Work didn’t stop in the Morton mansion until every mber of the family had retired to their rooms. Then, work resud even before the break of dawn.
That was his unwritten rule as the head butler, in charge of the smooth daily operation and maintenance of the house, including managing the entire household.
"You missed a spot."
"You’re not being paid to chat."
"Take this. Bring this." And so on. And so forth.
Just the usual phrases that echoed in the hallways as he passed by and inspected the household staff’s work, ensuring that everything was in place.
For decades, he had served three generations of the Morton family diligently and faithfully without fail.
More than that, he had sworn to keep every secret that his eyes had seen and had reached his ears. Nothing would spill out of his mouth, no matter how their enemies tried to squeeze it out of him. He would die carrying them on his grave.
For him, the Morton family was not just his employers, but they were his family. He would lie, steal, kill, and die for them if it ant protecting each one of them.
"Whose responsible for those flowers?" He asked the uniford staff assigned to clean the room and make it spotless.
As soon as he entered the door, he imdiately spotted the vase holding the fresh flowers near the entrance. Imdiately, he recognized them.
Everybody stopped whatever they were doing. Then, all eyes turned to him before looking at each other, silently asking the sa question.
Then, a teenage girl stepped forward, hands clasped, head down, and eyes avoiding his gaze.
"I’m sorry, Sir Taylor. I’m Leah. I’m the one who picked those flowers." The girl admitted, bravely claiming responsibility.
Instantly, he recognized the girl as one of the new maids. But even though she was new to the job, she was already a familiar presence in the mansion.
Her mother, Maria, had brought Leah many tis to the mansion when she couldn’t find soone to care for her.
Now that she had grown into an intelligent and capable young woman, her mother had asked if she could do part-ti work so she could save up for her college expenses.
"If there is a problem with it, let fix it." She quickly added, still keeping her head low, but now her hands hid behind her back as if she already knew she was guilty of sothing.
"Don’t you know that those are Mr. Morton’s favorite flowers that you plucked from the Rose Garden?" His voice remained calm, but it carried the weight of her offense.
Mr. Morton had very strict instructions that no one was to intrude on his private garden. No one could touch his flowers. But it seed that Leah hadn’t received the mo, as she broke Mr. Morton’s golden rule.
"I didn’t know." Leah gasped. Her voice was barely a whisper.
The fear that registered on her face and the tears that dropped down her cheeks said exactly what she felt.
"I’m sorry, Sir Taylor. But I didn’t know." The young maid pleaded, finally realizing the severity of her mistake.
In fairness to the young girl, she was relatively new at her job. She was still unfamiliar with all the rules. Unfortunately, that would not excuse her from facing the consequences of her action.
In the Morton household, they had a very significant low tolerance for mistakes. Every wrongdoing had an equivalent punishnt.
"Please, I promise I won’t do it again. I will be more careful next ti, just don’t fire ." The girl knelt on the floor and held on to the hem of his coat, begging to keep her job.
If only it had been up to him, he would have let this slide. After all, it was a silly minor offense. But sadly, he was not the one making the decision.
"What’s going on here, Taylor?" The young master’s voice reverberated on his back, alerting him to his presence even if he didn’t see him imdiately.
The sight of his employer’s son surprised him. Usually, his young master would never be bothered to ddle with such mundane affairs. But here he was, looking between him and the young girl kneeling before him.
"It is nothing, Sir, just a little issue with the decorations." He patted the shoulder of the young girl, signaling her to stand up before dismissing her.
The girl quickly moved to the windows without uttering another word and continued polishing the glasses.
"Sir Benjie, do you need anything?" He asked as everyone turned away and returned to their task.
But he noticed how his young master’s gaze followed Leah before he finally faced him again.
Anyway, he rembered leaving the entire Morton family by the pool earlier to check on the staff. He guessed the pool party must be over.
"Mom wanted to give you this." Benjie, the second son of the Morton family, handed him a note.
Again, his young master never liked it when his parents asked him to do anything. Honestly, of the three kids, Benjie was the typical rich kid snob.
Spoiled. Vain.
Unlike his older brother, Oliver, and younger sister, Marianne, he was a bully.
"I’ll see to this imdiately." He inford him after reading the instructions in the note. "Is there anything else, Sir Benjie?" He asked, but beca slightly concerned with the way his young master was looking at the new maid.
There was a glint in the young man’s eyes that he easily recognized.
Interest.
That was not good.
"If there is nothing else, Sir Benjie." He called the young man’s attention, hoping that he would take the hint and leave.
As far as he was concerned, nothing good could co out of it when two people from two different worlds collide.
They just ended up hurt and broken, rembering the tragic ending between Oliver and Alia.
Such a sha.
***
anwhile, on the other side of the city.
The sll of disinfectant and sanitizing agents bombarded his nostrils as soon as he entered the hospital premises.
Chatters in the lobby, a wailing child on the corner, people whispering by the elevator, and cries of agony echoed once he passed by the waiting area.
Despite his chosen profession, hospitals, graveyards, and funeral hos still filled his nerves with an uneasy feeling. In truth, this place still gave him the creeps.
"Ugh!" He sighed, trying to shake off the chilly, eerie sensation that was crawling underneath his skin.
At any rate, it was just another busy day at the hospital as the staff moved around the hallways to attend to the needs of their sick and dying patients.
However, he was not there to visit a patient. Neither was he ill.
"I’m looking for Dr. Ashley Bennett." He told the woman in a pink uniform as he stopped at the reception counter.
So far, their investigation had led him to St. Grace Hospital. It was a small dical facility on the outskirts of the city.
Surprisingly, one na stood out.
Dr. Ashley Bennett.
The bestfriend of Sophia Maddison, the Don’s wife.
It appeared she had worked as an obstetrician at this hospital before transferring to another dical institution.
At the mont, he had no idea what her involvent was in their ongoing investigation, but her na kept popping up on his radar.
Suspicious? Definitely.
"I’m sorry, but she’s currently busy attending to her patients." The woman by the desk inford him. "Anyway, do you have an appointnt?" Raising her eyebrow at him in question.
"No! I don’t." He answered.
"Do you wish to appoint a schedule for your wife?" She asked, not politely, but not rudely either. Maybe just indifferent.
"No! I don’t have a wife. And I’m not here to make an appointnt." He answered, not liking the way the woman was looking at him. "But I do want to see her if possible today. I must talk to her."
"If you are here to ask Dr. Ashley out, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but she is already in a happy relationship. You’ll just be wasting your ti." The woman told him, glaring at him as if he were a stalker.
But could he bla her? He was a large dude, looking for an obstetrician at a Maternity ward.
Honestly, Ashley was not as tall as Sophia, but he could not deny that he found her adorable, especially when she kept fidgeting with her wide-brimd glasses.
"No! Not like that." He quickly clarified before she called security to drag him out of the hospital. "Actually, I know her." That was not a lie. He had t her briefly before.
"Well, Dr. Bennett is fully booked today." The woman said, still looking at him suspiciously, pointing to the white screen on the wall.
The board showed her full schedule.
"It might take you hours before she cos out of the room." She pointed to a double door at the end of the hallway.
Looking at his watch and hearing babies crying, he guessed he had no choice but to wait. The last thing he wanted was to return to his boss empty-handed when he was this close to a new lead.
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