Chapter 204: Curiosity Killed the Cat…
Edrick
The thought of sending Moana back to work and Ella back to school made me incredibly nervous, but I knew that it needed to be done. It wasn’t fair to keep them both cooped up, and as long as they both had the proper protection, I decided that it would be alright if it would make my girls happy.
On the first day, Moana went to work by herself while I talked to Ella. Ella was becoming increasingly aggravated lately, seeing as how she didn’t remember anything from the night of the kidnapping. Eventually, however, she was bound to find out; surely her little friends at school had heard whisperings of what happened at the warehouse already, and although the details of what really happened weren’t known by the public yet, I didn’t want Ella to learn about it from anyone except for me.
So, while Moana was at work, I sat Ella down to talk to her. She was holding one of her dolls tightly in her hand and brushing its hair furiously, as though she was taking a bit of her frustration out on it.
“Princess, I need to talk to you,” I said gently. “Can you please put your doll down?”
With a huff, Ella threw her doll down on the floor where we sat and folded her arms across her chest. I debated scolding her for that, but decided against it.
“Why can Moana go back to school, but I can’t?” she growled, her little pointed ears and sharp fangs showing as she shifted slightly from her anger. “It’s not fair!”
“I know, Princess,” I replied. “You’ll go back to school tomorrow, but I need to talk to you first about why all of this has been happening lately.”
Ella seemed intrigued by what I said, and her fangs withdrew slightly at the prospect of going back to school. She waited patiently and allowed me to talk. “The other night, when you woke up in the police car, I wasn’t entirely truthful with you,” I said. “I told you that there was nothing to worry about, which was the truth; but what I didn’t tell you was that…”
As I slowly and gently told Ella the entire story of what happened, her little eyes widened and her face went pale. When I was finished, she looked up at me incredulously.
“Uncle Ethan really did that…?” she whispered. I nodded.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” I said gently. “I hope you’re not mad at me for not telling you sooner.”
Ella looked up at me for a few moments longer before she quietly climbed into my lap. I held her there for a long time, gently rocking her back and forth. Now that the story was out, both of us felt much better. But there was something that I still didn’t tell her.
I didn’t tell her about her mom.
…
Later that afternoon, I was working in my study when my phone began to ring. When I picked it up, it was the bodyguard. My blood ran cold as I heard his voice, expecting something bad to have happened to Moana. I wondered if she shifted at work, or if my father showed up. All of the worst outcomes immediately came to mind before I even heard what really happened.
“Yes?” I said, standing abruptly from my desk and immediately preparing to run down there myself. “Is everything alright? Is she hurt?”
“She’s fine,” the bodyguard, Darren, said. “Nothing happened. Don’t worry.”
“Oh.” I let out a sigh of relief and sat down as I ran a hand through my hair. “What is it, then?”
On the other side of the phone, I heard Darren let out an audible sigh. “She saw me watching,” he replied. “I guess other teachers complained, too. She came out here and made quite the scene. And she took my binoculars.”
As the bodyguard spoke, I felt myself sink in my chair. Of course Moana had made a scene; honestly, it was stupid of me to think that she wouldn’t. I wasn’t surprised that other teachers were complaining, either. Maybe I was a bit too aggressive with my orders when I secretly told Darren to watch her through the window and not let her out of his sight.
“Alright,” I said, sighing again as I leaned back in my chair and shut my eyes exasperatedly. “Tomorrow, just drop her off and act as though you’re coming home, but watch undercover,” I said. “I don’t care how you do it, so long as you don’t let Moana or Ella see you and you don’t alarm any of the teachers or students. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Darren replied. After that, I hung up.
That evening, I half expected Moana to give me a talking-to over what had happened. But surprisingly, she didn’t say a word. The next morning, she simply woke up and got Ella ready for school. I saw both of them off at the lobby door downstairs, then watched as they drove away before I headed back up to the penthouse.
However, by that afternoon, I had received yet another call from the bodyguard. This time, Moana had caught him watching from a park bench across the street, gave him the middle finger through her classroom window, and then held up a sign that said that she was going to call the police. It took her holding up her phone in the window and dialing the numbers for him to finally walk away and call me again.
Even though Moana’s fiery attitude made me want to laugh, I knew that this was serious. Clearly, this bodyguard wasn’t meshing well with her. She obviously didn’t feel comfortable or trust him, so after dismissing him from the job, I decided that it was time to take a different approach.
Moana and Ella needed to be allowed to go to work and school. However, it was still dangerous. Besides, if she suddenly began to shift in her classroom, having a bodyguard sitting outside wouldn’t be much help. She needed someone specialized, someone who she was comfortable with having close by… Maybe she needed someone who she saw as more of a friend than an intimidating bodyguard.
If I could just find someone who could get comfortable with Moana enough to stay inside the classroom with her, someone who could be easily passed as a teacher’s aide so that the other teachers wouldn’t be too suspicious, it would be perfect. I would feel better knowing that she had someone right by her side in case something happened, and maybe she would be less resentful if she felt less intimidated by this new bodyguard.
But who could I give this task to? All of the bodyguards that I hired were large, intimidating men with combat training who I had initially hired with the intention of patrolling the mountain estate. They were extremely talented and valuable, and I felt safe having them on my security team. But I needed someone who Moana could relate to, and someone who also had specialized experience with being a personal bodyguard for a young woman…
Suddenly, I had an idea. With a sigh, I picked up my phone to call my chief security officer.
