Kevin’s POV
I wasn’t going to sit still and wait doing nothing while Liam was out there, calling the men back. I looked around the apartment and nodded to myself at how neat it was. I was glad I had checked out of the hotel and gotten this apartment.
There was no way I could check ten other guys in the hotel under my name without seeming suspicious. At this point, both Ronald and Ivan would have guessed what was next for me to do and also be working on how to stop me.
I dressed in my favorite black leather, checked myself in the mirror and moved out.
I hadn’t gone to the count’s house to make a fool of myself. I had gone on a search.
I looked at the gate, hiding behind the trees at the front gate and looked for a loophole. It was hard to see anything from here as the main house was far from where the gate was but I was better off being here watching the count’s gate, even if there was no activity than staying at home and driving myself crazy with thoughts of Ella.
At the least, this way, I felt closer to her. I kept staring at the gate, hoping that a car would want to drive into the house. I could run faster to it, slid under and get my way in. I would wait for everyone to leave the car and sneak into the house to look for Ella.
I almost missed it in my brooding and fixing my gaze on the gate. I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t turned to yawn.
A maid walked out of the house, not through the gate but through a side by the wall. The place was covered by bushes that no one would have noticed there was a way out there.
She looked around seeming nervous, clutching a sack she had in her hand to herself. Seconds later, a small boy of about fifteen years old came out from the opposite side of where I was.
I could hear their conversation with my heightened hearing.
“You brought the food, sister?” The boy asked.
The maid nodded. “Yes. Here is rice, beans, vegetable and some other things to make stew with. This should last you for a week. Be here next week for another supply. Tell mama I said hi.”
“Thank you, sister.”
She nodded. “Now go before someone sees us.” She said, shooing her brother off and looking around.
Too late. I had already seen them but who was I to talk? It wasn’t like I was going to tell the count he was being robbed by his maid.
I hoped he gets robbed over and over so he would be broke and have no more money to get slaves.
I watched as the maid looked around after her brother was gone and went back in. I waited five more minutes after she left before jumping out of where I was and followed.
I whistled low under my breath. There was a low fence after the bush ended and I climbed over that. There was a tunnel and I crawled under it to the end which was covered with grasses. No one who lived inside the mansion wouldn’t have known there was a way out there if they didn’t have any idea initially.
I saluted the maid I had seen earlier. It mustn’t have been easy for her to crawl out of the mansion but she did it everyday so her family wouldn’t have to starve.
I laid low in the tunnel, slightly parting the bush covering it so I could see the open. I didn’t want to come out when someone could see me.
I looked around, finding a way to come out of the tunnel and sneak into the house. It would have been easier if I knew exactly where Ella was so I could go there. I might be caught while checking everywhere for her and that would spell doom for the both of us.
I heard low whispers of a song and my ears perked up, my heart rate beating fast as I recognized the voice. That was Ella. I would recognize that voice even if I was dead.
I looked around and sighed with relief when I realized that she was alone. She was spreading clothes. How many chores did she do exactly.
She is a slave, Kevin. Think. She would be forced to do everything. My subconscious sneered at me.
“Ella,” I called out in a whisper.
She looked around, wondering who had called her name.
“Over here.”
She turned and saw me. “Kevin. I was wondering who was calling my name here.” She said as she knelt down by the tunnel, acting as if she was searching for something in the grass in case anyone comes to join us there.
“We are coming to save you. Stay here in the next two days at exactly four in the evening.”
“What if I was given a task at that time?”
“Find a way to be here, Ella. You being here makes it easy for us. We wouldn’t have to search everywhere for you.”
She was silent for minutes.
“Is there a problem, Ella? Don’t you want to leave?”
She snorted. “Of course, I want to leave. The problem is there is someone here I can’t leave behind and she is locked in the dungeon.”
I sighed, wishing the tunnel wasn’t too narrow and there was a way I could run my hands through my hair. “I guess we can’t avoid coming out into the open and fighting. I was trying to avoid a war and bloodshed.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Kevin.”
I hated that expression on her face. It didn’t suit her. “Don’t worry about that. I hate others being enslaved for nothing against their wishes as much as you do.”
She smiled. “Thank you, Kevin. How about getting me a citizen ID card? That would help me move freely in the town till we are out.”
I sighed. Here comes the truth I didn’t want to say. She wasn’t going to like this. “I can’t, mate. You are already registered as a slave in the log and it would be hard to get you a citizen ID card. It would have been easy if the count let go of you and I buy off your freedom but he refused.” I growled at how arrogant the bastard was.
She smiled but it didn’t shine in her eyes. She didn’t mean it. “I time our only plan is to sneak me out.”
“Yes. And your friend.”
“Thank you. I will be here by four as you want me.”
“Good. See you then.” I said and slid down the tunnel, my heart longing for her as I saw her go back to the chore she had been doing.