"h.e.l.lo, welcome to the Houston Estate," she had said in her Spanish accent.

Her large eyes mesmerized him.

"Thank you. I'm here to see Rupert Houston."

Tessa moved aside and led him down the art gallery hallway. Lots of art in gold and bronze frames hung against the lemon-colored walls. She escorted him into a room that Mr. Houston had named The Gentleman's Lounge. It was furnished with two brown leather loveseats with creamed-colored cushions, and it was accented with multicolored striped pillows that sat between round Chippendale sofa tables. A reddish, burgundy-colored ottoman sat on top of a rug that highlighted all the colors in the room. He noticed a pool table in the room a few feet away from where he stood.

"Have a seat. Mr. Houston will be with you in a minute. May I get you anything while you wait?"

He wanted to say to Tessa, "It's you I want." But instead he answered, "I'm fine. Thank you for your warm hospitality."

She left the room as Rupert came in. "h.e.l.lo, Baron. How are you?"

"I'm fine; just admiring the beauty of your housekeeper."

"Yes, Tessa is a pretty girl and a very hard worker."

"She deserves more," Baron said with a sparkle in his eye.

"I see you're having an instant crush on my help," Rupert said as he gave him a stare.

Baron explained: "I recognize beauty when I see it."

The men went on with their business deals. After that day, Baron made it his obligation to come over as often as he could. Any invitations from Rupert were always accepted.

Rupert's jealous ways manifested one particular day when Baron came to his home.

Tessa was busy polishing silver in the kitchen. "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Chavis." She smiled.

"To you, it's Baron."

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Houston gave me strict orders to only call you Mr. Chavis."

"Never mind him; it'll be our secret. Is he in?"

"Mr. Houston said to tell you he'll be in shortly."

Baron came close up behind her. He laid his hands over hers as she tried to continue to polish the silver. She trembled as he touched her.

"You're so pretty. I've wanted to touch you for a long time."

Blowing kisses on her neck, Baron traveled his hands through her hair. Her hair felt like silk to him.

"Please, I don't want to lose my work."

"Tessa, I can take you away from this job. You can become the lady of my house."

"Mr. and Mrs. Houston have been good to me since I came here from Mexico. I could never leave them. I'm forever loyal to them."

He turned her around and pulled her closer to him as he tasted the sweetness of her lips. She tried to pull away, but the force of his lips on hers made her submit to the hunger she also had for him.

Rupert made his way into the kitchen where he witnessed them kissing. "What's going on in here?" he shouted.

Tessa pushed Baron away. "Sir, please don't fire me," she cried.

"Run along, Tessa. I'll deal with you later."

She left the room. The two men came face to face. Baron could see the wrinkles of frustration and anger forming on Rupert's forehead.

"I knew you had a crush on her. But that's as far as it goes from here on out. I don't allow my help to deal with any of my colleagues."

"I have feelings for her and she obviously feels the same."

"Baron, we have formed a great business and personal relationship. Let's not destroy it over poor-cla.s.s help."

"I see more to her than someone under me or you. I see a beautiful woman that has a lot to offer a man."

Rupert went over and grabbed a gla.s.s from the cupboard. He filled it with water and handed it to him. "Cool off. Remember, I made you what you are, and I can destroy you at the blink of an eye."

Baron did not utter a single word.

He had the power to ruin Baron's career.

Baron took a swallow of the water. "There, I'm cooled off. Let's get down to business."

Nothing else was said of Tessa. Baron admired her from afar. She stayed out of his sight as much as she could when he visited the Houstons' home. The young attorney thought of many ways he could make her his own. He had to find a way to get to her without Rupert finding out.

At the time, the Houstons had planned to take a trip with their only daughter, Milandra. The other girls weren't born yet. This was the ideal time for him to see her. He made his way over to the Houston Estate. The servants' quarters were a separate residence on the property. Each servant who lived-in had his or her own private room. Each one had an outside entrance into their room.

Baron made his way to Tessa's room. The sky was dark, but a light pole glowed in front of each quarter. He walked up to her room. The door was ajar. As he eased the door open, he saw the soft glow of low, dimmed lights coming from inside.

In the room, he saw a mahogany bed made up with a dark-brown blanket. A colorful Mexican blanket was folded at the foot of the bed. Two lamps sat on the mahogany nightstands. The polished hardwood floors reflected the shine from the light.

Baron looked over at the window seat. He locked eyes with Tessa. She looked over the shoulder of a man. He saw that the man wore a suit jacket, but his slacks were dropped down to his calves, exposing his legs.

Tessa cried in agony as the man continued to penetrate her. A tear ran down her face as she screamed, "Mr. Houston, it's Mr. Chavis."

Rupert let go of her. He turned around, pulled up his pants, and zipped them. Tessa was fully exposed in all of her glorious nudity.

Baron stared at what he had wanted so much to touch-her body. She covered her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with her hands as she ran to the bed, got the Mexican blanket from the foot of it, and covered up.

Out of anger, Baron ran over to Rupert. He tried to grab him by the collar, but Houston got to him first, pushing him away from getting any closer to him.

"Don't you dare ever attempt to come at me. You walk out of this room and forget what you ever saw-or ever wanted. Tessa is mine now. Get out of here," Rupert ordered.

"I thought you had feelings for me," Baron said as he looked at her.

"You don't have the money to give her or to take care of her the way I do," Rupert called.

"I thought you were out of town," Baron blurted as he walked toward the door.

"Alana took Milandra away. As you can see, I have business to take care of here. You have no need to question my personal life. Get out!" he yelled.

Dejected, Baron left the room. He swore that one day he would get even with Rupert. And this was the reason he met with Noelle. She had a crush on him.

Noelle could barely look at him without blushing. He thought she would be the perfect way to get revenge on her father. He had just begun to put his vengeful plan in motion, but Rupert was one step ahead of him.

He had to give Rupert time to calm down. Hopefully, he could salvage the mess. He had gotten in trouble with women that he had never gotten to first base with before.

Frustrated, Baron picked up the manila folder that held the latest lawsuit against Houston Commercial Construction Company: a young man who had fallen off a ladder and broken his leg was claiming expenses for damages. As always, Baron tried to help the company pay little or no money on claims against the company. The more he tried to drown himself in the case, the more he wondered what reaction his client would have with Noelle.

He went to pick up the phone to contact her, but his secretary tapped on the door. "You may come in, Sara."

Holding his appointment schedule in her hand, Sara entered the room, dressed in a beige skirt outfit. Her once brownish hair was beginning to streak with gray strands. She looked over at her boss, a man she longed to have in her personal life. Despite all the years she had worked for Baron, she still grew nervous in his presence. She would have given anything to tell him her true feelings, but loyalty to her job kept her quiet. "I thought maybe we could go over your next few appointments."

"Let's take care of that first thing in the morning. Do me a favor: cancel any appointments I have for the rest of the day. I need to run out."

"Yes, Mr. Chavis."

"Thanks, Sara; you're a lifesaver." He smiled.

Sara blushed because she felt comforted knowing that he relied on her. She closed the door behind her.

Baron leaned back in his seat. His thoughts went to the day that he first met Rupert.

He had exceeded his ultimate dream, pa.s.sing the Bar exam, which led him to a job at a local law office called Newman Law Firm. The first case a.s.signed to him was from Houston Commercial Construction Company. Rupert was one of Newman's biggest clients.

Baron met with Mr. Houston and shared a pot of coffee in one of Newman's meeting rooms. They discussed-detail by detail-what Rupert expected from the case. Simply put, he was to pay no money to a man who pretended to have damaged his knee while working for him. He was to prove the man's injury was pre-existing. Through investigation and long hard work, Baron did exactly that. He saved Houston Commercial Construction Company over fifty thousand dollars.

Rupert was impressed with the eagerness that Baron showed in his job. He began to give all of his business, and personal cases, directly to him. Then one day he asked the hardworking attorney to leave Newman Law Firm to come work as a personal attorney for his company.

Baron could not resist. This meant more money for him. He worked diligently until he opened his own private practice, Chavis Law Firm, inside one of Houston's office buildings. He handled all of Houston's business and personal legal issues.

Now, Baron felt that he had to make amends with Rupert. He was thankful for all of the help he had given him professionally, but the pain of losing Tessa left him heartbroken on a personal level, and he directed his anger toward Rupert.

Baron leaped out of his seat. This wasn't the right time to get totally even with him. What was he thinking? Rupert had handed him a few more cases in the last month, keeping him swamped with work. He smoothed out his suit jacket and made his way out of the door.

Inside his black Lexus, he called Noelle. He wondered whether she was aware that her father knew of their brief encounter. Her phone rang, but she did not answer.

"Come on...pick up, Elle," he said as he called her the nickname he had given her.

He drove in the direction of the Houston Estate. He hoped Rupert had cooled off some. He had to undo the damage that might cause the cases he had on his desk to be revoked.

Cases equaled dollars, and those, Baron did not want to lose.

Chapter 4.

Noelle pulled out her cell phone and called Baron.

He answered, "h.e.l.lo, Elle. I've been trying to reach you."

She cried, "Tragedy has struck our family. It's Mother and Father! I think they're dead!"

"Dead?" he questioned, as he couldn't believe what he had heard. "I'm already here. I was coming to see your father. I'm getting out of the car as we speak. Hang up."

Noelle shut her cell phone off. Baron made his way into the house. Noelle rushed into his arms. He patted her on the head. "Stay calm."

He looked to see Alana lying on the floor. He took her pulse and realized that she was gone. He ran up the stairs and found Kenley still curled up against the wall. "Stay calm," he said to her as well.

He went down to the east wing. Milandra sobbed as she held on to her father. Baron lifted her off of him. "Come on, Milandra. Stay calm." He led her to where Kenley sat. "You Houstons need to comfort each other."

Baron went back down to the east wing, but this time he went to Rupert's study. He hurried over to his laptop computer. Rupert was still logged on. Baron strolled down through all of the emails in his mailbox files until he saw the email that he was looking for. He saw that the email came from juicyascanbe. He deleted it.

He ran back down the east wing and stepped over Rupert to enter the master suite. He looked around until he discovered the destroyed cell phone on the floor. He dared not put any of his fingerprints on the phone. This was a crime scene until the cause of death was p.r.o.nounced.

Baron stepped back over Rupert to leave the suite when he noticed his eyes were still open and as sharp as a blade. He knelt down and closed Rupert's eyes.

"d.a.m.n! I wanted to pay you back, but not to this extent." Baron became sentimental over the death of the man who had helped build his career. He wiped his watery eyes as he stood up and noticed the paramedics approaching the room. "h.e.l.lo, I'm Baron Chavis, the Houstons' attorney and friend."

"Do you know exactly what happened here?" one of them asked.

"No, I'll have to get one of his daughters to tell you. I arrived shortly before you," he explained.

Baron made his way to get Milandra, since she was the oldest. She was huddled down on the floor with her sisters, in tears.

"The paramedics need to speak to you. They need to know what might have happened," he said.

Milandra wept as he helped her to stand up. He placed his arms around her and led her down the hall. She trembled as she explained to the paramedics what happened. "My sisters and I had just come home from a day out with our mother. Mother was on her way into her room to take her daily heart medicine when she discovered Father on the floor. I guess the shock of seeing him lying there was more than she could bear. She tried to warn us but was unable to speak. She gasped for breath, and the next thing we knew she had tumbled down the stairs. My father, I have no clue as to what happened to him. Is he okay?" Milandra hoped he might have just fainted.

"I'm afraid not; your father is also dead. From the look of things he had a ma.s.sive heart attack, and so did your mother."

"No, not Father and Mother. They're our life. We breathe for our parents. My G.o.d, what will we do without them?" Milandra ran back to her sisters. She cried. "Father is dead, too."

Her sisters heard her loud and clear. Kenley stomped her feet rapidly on the floor. Noelle banged her fist against the wall until a colorful painting of a floral arrangement fell and crumbled into tiny pieces of gla.s.s. Milandra leaned against the wall and sobbed.

Baron came to their rescue. "Girls, try to get control of yourselves. Think of what your father and mother would say if they were here."

The sisters thought of what their parents would say. They knew that their words would be empowering: that no matter what troubles happen in their family, they must stand tall and gain strength from each other. And when joy comes their way, they should rejoice in unity, for they are forever Houstons.

Just like robots, the girls wiped away their sobbing eyes. They brushed off their linen clothes. They went downstairs into the open-s.p.a.ced kitchen adjacent to a family room where a plasma television showed the news. In a matter of time, their family's sadness would be plastered over the television screen, as well as the front pages of every local newspaper.