smoke breaks here. As I looked around the small backyard, walking slowly, I heard a sound. I turned round quickly and came to look at a man. He was standing a few feet away from me. He was tall and kind of scary looking. He looked young but he had a beard that made him look older. And he was really, really built.

“And you are?” He asked politely.

“I work here.” I sputtered. Did he think I was an intrader? A burglar? A thief?

“Figured that from the uniform. What are you doing here?”

I gulped. “I was just looking around. I didn’t know this is off limits.”

“Its not.” He took a step toward me, and I took a step back. It was hard for me to trust men, and usually 1 hid my fear better, but this huge scary looking man had of course triggered the fight or flight response in me. I usually chose flight.

“I’m Liam. I work security”

“Oh.” I stilled, breathing a sigh o of relief “You’re Hannah’s son. I’m Flora.” I stepped forward and extended a band for him to shake. He took it softly. but shook my hand firmly.

“I’m the other housekeeper, with your mom

“Nice to meet you, Flora. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

1 shook my head, smiling in embarrassment. “Its nothing. I’m sorry. You were just doing your job.”

His eyes zeroed in on the lighter in my hand. “Taking a smoke break, huh?” He smiled. “Got one for me?”

I nodded, laughing and reached into my pocket for my pack, offering him one, along with my lighter. He took them both and quickly lit it up. “Mr. Corsino doesn’t really approve of smoking in the compound.” He smiled. I lit my own clearette as he talked and we both took a drag at the same time. “This’ll have to be our secret, then, huh, Flora?

He seemed strangely sweet and trustworthy, in a way. And since he was Hannah’s son, who was so amazing herself, I figured he would be harmless. “I’m good at keeping secrets.”

+10

Bonu

Chapter 10

“Yeah?”

I nodded readily and he chuckled. He looked at his watch, then back up at me. “You want to eat lunch together? I was going to go get some McDonalds. Its on me.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to-

1 couldn’t finish my sentence. “Consider it a welcome on the new job”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

I smiled and nodded.