Chapter 11
I keep him in check
At midnight, when all the lights were turned off and
everyone had fallen asleep a figure of a woman lurked in the
shadows of the Sinclair mansion, carefully maneuvering her
way around the corners so as not to make any noise and alert
anyone of her presence.
Once she was at the mansion's main corridor she began
to walk more carefully because this was the place where she
could easily be seen from every side and there were a lot of
items she had avoided bumping into because it was quite
dark. The moon was present however it wasn't aiding her
when it came to seeing where she was going.
After making her way to the danger zone, the woman
quickly went for a passageway which led to the kitchen. And
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only once she was in there did she light up a torch and began
looking through the many drawers.
"It was in here though. I know I saw it," she whispered in
frustration as she kept looking through the drawers. After
opening and closing a few more drawers she finally found
what she was looking for, a small bunch of keys that had a
blue chain on them.
She removed the chain and began to separate the metal
that kept all the keys together, and once she was done she
took two of the keys and placed them in her pocket. She then
rearranged the keys that were left behind and placed them
back into the drawer.
Firstly, checking to see that no one saw or was following
her, she left the kitchen and went through a dark hallway,
and at the end of that hallway was a door. She kept going
until she reached that door and when she got there she took
out the keys she took from the kitchen drawer.
Looking at the two of them she began to wonder which
one was the correct one. These two were the ones she was
sure had the correct one among them because she tried the
others before and they weren't a match for the door.
She wasn't absolutely sure it was the correct bunch of
keys however, she once saw the butler using them for this
door instead of his usual keys and since then she had been
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stealing some of the keys in the hopes that one day she
would find the right one.
She closed her eyes and said a short prayer before
inserting one of the keys into the door and twisted it. Her
heart almost dropped when the key didn't move in the key
hole and instead got jammed inside. She tried pulling it out
but the key decided to embarrass her by not moving,
however she wasn't willing to go away without a fight. So,
she rolled up her sleeves and using a little bit of strength she
twisted the key once again and pulled it from the door.
Breathing heavily and with the key in her hand, the
woman decided to try the second key she had. Saying
another prayer. she went to the door to place the second key,
however to her surprise the door opened as soon as she
pushed it with a slight bit of force.
Even though it was already quiet with her being the only
person present, there was a moment of another type of
silence that fell in the empty atmosphere. The silence that
made her question if the door was open all this time. But
then she remembered that all those times she came here it
was locked and today wasn't an exception. The butler surely
wouldn't leave the door open with how strict and particular
he was with everything in the mansion.
She placed the keys back into her pocket and opened the
door to make her departure. And just as she made her way
through the mansion by moving stealthily and avoiding
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detection, the woman made her way from the mansion, past
the guest house and into the entrance of the garden.
Meanwhile...
Henry was standing outside with his hands in his
pockets and watching the grass lands that stretched out far
into the distance. With the wind blowing and swaying the
grass in different directions in each portion of the land, the
moon duly shining creating a peaceful and ethereal picture
belonging to a classic painting.
As he was enjoying the scene, Henry heard some
footsteps coming his way which made him turn around. He
took his hands out of his pocket and looked at the person
who was now standing in front of him.
"Good evening," Henry politely greeted.
"Good evening, Henry," said the person. He also looked
ahead at the land ahead and smiled as the wind blew
through their hair. "How are you holding up with
everything, I hope Victor isn't giving you a hard time.
"No, no at all. I assume he is giving you a hard time
instead. I heard you weren't at the mansion today," said
Henry.
The person sighed before letting out a small laugh. "I am
a butler and caretaker of the Sinclair Estate, however before
all that I am a guardian. When he is about to go off the rails
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and hurt himself it is my responsibility to remind him of his
goals and who he is."
Henry nodded his head and said, "I understand,
sometimes he certainly stresses me out."
Henry remembered the dark days when Charles had just
died. Victor was a complete mess and was slowly getting
engulfed by sadness and depression.
A few weeks after Charles' burial, Victor went missing
and no one knew where he was or where he could have
gone. Henry searched everywhere he thought Victor could
have gone to, and when nothing came up he couldn't help
but start to assume the worst. But even so, he continued his
search in the hopes of getting something at the end.
After a couple of weeks passed, Henry received a
message asking to meet up and he wasn't supposed to tell
anyone about this. He was glad to finally hear from Victor
after such a long time however, he wasn't sure if he was ok.
From his voice alone, he could tell that Victor wasn't
handling Charles' death very well and that he only needed
someone to help him through it, however nothing prepared
him for what he was about to see.
When the time came, Henry went to the location that
Victor had told him to come to. The first thing he saw was
Victor's car and the door to the driver's seat was open. He
didn't wait to park or switch off his car, as soon as Henry
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recognized Victor's car he quickly got out to see if he was in
there.
When he approached the car and went to the opened
door, he saw Victor seated in the seat looking empty and
exhausted. Henry was heartbroken, worried and also really
upset, he still couldn't get over the fact that Victor went on
for weeks without contacting anyone about his well-being
and whereabouts. All that time Henry was slowly losing
sleep and peace of mind due to stress.
He wanted to question Victor what he was thinking but
then he remembered that Charles had just died and Victor
currently wasn't in good shape, so he decided to wait for the
right time to give him a piece of his mind.
Henry was about to ask Victor what happened, but
before he could say anything Victor slammed a file he was
holding on Henry's chest.
"I found it... everything. Henry...I found it... you really
need to read this," said Victor in a low, dry and raspy voice
as he kept pushing the file on to Henry.
Henry took the file from Victor and opened it to see
what was inside, and as he was going through it Victor tried
to get up but he almost fell. Seeing this Henry quickly put
the papers aside to tend to Victor.
"I'm really thirsty, do you have some water," said Victor
before he passed out, luckily Henry was quick enough to
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react and caught him before he hit the ground. Panicking
and not sure about what happened, the first thing that Henry
did was check for a breath and a pulse. All the while Victor
was mumbling something in his unconscious state but not
waking up.
He also checked his temperature and it seemed that
Victor had a fever and judging by the state he saw him in he
was weak and his health was deteriorating.
"Damn it, Victor! Do you know how worried I was?!
What were you thinking?" Henry was trying to suppress his
anger and frustration but looking at Victor's condition he
couldn't hold it anymore.
But then he realized that the person he wanted to vent
out to and hear the full brunt of his anger was unconscious
and couldn't hear him. So he once again decided to put his
feelings aside and get Victor some help, and when he's
healthy and well that's when he will take action.
"I have to admit, he does sometimes leave me speechless
and have me almost going bald with the worry he puts me
through," said the man shaking his head, "he forgets that we
worry about him when he decides to go to extremes."
Henry smiled, turned to the man and said, "That butler
uniform certainly looks good on you, Kinsley must be very
jealous and eager to come back and take his spot."
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"I guess you're right," laughed the man, looking at his
clothes and shoes. "Soon my job will be done at the mansion,
all that's left is to wipe off the finishing touches and the rest
is up to you."
Meanwhile
The woman successfully left the Sinclair Estate and was
now walking her way through the night. In her hand she had
a paper and on it was information about where she was
supposed to go once she left the Sinclair Estate.
Even though she was now far away she kept looking
back every now and then to make sure no one was following
her. After walking a bit more she finally spotted a car ahead
with the exact description she was given. So, she put the
paper away and began to approach the car.
As she was getting closer the backseat door suddenly
opened and the person she was supposed to meet came out.
The man wore a nice brown coat which looked good with his
light brown hair, which almost seemed golden under the
moonlight. He also had on a pair of tinted glasses settled on
the bridge of his nose that made sure his eyes weren't
visible.
"Mr Sinclair, how are you doing?" said the woman trying
to keep her voice stable.
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She was quite scared of sneaking out of the mansion at
night because there was a possibility that someone might
have seen her, and that would draw a lot of trouble and
suspicion to her.
"Good evening, you must be Jane," said the man and the
woman nodded her heads. The man smiled and said, "Thank
you very much for accepting my offer, I know it must be
quite risky for your job at the mansion."
"Uh... You're welcome sir," said Jane shyly, looking
down, "when you told me everything about what happened I
couldn't help but feel guilty and sad. All this time I thought
she was right, but I guess I was wrong."
After hearing this Victor's lips couldn't help but smile
wider with a satisfied look.
"To atone for my mistakes, I will help you with whatever
you need to cover up for you and make sure no one knows
about you," said Jane, full of determination and looking up
to Victor.
"You don't have to worry about that," said Victor,
covering the distance between the and reaching out his hand
to caress her cheek, "your atonement is not up to you to
decide. That item, she already has it right?"
"Yes, I'm sure the butler gave it to her," said Jane,
nodding her head.
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"Perfect then, get me that key before anyone gets access
to that office and its information."
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