Page 19 of Scent Of Obsession
“As I said, your uncle should be here any minute.” He nipped toward the door, Cerba following after him. While I interpreted his silence as answer enough, he then reeled around to face me. “Radcliff is a complicated man… but he isn’t a monster. At least, I don’t think so.”
A soft smile stretched on his lips, and he closed the door behind him. Alone inside the greenhouse, I gazed upon the manor and its savage nature. In the daylight, it looked different. It was deserted, similar to a ghost town. A gloomy mystery erased from the memory of the earth. The irony of it was that Radcliff reflected the same duality as his manor. Half monster. Half phantom.
I wasn’t sure if my brain had filled the silence with the symphony of the waves crashing on the hard rocks or if it was real. Focusing on it, it looked like an invitation to jump into darkness. An entrance to the abyss.
The noise of the ocean disappeared when the gates groaned, opening slowly, like a cry for help, as if the tears of the gods were welcoming its guest. My uncle’s car was arriving, driving past the long gravel road. My heart took possession of my legs, and I ran forward to the entrance, forgetting my heels in a rush.
“Uncle!” I yelled, sprinting through the grass barefoot. “I’m so happy that you’re here!”
My uncle got out of our old car with a fixed smile that melted into twisted, quivering lips, and the color drained out of his face. He went to the trunk to take out two suitcases. Hugo arrived from behind me, assisting him in a dead silence.
“Uncle, what’s happening?” Panic flared in my eyes.
He acted as if I was nonexistent. He didn’t shoot me one glance. Didn’t speak one word. His movements were mechanical, orchestrated.
Hugo carried the luggage in the direction of the manor. Anxiety eclipsed all my rational thoughts that it was too late before I noticed the gate had shut behind him, separating me from my uncle like a prison wall.
“I’m so sorry, my Lily,” Eugene’s frail voice echoed like a stab in my heart.
“What—What’s the meaning of this?” Fear gripped my throat, my eyes darting between him and Hugo, who remained like a statue a couple of meters away.
“Listen to me.” My uncle passed his hands through the bars of the gate to hold mine, sadness clouding his features. “Do you remember that I came to the manor a couple of times?” I nodded, fighting back tears. “Well, I was working for Mr. Radcliff all this time. I promised I’d do something for him and I… I failed, and I’m in debt to him. You have to help me and stay in the manor to… replace me.”
“What!” I screamed, pulling my hands away from him instinctively. “What are you talking about, Eugene?”
“Lily, please,” he begged. “I know you can do this. Everything will be fine. You’re capable of everything. I’m so sorry, my darling. But in some ways, you’ll have everything you ever dreamed of. It’s for the best if—”
“For the best?” I shouted. “Why are you telling me all of this now? It doesn’t make sense!”
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but I couldn’t.”You just couldn’t face me.“It’s more complicated than you think, but I have faith in you.”
“You’re abandoning me! I don’t understand what you’re saying! Just—don’t leave.”
“Lily,” he stuttered, his mouth shaking as he sniffed. “This is an opportunity for you. I promise. I’m sorry.”
Stop lying, Uncle.
“No, no, no,” I implored, shaking the bars violently when Uncle Eugene headed back to his car. “Don’t abandon me! Don’t leave me.”
“Be strong for your mother.”
My eyes begged to swim with tears, but nothing remained inside of me. I glared at my uncle disappearing through the path and not turning back. He had left me with an uncertain fate he was so eager to get rid of. I’d never seen Uncle Eugene this terrified before, to the point of throwing me out of my current life.
The air thrust itself in and out of my mouth. I refused to believe my uncle could abandon me. He had his reasons. Reasons I needed to find out.Be strong for your mother.I took the choice of trusting him one last time.
“The housekeeper will show you inside. I’ll take care of your luggage,” Hugo added, gesturing to follow him back to the manor.
“What does Radcliff want with me? What did he ask my uncle to do?” I swallowed the anger thrumming through my veins, like a silent volcano about to spring to life.
“He’ll explain everything to you tonight, once you settle in.” My gaze slithered across my body, imagining all the possible outcomes. “Not that.” Hugo shook his head and put his hand up, as if the idea of Radcliff wanting to have sex with me was unimaginable.
I followed Hugo reluctantly through the imposing entrance doors without a word. The gurgling croaks of the ravens filled the silence as if they were the bearers of a bad omen. Inside the manor, the madness of New Year’s was long gone. From the main hall to the big corridors, nothing was warm and inviting. Everything was somber with dark curtains that hid any light from entering by covering the big ancient gothic windows.
I faced who I imagined to be the butler and the housekeeper of the house. Both at an older age, they’d probably worked here for decades. They stood like gargoyles in front of me in their black-and-white uniforms, their eyes scrutinizing me.
“Good morning.” I waved hello, uncomfortable by the gloomy atmosphere—it was like attending a funeral.
“Mr. and Mrs. Walton took a vow of silence. They won’t reply to you,” Hugo informed me, passing us with my suitcases.
