Page 115 of His Wild Seduction

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

MEREDITH

Afew hours earlier…

“There! That’s the last box,” I said to little Sammy, Ellie’s son.

It wasn’t unusual for residents of a shelter to be reticent about sharing their names, but Sammy was too young for that kind of subterfuge. After the first few days seeing me St. Elizabeth’s, he’d lost his shyness.

“Sammy, what do you say?” Ellie chided, kneeling down to help her son look through the small box of toys I’d just set down in his new room.

The fantastic thing about this house was that each of the four floors, plus the attic where Ellie and Sammy were going to stay, were their own suites. My idea was to have single families, or two women without children, on each floor and each floor had its own entryway complete with a door and a lock that could only be accessed with a special code via the keypad.

I didn’t know how the construction crew Josef hired managed it, but it was almost like they turned the home into an apartment building, keeping the hallway stairs separate from each floor.

That way, there would be privacy. No overcrowding. And most important, no fear.

The house was way off the grid. Josef’s lawyers and the shelter’s decided the best way to do this was if the company who owned the house did not bear the shelter’s name.

I agreed.

I mean, even if an abusive ex had any idea his wife or girlfriend ran away to St. Elizabeth’s, he would be hard pressed to find this place since it had no paper trail or obvious connection to the shelter.

I only hoped it would work out the way I’d planned.

In my experience, having a place to call home without the guards and the fear of being found was the best way for victims of abuse to return to any kind of normalcy.

Ellie and Sammy needed a place to heal, to grow, to learn to trust again. I hoped this was the place.

“Thank you, Mewedith,” Sammy said, his little mispronunciation of my name positively adorable.

“My pleasure, Sammy. Oh, look what I found! I think this little guy wants to play with some of your other cars,” I whispered, pulling a shiny red toy car from my bag.

“A new car! Mommy, look!”

“Mrs. Aziz, you didn’t have to do that,” Ellie said, biting her lower lip.

“Please, I keep telling you to call me Meredith and it really is no big deal,” I replied, watching the towheaded boy play on the carpeted floor.

“Meredith. Okay, I can do that,” Ellie whispered. “Um, I just want to thank you so much. For everything. This means the world to me.”

“Don’t worry about thanking me. Let’s just concentrate on getting you two well and fed. I am so sorry there must have been a mix up with the deliveries, but the guys will be back soon. And Mrs. Stevens, the caretaker we hired, will arrive tomorrow. Her room is on the first floor. She’ll be living here full time,” I said.

“Yep, I remember. I met her last week when she came to the shelter. And no problem about the groceries, I’m just so thankful we don’t have to be in the city. It was confusing for Sammy,” she said, clearing her throat. “Anyway, um, thank you so much.”

Ellie nodded, blinking back tears, and I found myself doing the same.

“It’s no problem, Ellie. You two are going to be alright. Now, I’m going to go see?—”

My phone pinged, interrupting me, and I grabbed it, expecting an update from Josef. It was only four o’clock, and he wasn’t due back for a few more hours, but I was hoping maybe they caught a good jet stream or something.

But it wasn’t my husband.

“Is something wrong?” Ellie asked.

“Oh, um, I just got a strange text from one of the staff at my stepfather’s estate. She says there is some kind of emergency, something about a possible gas leak, and she needs me right away,” I muttered, trying to make out the confusing text.

“Maybe you should call?” Ellie suggested.

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