Read Online At Mr. Cartwright's Command by Ingrid Ash - Free Book Online

just thinking about it.
    We drive and we drive.  My mind is too preoccupied to pay attention to time, but I'm quite sure that we've been driving too long.  The bright lights and commotion of the city has gone away, replaced rolling hills and the occasional spurts of suburban tract housing.  The houses get larger and larger as we go.
    The car starts to creep up an incline and the distance between the homes begin to expand. I can't really even see them now, most are at least half obscured behind trees and hills, but the roofs are vast.  I glance over at Mr. Cartwright, who looks as lost in thought as I was, glaring out his side window.  Where the hell is he taking me?  Is he just going to just drop me off in the middle of the forest somewhere?
    Finally the car begins to slow, stopping at a large metal gate.   I peer out the front window and notice the letter C monogrammed on each side.  My eyes dart back to Mr. Cartwright as the driver punches in the key code.  He brought me to his house ?
    I can't help but look at the home in awe.  Calling it a house is an understatement – it's an estate.  A sprawling estate.  It resembles a Tuscan villa more than a single family home, with beautiful old world inspired architecture, marble steps, and just enough moss crawling up the sides to give it character.  It reminds me off a home I saw in a magazine once when I was a kid – the kind of place I could only dream of ever setting foot in.
    I suppose sometimes, rarely, dreams actually can come true?
    The car stops and I stare at Mr. Cartwright, who doesn't dare look back at me.  The driver hops out and opens my car door, and I step out to take in the majestic home in person.
    “Ah, Miss Pierce!  It's been so long!”
    I would know Ronald’s voice anywhere. I hear him call out to me and it breaks me out of my reverie.  He comes bounding down the stairs towards us with a jolly smile and I force a smile across my face. 
    “It's wonderful of you to bring her here, Master Cartwright,” Ronald says.
    “You can show Ms. Pierce to her room, I have work to do.” Mr. Cartwright says as he rudely brushes right past him.
    Ronald looks slightly miffed, but he masks it well.  “After you, Madame,” he says and I nod graciously.
    I stop on the steps headed towards the door and I look behind me at the sparkling well manicured lawn edged with trees,  the vintage fountain that's aged in all the right places, and the iron bars of the monogrammed gate, locked shut.  I eye the backwards C's for a moment and my smile fades.  I'm now miles away from the city and acres away from the next neighbor.
    This isn't a palace.  It's my prison.
    “Is everything alright, Ms. Pierce?” Ronald asks.
    “I...” I mumble and I shake my head, running into the house after Mr. Cartwright.
    “Why did you bring me here?” I demand, and he stops in his tracks.
    “Why do you think?”
    “It seems like you dragged me out here because you want to keep an eye on me.”
    “Well, aren't you the smart one, Ms. Pierce.”
    “Don't even.”
    “You can't be trusted, you've proved that more than once. I think I made it clear to you that you aren’t to have a job. So if you can't respect that, I'll put you someplace where someone can keep an eye on you 24/7.”
    He ends his statement with a nod towards Ronald.  Stunned, I look to him, only to see him awkwardly creep out of the room. 
    “I'm not a child.  And I definitely don't need to be watched.”
    “Yes, but you see, this was part of the deal.  You knew that and you broke it.”
    I throw my hands in the air out of frustration.  “And what's so bad about me wanting to be able to provide for myself?”
    “Because I do that for you!  That's my job.  That's part of the deal .”
    There it is.  That ever elusive deal that only he seems to know the negotiable terms of. “Why don't you ever explain to me exactly how this 'deal' works, because in case you forgot, you never really went into