Afterthought by M J Marlow (red white royal blue .txt) 📖

Aileen…” “She passed these stories on to our daughter,” Stefano finished and Alexander nodded, “and your nephews continued the torment when they played their nasty tricks on her.” He looked at Emilio. “Find out if the woman has a practice near here.” Emilio nodded and ran. Stefano turned back to Alexander. “I should have come for her. Leaving her with you people has damaged my child, and that is unacceptable.” He turned on his heel and left the study. Alexander could hear him slamming doors as he went and he did not blame the man one bit. He should have known! But, for some reason he did not understand, he had assumed that his sister would never subject her own child to those terrible stories. Obviously he had been wrong once again as far as his flighty older sister had been concerned. He looked over at his wife and saw that she shared his concerns. “We should have told Alastair to go to hell, Judith,” Alexander said as he poured himself a cup of coffee; “and called Prince Roza the moment we realized Aileen had abandoned her child.” “There are a lot of things we ‘should’ have done, my dear,” Judith replied. She came over to take his hand in hers. “For now, our first concern is bringing her back safely .We can deal with what’s past once she’s home.” Evangeline woke up and whimpered as she found herself lying on something soft. They had moved her out of the forest and taken her away. She opened her eyes and was relieved to find that they had taken the lenses out. She recognized this room, she realized. It was her mother’s bedroom in the house in Normandy. What was she doing here? She started to get up and a young woman in a nurse’s uniform appeared out of nowhere and made her lie down again. “You need to rest, Mademoiselle,” a young woman with a French accent said to her gently. “You are only just recovering from the accident.” “Accident?” Evangeline shook her head. “There was no accident,” she frowned at this lie. “I was abducted from my home and brought here…” “You can leave us, Amelie,” a familiar voice sounded in Evangeline’s ear. Evangeline looked past the nurse to where Sylvie stood in the doorway to the bathroom with a bowl of water and a towel. “I will take over from here.” “Oui, Madame,” the woman replied. Evangeline could almost hear the air rustle as the person hurried out. Evangeline flinched as Sylvie’s hand touched her forehead and pain flooded through her head. Her head shouldn’t hurt. Perhaps there had been an accident after all. She waited for Sylvie to tell her what was going on, but the old woman was contenting herself with bathing Evangeline’s face. She grew angry and finally demanded to know what was going on. Sylvie set the towel down. Evangeline heard the splash of water as the bowl was set down on a nightstand near the bed. “I know you are curious as to how you ended up here, child,” Sylvie said as she took Evangeline’s hands in hers. “All I can tell you is that the men who abducted you are dead, and you were hurt in the accident.” “I don’t remember any accident,” Evangeline whimpered. She gripped the woman’s arm. “Does my Father know?” “Word was left for him,” Sylvie lied to the girl, enjoying having her helpless again. “He had already left for the hearing.” He saw Evangeline frown. “He knows you are safe. He has not been told that you were injured.” She took out a brush and began to deal with Evangeline’s hair. “Do not worry. He will be here soon. Until then, it shall be as it was when it was just the two of us.” Evangeline let Sylvie brush out her hair and wondered what was going on. She had no reason to disbelieve Sylvie’s story. It could all have happened. Her head certainly hurt enough for it to be true. But being back in the house in Normandy after she had been abducted confused her. Why would she be here? She watched Sylvie set the brush aside and turn to kiss her on the forehead. “Now that you are awake,” she smiled at the girl,” I will have a meal sent up for you.” “Sylvie,” Evangeline started to ask, “why are we here? Shouldn’t I have been taken home?” “This is home, child,” Sylvie said to her. “It is the only place where you and I have ever been truly happy.” Evangeline frowned at that. How could she think that? Evangeline had spent her first five years never knowing if her Mama was going to be home or gone. At least living with the Sterlings she had family around who stayed where they belonged. She had been mostly happy there. Something was going on here. She looked around for the phone and saw it on the desk on the other side of the room under the picture window she knew looked out at the gardens. She got up on her feet and frowned as her knees buckled underneath her. Evangeline refused to be stopped. She pulled herself up on the bed and used the furniture and walls to get to the desk. But when she picked up the phone, someone else was already on it. “We have the princess in our hands,” the woman she had heard in the forest laughed to someone else. “She will be ready for you by the time you arrive.” Evangeline dropped the receiver with a cry of dismay. Sylvie was working with the kidnappers? But that made no sense. Sylvie was her dearest friend, her almost mother; someone that Evangeline had trusted her entire life. She couldn’t possibly be involved in something this heinous. She looked up as the door burst open and a man in a white uniform approached her. He pulled her to her feet and Evangeline fought for all she was worth, determined to get free of this place. The man had a hard time holding on to her. Nothing was going to stop her. The door opened and she saw another man in a white coat coming towards her with a needle in his hand. “Hush now, child,” he crooned as he injected the sedative. “You’ll hurt yourself throwing such a tantrum.” He looked into her angry eyes and shook his head. “We’re here to help you, Princess.” “I want to go home!” Evangeline wailed. She saw another man coming in with a straightjacket. “Let me go!” she protested as she was yanked to her feet. “No! Don’t!” she shrieked as the man holding her put her arms out in front of her so the other orderly could get the jacket on her. She glared at them coldly as they kept securing her. “You can’t keep me here! I don’t belong here!” “Of course you don’t, Princess,” the Doctor said gently; “but you aren’t well enough to go home. Your little tantrum just proved that.” He watched her slide down to the floor and shook his head. “We’re going to have to keep her doped,” he said as he and the orderly got Evangeline back to bed. “She’ll hurt herself trying to get loose if we don’t.” Evangeline could not raise her head; she was too weak to move now. Someone had to find her! She could not let them keep her here as a hostage to insure her father did as they told him. She heard the door open and saw a pretty blond woman with soft gray eyes coming towards her. The woman stood next to the bed and made Evangeline look at her. “Poor little princess,” the woman laughed as she saw Evangeline’s condition. She opened the robe Evangeline was wearing and removed the bandage over the mark the man had made. “It’s healing quite nicely,” she nodded. “My brother does excellent work, don’t you think?” “You know that bastard?” Evangeline said softly, her voice rendered a mere whisper by the sedative. “You can’t keep me here!” “Of course I can, little one,” the woman replied. “I am the Doctor in Charge of your care. I can keep you here as long as I choose.” She stroked Evangeline’s hair and smiled. “By the time I am through with you, darling; you will have been programmed to be a willing plaything for my brother.” “No,” Evangeline shook her head. “I won’t let you…” The woman patted Evangeline’s cheek and laughed as she got up to leave. Evangeline fought the urge to close her eyes but the sedative took over. She finally fell asleep and did not see the triumphant look on the woman’s face. Elinor Landry aka Eleanor Lombard was quite pleased with the success of their ploy. She now had Prince Roza’s daughter in her hands and she was going to damage the child’s mind to the point where her interfering father could never undo it. Perhaps she would plant a command in the girl’s mind to attack anyone who tried to help her. The thought had merit; she would have to consider it. “You are such an innocent,” the woman laughed in delight. “I am going to enjoy modifying your mind.” Her eyes went cold. “Serves your father right for what he’s done to my patients.” She smiled as she left the room. The girl was going to be a joy to work on; she was already primed by the work her Mother and others had done on her since she was a small child. They had gotten the girl out of Stefano’s hands just in time. If she had stayed with him, he would have given her the ability to fight them. They could not let her gain the ability to fight what they had planned for her. “Doctor Emerson?” an orderly asked as she came out of the room and locked the door. “Aileen is acting up again.” “I’ll come now,” Elinor nodded. “No one is allowed in that room without me, is that clear? The girl is far too fragile right now.” “We’ll keep her isolated, Doctor,” the orderly nodded. Elinor smiled and went to the bedroom down the hall that had been Sylvie’s. She opened the door and looked in at the woman huddled in the corner, sobbing. The patient was wringing her hands and whimpering. Elinor unlocked the door and the woman looked up sharply. As she recognized her visitor relief replaced terror. Tears flowed down her pale cheeks and brightened her cornflower blue eyes. She was dressed in a silk negligee that caressed her curves lovingly and her rich blonde hair hung down to her waist in a silken curtain. Elinor smiled gently as she approached her. “They came after me again, Doctor,” Aileen sobbed as Elinor helped her to her feet and sat her down on the bed. “You have to give me something to help me sleep. I won’t make any noise then and they won’t know where to come.” “We’ve talked about this, Aileen,” Elinor said gently as she raised Aileen Sterling Roza’s eyes to hers. “You know what you have to do to keep them away.” “Please don’t make me do that, Doctor!” She gripped Elinor’s arm and her eyes were frantic again. “All I have to do is be quiet and they’ll stay away.” “It doesn’t work that way any more, Aileen,” Elinor said to her victim. “They know where you are now. The only way you’ll be free of them is if you do as I say.” She stroked the woman’s hair. “If you please my men, they will protect you.” Aileen hung her head and sobbed. Elinor went to the door and opened it. She beckoned to one of the orderlies. “This is Gerald, Aileen. He will be one of the men you must please. Once he is satisfied, he will keep the shadow people away from you.” “Doctor,