him.”
The woman showed a mix of emotions. Worry and relief were what popped into Ella’s mind.
“Well,” she whispered. “That’s…” she shook her head, not sure what to say. “That’s a shame.” Turning, she moved so that Malcolm could enter the house. “Will you be needing my services if….” she stopped, swallowing.
Malcolm knew what she was asking.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with my father, Beth, but you’ll be taken care of. Why hasn’t he allowed you to retire?”
Beth’s weathered hands moved to her apron once again. “No retirement,” she whispered. “Me and Harvey, we’ve worked for your father for…well, we don’t earn enough to retire, my lord.” She looked down at her feet, obviously ashamed.
Malcom took the woman’s aging hand in his. “I’ll arrange for a healthy retirement for you,” he told her gently. “You were kind to my mother during her life. I appreciate that.”
The woman’s eyes widened with hope, then tears sprung into her eyes. “Oh, sir, that’s…she was a good lady! She didn’t deserve what your father did to her.”
“No one does, Beth. He was a brutal man.”
Beth pressed her lips together, but didn’t reply.
Malcolm lifted Beth’s hands slightly. “As of this moment, consider yourself retired. Why don’t you go talk to Harvey and figure out where you’d like to live? I’ll arrange for a house and an income for both of you. You’ve both worked for my family for more than fifty years. You’re entitled to a quiet, relaxing retirement.”
The woman’s eyes widened further, and she sobbed, pressing Malcolm’s hand to her cheek. “Oh, thank you, my lord!” she whispered, too overcome with relief to say anything more.
“Go talk to Harvey,” Malcolm urged. “And don’t thank me. This is only what you have earned.”
The woman’s trembling fingers moved to cover her mouth as she nodded and turned away, eager to find her husband.
“Why didn’t she have a retirement plan?” Ella whispered.
“Because my father basically made both of them indentured servants. If any staff member broke something, they were threatened with criminal charges or offered the chance to repay their debt to him through labor. Free labor. I’d imagine that Beth and Harvey were told that they’d broken items in the household, those pieces’ value was then doubled or tripled by my father’s mercenary imagination, and then each of them were required to sign a confession of what they’d done with the verbal agreement that they would work off the costs of each item over time.”
“Verbally?”
“He couldn’t put the agreements in writing because his actions were…are…illegal. It’s basic slavery, forcing someone to work for no wages. He could spin it however he wanted, but it’s still slavery.”
“That’s horrible! Why didn’t you stop him before now?”
“I tried. I’ve been in contact with Beth and Harvey over the last few years, letting them know that I would protect them and cover their legal fees if they would testify to what my father was doing.”
Ella understood. “But they were too afraid of him, right?”
“Yes. Afraid and not sure how to earn a living without a recommendation from my father after so many years of employment. No matter what I said to them, they lived in fear.”
Ella sighed and moved closer, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I suspect that you’re going to have a lot of issues like this to tackle once you’ve taken over the estate.”
“Yes,” he agreed, holding her close. “But for now, let’s see what else is going on, shall we?”
She pulled back and smiled up at him. “How can I help?” she asked.
He reached out, touching her cheek. “How about writing up everything he’s done? As soon as you discover one of his atrocities, document it. Write about it. Get it all out there for the rest of the world to know about. Tell the story. I don’t want anyone to revere my father. I don’t want anyone to speculate or mourn his passing.”
Ella’s chin trembled but she nodded. “I can do that,” she told him with absolute conviction.
Over the next four days, Malcolm went through the papers in his father’s study, handing her anything that might even hint of illegal or unethical activities or have any reference to a club or symbol with a flame, palm or something close to it.
Ella wrote furiously, cross-referencing everything with outside information. There were illegal payments to the local police, not just the chief of police, but to several of the police officers. Malcolm gave her several invoices that didn’t make any sense, so Ella got help from