Chapter 6: Accident

Ylana POV

September had arrived, and Ylana was beginning to feel like she would waste away inside the Garnet home. Her days were spent reading, watching TV, and using the in-home gym. Occasionally, Ginger would spend time with her either having a girl's night in her suite or taking her out to lunch or dinner. Harkin was always there at breakfast to keep her company.

Yet whenever the Garnets went to an event, she wasn’t invited. She would look out her window from the third floor and watch as they were driven away in the town car. She was used to this type of treatment from her father, but she had thought the Garnets would be different. Yes, she didn’t care about the business aspect of things, but she wanted to be involved in some small way. Weren’t people wondering why Rowan wasn’t showing off his new wife?

Ylana was starting to wonder if the wedding night wasn’t as good for Rowan as it had been for her. His reactions at the time made her think he was enjoying himself, but maybe he had been pretending so he wouldn’t make her feel bad.

After spending so much time inside the home, Ylana was finding herself getting to know Rebecca and Claude even better. They were the only constants in her life at the estate. Rebecca was teaching her how to cook and bake while Claude showed her secret passageways that had been built into the house whenever an addition was put on. He even showed her the fastest route to the panic room that no one else bothered to tell her about.

One evening while reading in the library, she finally met the man she had heard so much about, Carmine Opal. He looked shocked to see her curled up on one of the sofas.

He cleared his throat. “Hello.” His voice sounded stiff and formal.

“Hi.”

Ylana studied the man who had such sway with the Garnets. He had salt and pepper hair that was cropped close to his head. The gray-green eyes that were looking at her reminded her of the sea during a raging storm. He stood as straight as an arrow and looked tense in a way that suggested he was expecting an attack. His head was held high, his jaw was clenched, his hands were in fists, and his eyes were looking all around the room.

“I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced,” he said after a minute of silence. “I’m Carmine.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Ylana felt like she may have seen him at the wedding, but there had been so many people that night, and she had been so wrapped up in Rowan to fully notice anyone. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around the estate until today.”

Carmine looked at his feet. “I arrive rather early and leave late. Like tonight. Do you have any idea what time it is?” He sounded like a father scolding his child who had come home past curfew.

Ylana looked at her phone. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. “Oh. I guess I was so caught up in reading that it didn’t feel like time was passing that quickly.”

Carmine began to browse the bookcase that was nearest to them. “Do you spend a lot of time in here?”

“Well, I don’t really have much else to do around here.” She knew she sounded bitter. She hoped Carmine passed the sentiment along to Rowan.

“I was told you have no interest in the business.” He pulled a book off the shelf and read the back.

“That doesn’t mean I want to be stuck alone in this house all the time,” she snapped. “I haven’t attended a single event the rest of them have gone to. They haven’t even invited me or asked me if I wanted to go.”

“You’d find a majority of them boring, I’m afraid.” Carmine put the book back and selected another one.

“How would you know what bores me? This is the first time we’ve ever spoken.”

Carmine set the book down on a nearby table. “You do have a point.”

“A shock, I know.” She went back to reading her book. She didn’t have to deal with this man who clearly thought she wasn’t worth his time. If he did, he would have introduced himself in June when she officially moved in.

“I can talk to Harkin and Rowan,” Carmine said with softness in his voice. “Most of the time it has been just Harkin, his children, and his wife. When she died, it was such a heartbreak for them all. I didn’t know if they’d ever fully recover from the loss. Now you’re here, and you’re something completely new. There haven’t been any new additions in a long time.”

Rowan and Ginger rarely spoke about their mother. If they did, it was usually about how they saw or heard something she would like, and even a few fond memories. In her home growing up, mentioning her mother was forbidden. Here she could tell they only talked so little of her because it made them sad. It was probably because her death was fresh - only a year had passed.

“How did she die?” Ylana asked softly.

Carmine frowned. “The same way a lot of people in our line of business die.”

“She was killed?” Ylana gasped. She had lost her mother to cancer. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if her mother had been murdered.

Carmine nodded. “Both her and Harkin were the targets that night. Shots from a nearby building rained down on them as they left an event. Harkin had thrown himself on top of Lydia to shield her, but a bullet had already gone through her brain.”

“That’s so sad.” Ylana thought about how Harkin must have felt so much guilt over not being able to protect his wife. “What was she like?”

Carmine laughed. “Ginger has Lydia’s personality if that gives you an idea of how she was. And she would have killed for her family. They were everything to her.”

Ylana wondered what it would be like if there were two people like Ginger running around the estate. She decided it would be a little chaotic, but still fun. “No wonder they miss her so much.”

“Yes. We all experienced a great loss when Lydia left this world. Well, I better be off. Goodnight, Ylana.”

“Goodbye.”

Carmine briskly left the library.

Ylana didn’t know their conversation would be so productive. She felt like she learned a lot from it. Maybe she could ask Rowan to tell her stories about his mother. It might make Lydia feel alive again for him, at least for a little bit.

She yawned and decided it was time to go to sleep.

Over the next few days, Carmine made sure to greet Ylana whenever their paths crossed. She noticed him around so much more after their talk. He was almost Harkin’s shadow. Sometimes he joined them for breakfast and asked Ylana about her plans for the day. She thought that maybe he would become a more significant part of her life now that they got their first conversation out of the way. She hoped she could come to admire him the same way Rowan and Ginger did.

One evening, the Garnets left Ylana again for an event. Carmine told her that he tried to persuade Rowan to take her with him and had Harkin and Ginger on his side. For some reason, however, Rowan had refused. When she asked why, Carmine acted like he had no idea, but she could tell he was lying. He bit his lip implying that there was something he was holding back.

So, once again, Ylana found herself in the library. Claude was there too, dusting in the far away back right corner of the room. She shouted a hello before going in search of a book to read for the night.

One book that caught her eye was on a shelf that went higher than her head. She didn’t feel like grabbing one of the ladders the library provided, so she leaned against the bookcase a little and went onto her tip-toes to try and wiggle it off the shelf.

It all happened so suddenly.

Ylana heard three sounds: a creaking noise, books sliding and falling onto the floor, and running footsteps. There wasn’t even time for her to scream. As her stomach was churning with fear, two hands yanked her to the side before the towering bookcase crashed onto the floor.

Ylana looked to her savior. “Claude? But . . . you were so far away.” It had only been moments since she saw him across the library. Her knees started to give out, and Claude guided her to the closest sofa.

Claude looked furious. “That should not have happened. Last time I check, all the bookcases were perfectly secured to the walls.”

“It was just an accident.” Ylana felt like she was mostly telling herself that since she was having difficulty stopping her body from shaking. “I’m sorry.”

Claude clicked his tongue. “You’re sorry? Whoever’s responsible for this will be sorry. Mister Harkin will be livid when I tell him.”

“I’m sure I would’ve been fine either way. No need to upset anyone.”

Claude knelt in front of Ylana and grabbed her hands while managing to warm them – she hadn’t known they’d gotten so cold.

“Do you have any idea how much one of those bookcases weighs?” Claude asked firmly.

Ylana looked at the mess on the floor. Books were scattered about, but the bookcase itself didn’t look damaged at all. She never thought about how large it actually was before. The thing had gone all the way up to the ceiling, was about four people wide, and looked very thick.

She realized that she would not have been fine. “I could’ve really been hurt.” How many of her bones would have been broken if the bookcase had landed on her?

“Miss Ylana,” Claude whispered, “you could have died.”