Aston’s Maid

One

I clutched the file tightly against my chest as I gazed up at the grand mansion looming in front of me. My heart and mind urged me to turn around and run back home but I knew if I did that, then there would be hell to pay. There would be questions I didn’t have the answers for and consequences which I didn’t have the strength to handle.

And you think you can handle this?

No. Absolutely not. I wasn’t cut out for this world, none of us were. But I’d rather suffer than let anybody else endure this Hell.

“It’s okay. You can do this. He won’t hurt you,” I said to myself to get some confidence in me before I faced the Devil himself.

Yeah right! He will chew you up and swallow you whole.

I wish my inner voice would shut up but she was telling me nothing but the truth. It wasn’t like I had no idea what I was getting into. I knew exactly what awaited me behind those impenetrable doors.

Stop stalling and get a move on. If he doesn’t hire you today then you know what will happen.

That got my feet moving towards my own personal Hell. I was aware of the risk I was taking but I was willing to do it for the ones I loved.

The doors opened before I could raise my arm and slam the door knocker which was shaped like a lion ready to devour its prey. A man dressed in the traditional butler garb stood in front of me eyeing me like I was an insect which should never exist.

“What are you doing here?” The butler asked me. His name was Grant and he loathed my existence. The feeling was mutual and yet I had no choice but to go through him if I wanted to meet the Devil.

“I—I’m here… I—I’m here for the…” God, what was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I speak all of a sudden?

“Yes, I know why you’re here. But Master didn’t order you to come. He specifically told your—”

“My sister, yes, I know. But due to some personal reasons she will not be able to come, so I’m here instead,” I said.

Grant’s eyebrows touched his hairline, his brown eyes widened in mock surprise. “Personal reasons?” He mocked. “What makes you think that your personal reasons hold more weightage than a direct summon from your Master?” I hated him. I hated all of them. This entire family was the reason this world was such a dark place to live in. And he clearly didn’t know when to shut up because he continued, “What makes you think you and your family even have the right to anything personal?”

Please kill him. Kill him right now.

I wish I could. But I wasn’t the one in power. He was. I was plain desperate.

“I understand all of that. But my sister is unable to answer the summon, and that’s why I’m here. Whatever Master Diamandis requires of me I am willing to do it,” I stated.

“That is not an option. When the Master summons a specific person of your family, no other member of the family can answer the summon. You know that. I cannot let you in. Go home and have your sister answer the summon,” Grant stated and prepared to shut the door in my face. But the sound of approaching voices made him pause.

“Mr. Diamandis, please. I am good and you know that. I really need this job.”

My eyes focused on Kalen as he escorted the woman towards the front door. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize him or the rest of the Diamandis cousins.

With his icy blue eyes and light blonde hair, Kalen was as vicious as a knife. He wouldn’t think twice about betraying someone if it benefited him somehow. He was cold and selfish and when his eyes landed on me, I literally felt like he was going to eat me alive.

Much like how your Master is going to do to you.

A smirk curved one side of his perfect mouth and he quickly walked over to where I stood on the other side of the threshold, completely forgetting about the woman who was trailing after him begging for him to listen to her.

“Well, well, well, look who’s here,” Kalen said, stopping next to Grant and ignoring the woman next to him. “Hello Harmony.”

I bristled at the greeting. If Kalen thought I would fall for his charm, then he clearly didn’t know me. Not that it mattered since I was no concern of his and vice versa. No, my concern was someone else.

“Mr. Diamandis,” I replied, curtly, hoping he could hear the hatred in my voice.

“Say Grant,” Kalen said to the butler, whose brown eyes refused to move from my face. “Is it just me or do we have the wrong Paulet in the house?”

“You’re not wrong, Master. The summon was for her elder sister and instead she chose to come saying her sister won’t be able to answer the summon,” Grant answered while Kalen gave me a once over.

“That’s not how this works. When we summon a certain member of the family, we expect that person to show up. The only exception is death. If the person is dead, then he or she can be exempted from a summon,” Kalen stated and I refrained from rolling my eyes. I already knew all of this but I didn’t care. I was going to answer this summon whether these jerks liked it or not.

“She would’ve been here if she could. But she’s unable to get out of bed so I came. I assure you I will serve you to the best of my ability,” I told him.

“You shouldn’t be concerned about serving me. You know who your true Master is,” he stated. With his eyes on me, Kalen grabbed the woman’s arm—the one who had been begging him for the job—and dragged her out of the house. I watched him give her a gentle shove, indicating that she should leave while the woman looked at him with tears glistening in her gray eyes. These people were ruthless and merciless. I wish I had the power to set them straight. “Come, I’ll take you,” he said once he returned.

My heart lifted with hope until Grant crushed it once again. “Master, I don’t think it’s a good idea. You must punish her and the family for going against a direct summon.”

“That’s Aston’s job not mine. I’m going to take her to him and then he can decide what to do with her,” Kalen stated before c*****g his at me, gesturing me to step inside what might soon end up being my prison.

He led me inside and up a long spiral staircase which was made of expensive marble with gold wrought iron banister which I was hesitant to place my hand on because I was afraid it would get dirty. Intricate scones dotted the walls and the biggest chandelier I’d ever seen dangled from the ceiling, throwing a golden glow around the foyer.

“Be prepared. Aston’s not in a good mood,” Kalen said without looking at me.

I nodded at his back. “I understand.”

“And you know what you’re here for?”

“Yes,” I muttered, hating the dread that was slowly taking over me the closer we got to the top.

As soon as we reached the top of the staircase Kalen led me down the long corridor until we reached the last door on the right. He turned the knob and pushed open the door without any announcement.

“I kicked her out but look who I brought in instead,” Kalen said, gesturing at me with wide arms as if I were a painting he was showing off to the world.

Seeing the eight men eyeing me made me rethink my decision to come here. Perhaps it would’ve been better if I would’ve let my sister handle this. I thought I would only be dealing with Aston, who happened to be my family’s Master. But no, all the nine Diamandis men were here and I was not comfortable with so much testosterone in the room.

“Uh oh, we look to have the wrong Paulet,” Colten said, his dark eyes sharp as they appraised me and a sinister smile curved his lips. Colten was scary. Plain and simple.

When Aston’s eyes locked with mine, for a minute I felt like I couldn’t breathe. All he was doing was looking at me, but his gaze wound around my neck, cutting off my supply of oxygen until I ended up stumbling and would’ve fallen had Kalen not grabbed my arm to steady me.

“My, my, scared already? He hasn’t even said anything yet,” Kalen taunted as I regained my bearings and pulled away from him.

“I’m fine, just lost my balance a little,” I muttered and looked at the man who had summoned me, or more like my sister. “I am here as the answer to your summon, Master Diamandis.” The last two words left a bitter taste in my mouth but there was nothing I could do about it. Aston really was the Master of my family. He owned every person who so much had a drop of Paulet blood in their veins. He always had and he always would.

Aston’s cool gaze rested on me and I couldn’t help but wish he’d stop looking at me. His eyes always unnerved me. They were a weird honey color that had an eerie sparkle to them and combined with his dark hair, I often found myself comparing him to a wolf or some sort of a demonic animal.

“Where’s Harlow? I summoned her, not you,” Aston said, his voice like molten ice sliding down my spine, causing me to shiver involuntarily.

“Yes, but she’s unable to come. Since the summon cannot be rejected I came in her stead,” I lied. Harlow was perfectly fine. And the only reason she wasn’t here was because she had no idea she had been summoned. When the letter arrived at our house, I took it and hid it from Harlow. And after reading the contents of the letter which included the reason for the summon I knew I could never let Harlow know about it. Aston Diamandis may own my family but I wouldn’t let him humiliate my sister for his own amusement. I, on the other hand, could deal with whatever he threw at me. I was willing to suffer but I would never let Aston or anyone else humiliate my sister.

Aston arched an eyebrow, his eyes resembling gemstones. “Is she dead?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, but she is not feeling well. I tried waking her up but she might be suffering from an infection because she has high fever. Obviously, you can’t have her coming here while she’s contagious.”

Silence had settled around us and when I looked around I saw the rest of the men busy with whatever it was they were doing before I entered. Clearly they didn’t want to interfere in Aston’s matters.

“Yes, we really don’t want her dirtying up our house; not when I summoned her to do the opposite,” Aston said, leaning back in his chair which was shaped more like an ancient throne than an actually chair. He crossed his leg over the other and held out his hand. I was confused for a second and then understood he wanted the file which I’d been using as a shield all this time. I handed the file to him and waited while he went through my resume. “You can sit down, you know,” he said and that’s when I saw the chair sitting next to me. I really didn’t want to sit down in a place where this monster was powerful, but disobeying him wasn’t an option for me. So holding on to the arm of the chair with all my might, I forced myself to sit down.

“What exactly is the point of you checking her resume?” Dillon asked, as he was busy playing some combat game on the PlayStation with Noah. Dillon was the one who appeared the most innocent with blue eyes and a floppy head of dark hair. But he was only innocent in appearance; on the inside he was just as wicked as the rest of them. “You kicked out all the other candidates for the position.”

“We have to keep up with the charade,” Noah said which had Dillon rolling his eyes. “And the interviews are still going on. And if he doesn’t like her resume, then you know exactly what will happen.”

Noah’s words filled me with dread. The letter didn’t mention anything about what would happen if Aston didn’t approve of my resume. But considering how ruthless this family was, I doubted the end result would be anything good.

“Stop scaring her. That’s Aston’s job, not yours,” Dillion said with a chuckle.

“Do you think she’ll be penalized considering she is filling in for her sister?” Kalen asked. “I would’ve done it if it were me.”

I swallowed hard and tried to ignore them just like they were pretending I wasn’t here. Aston seemed to be paying no attention to them either, his eyes moving left and right as he scanned my resume.

“You know why you’re here?” He said, finally flipping the file shut and regarding me with merciless eyes. He wasn’t happy that I was here instead of my sister but there was nothing he could do about it. I wouldn’t let him. Aston Diamandis had no choice but to deal with me from now on. There was no way I was letting him near my family.

I nodded. “Yes. The contents of the letter were clear. And I am willing to answer your summon, Master.”

“Do you even know what I summoned your sister for?” He asked and I didn’t know why. I just told him I read the letter. Was there more to it? Some sort of a subtext which I failed to read? Whatever it was it didn’t matter. I was willing to do whatever I had to protect my family from Aston.

I nodded once again. “You summoned her to be your maid and I understand that. But she couldn’t make it, so I’m here to do her job.

“I’m here to be your maid.”