All Chapters of The Rise Of A Broken Man: Chapter 11
- Chapter 20
36 chapters
Ten
Mr. Winyard adjusted his cane before walking down the stairs again, wondering why it was still very quick this time of the morning. Normally, the security dogs would be barking as they were being taken on a walk, and the house workers about. Maybe he had woken up earlier than he normally would, but he was still sure Devon had been awake since. At least, that was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes to see the screen of ipad that displayed the security footage of the garage. Well, that was the one of the three places that had cameras in them. The last thing he wanted was for his babies to be tampered with. When he walked into the garage, as he had seen on the screen up in his room, there he was, Devon, working on the Mustang he had worked on yesterday. “Hello, young man.” He called even before he reached him, but he didn’t answer, so concluded that he didn’t hear. By the time he did reached him, he realized he had his earplugs in, and something was blasting into h
Eleven
The coffee turned Devon into an adrenaline junkie, and he wanted to do everything, like do the laundry of his clothes, clean out the room he was given even though it had been cleaned. Now, he was standing in front of the house with the mustang he had just worked on, and he was washing it, with his shirt off, like he was hosting a car show no one had been invited to.Soap suds slid down the Mustang’s gleaming hood, sunlight catching on every curve of polished metal. Devon worked the sponge in slow, easy circles, the rhythm almost therapeutic. It was still mid-morning, so the air was cool, with the scent of wet earth and grapevines drifting in from the valley.He wasn’t sure if it was the caffeine or the satisfaction of seeing something he fixed again after being caged and unable to live his life, but he felt lighter… almost good. He squeezed more water from the sponge, then glanced up toward the main house just in time to catch movement at one of the windows.Someone was watching
Twelve
Standing against the front of the truck, Devon waited as the call rang, with his phone pressed against his ear, waiting for Hector to pick the call. When he got here yesterday, he had gotten right into work he hadn't made well on his promise to call when he got here. The phone rang and rang, but the call wasn't picked, so he assumed that he was busy. Sighing, he grabbed the rag on the hood of the truck to clean his hands, then he walked into the house and towards the Kitchen. The housekeeper; Mrs. Martha, had sent one of the younger maid to him five minutes ago to tell him lunch was ready, and he needed to come in. As he walked towards the kitchen, he heard Mrs. Martha’s voice calling him from the dinning room. “Hey, Devon. We're all in here.” she said. Devon frowned slightly, surprised by the unexpected gathering at the dining table.Mr. Winyard sat at the head, with Georgie on his right and Sophie and her friend beside him. Rogelio occupied the seat to Mr. Winyard’s left, leavin
Thirteen
Mr. Winyard set his fork down gently, the soft clink against the plate slicing through the heavy silence that had now settled in the room like an invisible cloak. His expression had shifted from mild amusement to quiet concern, the lines around his eyes deepening. Devon in his mind was already asking himself why he was such a fool, talking about something like that when it could or had ruined lunch, unknown to him it was even about to open up a pandora box. “What happened to them?” Mr. Winyard asked finally, his tone low. His question was not nosy, exactly, but curious in that commanding way of a man who expected answers when he spoke. Devon blinked, the question hitting harder than he expected. “Sir?” he pushed up one of his brow, even though he knew that didn't exactly seem respectful. “Your parents,” Mr. Winyard clarified, studying him. “You said they passed. How?” Devon hesitated, his throat tightening, and his hands fisted on the table, which he quickly pulled under to avoi
Fourteen
The spanner in his hand might beat into his skull, if he kept berating him like that, Devon thought as he stared at Georgie, asking him why he had gone into the garage without his permission and whether or not he wanted to steal, because he didn't trust him. “I told you,” he started up again, his voice as calm as the still waters, even though he wasn't feeling all that calm inside. “Mr. Winyard gave his permission to come in here anytime I needed to work on any of this car.” he said, refusing to turn to look at him. Georgie had been acting all jerky since he arrived, just because the job he had been given was scheduled for someone he wanted. And then he thought bringing him down like this with words, berating him, or even worse, accusing him of something he wasn't even thinking of doing would do the trick. Well, jokes was on him. “I don't care what you think my uncle told you, but you're not all that here. You need my permission to be here.” Devon pushed up from where he w
Fifteen
By the time Devon went back to his room that night, everywhere was thrashed, and he wasn’t sure what had happened. He stood at the door, seeing his bag on the floor, with his clothes. His bed overturned, and he small closet wide open. Someone had come into this room to find something and he wondered who it was and what they hoped to find.For a moment, he said nothing, because he didn’t even know what to say, then he started to enter the room properly and closed door when he heard a gasped behind him. “Who did that?” the person asked and he turned to look to see it was Sophie. That got him frowning because she was the last person he expected to see in the staff quarters, and at this time of the night. She doesn’t live here, which made it really surprising. “Huh, I’m not sure. But it’s fine. Whoever it is, I’m sure they’re disappointed because there’s nothing to find.” He said, looking over at her. Sophie stepped into the room, looking skeptical. “This room sure look clean,
Sixteen
The morning breeze was really a thing to behold, especially from the garden. Henry Winyard sat at his usual spot, looking at the flowers that were starting to bloom, and the smell of vines brought over by the wind. It was all something he was going to miss when he died, something he still hadn’t told anyone yet. He was dying but he was scared to tell his nephew, and his daughter. Those were the only two relatives he had left. It was to punish himself for the things he had done in the past, how hard he had been on his own kids, so much his own son died, and then his daughter left, without any word or communication since. He had tried so hard to look for her after many years but all to no avail. Maybe it was because he was doing it on his own, but still, he wasn’t comfortable asking Georgie. Sighing, he wondered where she was, if she had married that man he didn’t want her to marry, if they had a child or many, if… “Uncle Henry.” he heard Sophie’s voice call and he turned his
Seventeen
It took him a while, but by the time he was done asking all the staff in the house what happened that night and who saw anything, Henry knew who had went into Devon’s room and he was very disappointed. Georgie was after Devon for a reason he could even understand, and he thought about how he needed to look into it. He adjusted the collar of his shirt before picking up the phone receiver on his desk, then he dialed a number and pressed the phone to his ear, waiting as it rang. “Hello, Dr. Matthew. Can you come over to the house later this evening?” he asked as soon as the call was picked up. There was a silence at the other end for a moment, then. “Are you alright, Mr. Winyard?” Henry gave a small, tired smile that the doctor couldn’t see. “As alright as an old man with too many worries can be,” he said. “It’s not for me this time. I just… need to talk, and there’s something I would like you to take a look at while you’re here.”Dr. Matthew was his go to man to talk to when he had
Eighteen
“You really need to go back to the house, sir. You've been here the whole day.” Rogelio murmured behind Henry as they walked back from the field, looking at the workers and waving at them. “Mind your own business, Rogelio.” he said, pausing to look over his shoulder at him with a grin, and continued walking. Rogelio muttered something about Henry’s health and his stubbornness, but Henry didn't care. He needed to be more around the fields, to know what was going on, to see his workers work on the harvest and see how the land was doing under the sun. It gave him a sense of peace, something persistent in a life that had grown too uncertain lately.“The earth doesn’t care how old you are, Rogelio,” Henry said after a moment, his gaze sweeping over the rows of green. “It only cares that you show up.”Rogelio sighed but smiled faintly. “Still, the earth won’t carry you back if you collapse out here.”Henry chuckled under his breath. “Then I’ll make sure to collapse somewhere with a good v
Nineteen
Early in the morning, while seated for breakfast, the sunlight spilled through the wide windows of the breakfast room, filtering through the lace curtains and catching on the rim of Georgie’s coffee cup. The scent of toast and marmalade hung in the air, something Feli had rustled together before heading to the market this morning. Feli was the housekeeper slash cook and he had been with them since his wife died. The smell of breakfast mingled with the faint hum of the garden sprinklers outside. Across the table, Sophie sat with her hair loosely tied up, a newspaper folded in her hands. She wasn’t really reading it, Georgie could tell. She was watching him, and he wondered why.His daughter had always been suspicious of any little thing, and he wondered what kind of expression he had on his face that was giving him away. “You’re awfully quiet today,” she said, setting the paper down. “Or maybe I should say quieter than usual.” Georgie glanced up from his plate. “I’m just thinking,