All the Things You Never Knew
PROLOGUE
Bridlington
Leon Heartily cursed under his breath as he and his siblings stood, staring at their broken down estate.
“Well, this is a beautiful sight,” said Jack, the second oldest to Leon, as he tip back his hat and look at the house.
The Heartily Estate is now nothing more than a wasteland. The roof had collapsed; the walls were cracked and glasses shattered in glistening piles on the deadly brownish grass. Mud puddles and mole holes filled the place, leaving no space for any other form of life to inhabit. No leaves formed on the trees. No neighbors surrounded the place. All was dead and quiet without a sound or movement.
“Beautiful, indeed,” Edward said with a sigh, as he drops his suitcase and sat down on top of it.
“I’m so glad to be back,” Aidan responded with feign enthusiasm.
“There’s surely nothing like home. Sweet, sweet home,” Blake chimed, scraping mud off his shoes with a dead branch he found lying on the ground.
“Stop being sarcastic,” said their sister, Avangelene, as she secures her hair up with a ribbon. “Our estate may not be in the condition we wanted but with a little maintenance, I believe we will be able to have it restored in no time.”
“Easy for you to say. This is no little maintenance,” Gabriel said,
Angealica Hewley
picking up a shard of glass and testing its point on his finger. “I don’t want to get prick all over by these things.”
“And I don’t want to twist my ankle by falling into these holes,”
Chance said, testing his foot in one of them.
“Perfect size for your foot,” Lavender said, coming around to stand
by her twin brother.
“Don’t you dare push me,” Chance said, taking his foot out and
moving away. “You’re the evilest twin anyone could ever have.” “I am not!”
“Hey, we better find shelter soon,” said Namine, pointing to the sky.
“The weather doesn’t look so good.”
Leon looked up to see the black clouds darkening the sky. “This
isn’t good,” he murmured, looking back at their manor.
There’s barely a roof over their head. If it pours, they will sure be
facing a long night of misery.
“I can’t believe we left Swale for this,” Sheik said, kicking away at
the dirt. “We could have lived at the Harrington Family’s barn with the
hogs.”
“It’s kind of scary,” said Phoenix, the baby of the family, as she
peers at the house. “Perhaps it’s haunted from the many years that we
have neglected it.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Leon answered, picking up his suitcase. “We
must hurry in and organize our belongings, for we have a long night
ahead of us.”
“How long has it been since we left Bridlington?” Blake asked,
following behind Leon as he led the way to the front of the manor. How long had they been gone from managing their estate? Leon
doesn’t know. Close to half a decade. It surprises him to see what time
could do to an abandon estate. How many storms had it fought? How
many raids from the enemies?
The enemies.
It was the enemies that took away everything from their life: their
love, their parents, and their home.
Now he has returned to take revenge on their loss and start anew. Leon stopped in front of the door and turned to his siblings. “Ready?”
They nodded and replied in unison, “Ready.”
Leon grabbed the door handle and–
“Oh, hell!” he cursed, as it detaches and fell from his hold. “What do we do now?” Phoenix asked. “I don’t want to get rained
on. I heard you can get bald.”
“Like you’ve never been rained on before,” Sheik scoffed, and step
up towards the door. “I’ll handle this.”
With one mighty thrust, Sheik kicked the door open and it fell–or
rather broke down heavily onto the ground.
More curses erupted from the Heartilys in dismay as the other half of
the roof tumbles down right after it.
“Shit.” Leon slowly stepped in around the door and kicked aside the
pile of concrete. “Come in,” he said to his siblings. “Be careful, too. Who
knows how many more damages would occur.”
With that, they entered to begin a new life with many businesses to
handle and repairs to tend.
CHAPTER ONE
London, England
1817
Lady Rose Dawson sighed, as she threw down the one hundredth
wedding dress she had tried on for the afternoon.
“Enough,” she said, slipping her gown back over her head. “Susy,
can you get these buttons for me.”
“Of course,” Lady Susannah replied, rushing over to help her.
“I’m guessing you didn’t find a dress to your interest.”
“There are too many,” Rose said, fixing the pins in her hair. “If
only Lord Lansing was here to help me pick.”
“Oh, please,” Susannah derided, finishing the last of her