"Millie, there's someone outside who wants to see you," Devin informed me one evening, a few days after my arrival at the Montgomery mansion.

I had a slight idea who that was, but I still asked anyway. "Who is it?"

"The man identified himself as your uncle, and there's a younger guy who says he's your cousin. They showed us some pictures for proof as well." He said, "We allow family visitations to our employees, so if you want to see your family, I could arrange for them to sit and chat with you in the spare sitting area."

My blood ran cold. Mark and Ray were both disgusting and worthless people, and I didn't know how they figured out my address. I didn't remember ever letting it slip from my mouth.

I could only think of one reason they would come here.

To extort money from me, and now that they knew where I worked, I was sure they would make things difficult.

"Devin, I don't want to see them. Please make some excuse and tell them to leave."

He nodded, understanding the fear in my undertone. He turned to the house butler. "Winston, tell the gentlemen outside that they have a misunderstanding and Millicent Davis doesn't work here."

They were hardly people you would call gentlemen, but I refused to say anything mostly because once I opened up to Devin about my past, I would have to explain the why, how, and when and I didn't need that right now. I came to this town and took this job because I wanted to start over and talking about my past would just open old wounds.

Besides, the thought of Mark and Ray in this house was like inviting a pair of coyotes. The silver would automatically disappear from the house and no one would even notice.

"Yes, sir." Winston left the room and walked down the hallway towards the main door.

Devin turned to me and placed his hand on my back. "Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

I shook my head. "They aren't good people and I don't consider them as family."

"You're right. Not all blood relatives can be called family. Millie, if you ever need to talk to anyone, I'll always be here for you and I'm sure Dayana would be glad to lend you an ear, too."

"I really appreciate that," I said genuinely.

"And as long as you're under our employment, we will protect you."

* ~ *

That evening, Castle didn't show up at the dinner table, and Dayana was missing as well.

"Where's Castle and Dayana?" I asked.

"He refused to come down to dinner, so I sent one maid to check on him. Dayana has a bit of a headache and said she wants to lie down in her room."

This is where I will be put to test. If I could prove to Devin that I could get Castle to eat without throwing tantrums, they would likely end my probation period and keep me here as Castle's permanent nanny. Well, at least until he doesn't regain his memories.

I stood up from the table. "I'll go see that he eats his dinner."

Devin gave me a grateful smile, "good luck with that." His eyes rested on the plate that I filled with food. "But I would suggest you not to force him if he doesn't want to eat."

Theo sniggered, smiling coyly at me.

I didn't step on his cat, so I didn't understand what this hostility was all about.

And someday I was going to ask him what his problem was.

I carried some of Castle's food on a plate and began climbing the stairs. When I reached his room, I heard someone talking, so I stopped outside of his bedroom, not wanting to pry into the conversation.

"Do you understand what I'm saying? I know you can." The maid's tone was commanding. I recognized her as Barbara. "Don't act smart with me! You tell the nanny something, and I don't need to remind you what happens after that."

I was appalled by what I'd heard and how the maid was talking to Castle.

What didn't she want me to find out?

"Are you going to eat your dinner or not?" she scowled.

I was also horrified by the way she was treating her boss. Even though Castle wasn't exactly in the right state of his mind, it didn't change the fact that he was still the owner and the eldest son of the Montgomerys. Before the boating accident, Castle was the master of this household. I didn't think she would have had any right to speak to him like that if he knew better.

He was reassembling a complicated toy robot; his concentration was on what he was doing as he completely disregarded the fuming maid.

"Fine, suit yourself!" She emptied the plate of food into the bin.

Unable to control myself, I knocked on the door and stepped inside.

"Hey sweetie," I watched as her demeanor changed completely. She sounded nothing like she did a few seconds ago. "Were you standing outside for long?"

She was checking to see how much I'd heard of everything that she'd said before I entered the room.

I shook my head, "I just came here to check on Castle since he didn't show up downstairs for dinner."

She stood up and took the plate filled with food from me. "Castle doesn't want to eat, and I've tried my best to convince him to. Rebellious behavior is punished in this household. He can skip dinner tonight."

"That's not for you to decide, and I'm sure he's hungry. I can get him to eat something."

Barbara's face remained impassive. "If he gives everyone a hard time, he skips dinner. Those are the rules and I hope you would follow them too. You have to be strict with Castle, Miss. Millie; otherwise, he would do as he pleases. Now, if you'll excuse me."

She gave Castle a look filled with vehemence and stormed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I sat on the bed beside him, but he paid no attention to me. His full concentration was on building the robot from scratch and, by the looks of it, he was doing a good job.

"Castle," I called him to bring his attention to me.

Devin had informed me that if I were to talk to Castle, I needed to address him by his name even if we were alone in the same room because he had a hard time focusing on conversations and because of his memory loss; he didn't understand certain words.

He looked up at me, his golden-brown eyes cut through mine. "Millie," his voice was almost a whisper.

And just then I noticed his bottom lip. It had a little blood on it. There were spots of blood on his lower lip, like someone had tried to force him to eat. I closed my eyes as I felt a wave of ferocious anger build inside of me, momentarily blinded by fresh tears. I quickly wiped them away.

"Castle, sweetie, can you tell me who did this to you?" I touched his cheek and felt the soft bristles on my fingers. I willed him to look at me.

He continued to stare down at his robot, trying to fix it. "Come on, you can trust me with your secret. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

It was no use. He wouldn't talk about it.

Then I was struck by an idea, but I wasn't sure it would work. The file that contained information about Castle mentioned he had a sweet tooth.

I left him alone and went back downstairs. I spent the rest of the evening baking a peanut butter chocolate cake and just before bedtime; I brought it upstairs to him.

I knew he would love the cake because my aunt used to love it, and I baked it for her until the month that she died. I saw a flicker of happiness when Castle saw what I'd brought him. He ate the cake in four bites, not bothering with the fork or the spoon I'd brought him. The icing was smeared all over his mouth, so I dabbed his mouth with a towel.

When he was done with one slice, he reached towards the second one, but I pushed it away from his reach. "If you tell me who hurt you, I'll give you more cake."

He just stared at me like an adorable man-child with shining goo-goo eyes.

"If you tell me the truth, no one will hurt you. I'm your friend, Castle. You need to trust me."

"Friend." He repeated.

"Was it Barbara?"

He stared at me for a full one minute. I'd learned not to feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

A few seconds later, he said, "It was...her."

I gave him the plate with the last slice of cake like I promised and left to go to bed.

The next morning, I told Devin everything, and he came upstairs to Castle's room to check the puncture marks on his bottom lip. He seemed disturbed by it, and couldn't believe that Barbara would hurt Castle.

"Castle, is it true what Millie is saying? Did Barbara hurt you?"

"Castle, tell your brother the truth."

He began breathing erratically, gripping his hair tightly and started rocking back and forth repeatedly, screaming bloody murder.

I was frozen in place watching this gorgeous, innocent man going over the edge.

Devin caught my hand and dragged me out of the bedroom and locked it from the outside. He pulled out his phone and called the nurse to come upstairs urgently while I heard things being thrown across the room inside, followed by the sound of loud crashing.

"Winston, I need Barbara removed from this house. RIGHT NOW!" Devin yelled into the phone.

He was shaking when he hung up, and he had fresh tears in his eyes as he leaned his back against the wall. "I'm sorry you had to see him like this. Sometimes he gets ticked off by certain people, so you have to be careful what you say to him."

Hesitantly, I touched his shoulder, and he placed his hand on mine. His emerald eyes were shining with unshed tears. "People told me he was better off in a home, a private facility that gave care to someone like him. But I couldn't do that to him...he's my brother. I wanted him to stay here with people that love and care for him."

I nodded, "I know. You did what you thought was the best for him."

"But he's getting hurt because I trusted the wrong people, Millie."

Devin allowed me to pull him into a hug, and all I wanted to do was take away his pain and suffering. I just rubbed his back in soothing circles. "I promise no one will ever hurt him now."

And I vowed to make that happen.

* ~ *

I heard a noise again that night and when I glanced at the clock; it was past two a.m. In the sitting room below, the grandfather clock chimed, and I heard the faint sounds of it drifting from downstairs. I drank some water and went back to bed.

Just then, there was the sound of footsteps outside of my bedroom.

I sat upright in bed, staring at the door, when there was a brief knock.

My heart thumped in my chest.

"Who's there?" I called out.

I didn't hear any response.

"Castle, if that's you, go back to bed," I said firmly.

Seconds later, there was another knock.

I was just so tired of playing these stupid games. He wouldn't talk to me when I asked him something, but he had the nerve to wake me up at odd hours of the night to scare me half to death.

When the footsteps faded, I opened the door and found something on the floor.

It was an origami rabbit.

And there was something written on the backside. It was scrawled in the same cursive handwriting as the note that I'd received before.

It was Dayana. 

* * *

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