Chapter 20

I am feeling numb. This is not gut wrenching as my parents.

Somehow, she knew something was going to happen. She tried to warn me. She said things are not all of what they seem. She kept sobbing, saying they took her boy, and she feared that someone would be out to get her too.

Who was she talking about? Were my parents and my grandmother into anything dangerous? Did they have dealings with like the mob or something? None of it made sense. How would she know something like this could happen to her?

It couldn’t be the mob. Owen was arrested in suspicion of my parents death cause he threatened them. I am living in France; he doesn’t know where I am even if he does go free. Knowing family wealth, and connections he could. I am in France he doesn’t know where I am. I feel safe at the moment . The only thing that is more terrifying is the unknown. What is happening to my family. Why does history continue to repeat itself. Why have generations of my family been killed off one by one, and they never find the killer. It makes no sense. The same pattern spread across centuries with no explanation. What is happening?

My father thought that if we all moved to America it would stop. I did for several years, now they’re all dead. I need to see for myself. I need to find out what is going on! I don’t know how but, I need to find out. I think the only way is going to work and asking questions. Something fishy is going on, and I need to find out everything. That includes who this “Lord Rudolph Hofer” is. There was a “Rudolph Hofer” during my ancestors life. How odd is it that there’s one called “Lord Rudolph Hofer” in modern times. From what I understand, Germany is a Democratic nation after the Americans conquered in WWII. How do they still have a aristocracy in modern times? Things were not adding up and starting to seem fishy. My grandmother was definitely afraid of someone now she’s dead just like the rest of my family.

I have seventy minutes left before work starts. I immediately run upstairs to the shower. It’s not as ritzy as back home but, it will suffice. I undress my clothes, and step into the shower. After scrubbing myself, I let myself soak. As I enjoy the water, Ralph comes to mind. I can remember his hands on me, the feel of his lips against my skin. The feeling of his hands caressing me and rubbing every intimate part of me. I moan in ecstasy. My mind is so vivid, it’s like I can feel him all over me. I grip the shower wall as I ride out my orgasm. I close my eyes and I can feel every part of him like he’s in the room. I the whisper of his voice

“Come for me my dove” he growls softly in my mind. I let go and unravel in his sensually skilled hands. “I love you” I whisper to the room. I can’t help it. I don’t know him from Adam. I feel an intense pull towards him. I can’t understand it and I can’t shake it. He’s my soulmate, I don’t know how, why or what is going to happen in the future but, he’s my soulmate, and I can’t live in a world where he doesn’t exist. I feel as if there’s a magical bond between us. No matter where we are in the world, I know that he’ll always be the one to hold my heart forever now.

I push aside my feelings and sexual memories. I get dressed and head out the door to arrive at work.

Once I am there, I pull into the parking spot as close as I can get. Some of these streets are very narrow. They’re still designed for horse and carriage. I exit my car, click the alarm system on and head inside the building. I find my office and get to work. I have arrived twenty minutes early. Hopefully this can give me a squeeze of time to do some research.

I begin with looking up the historical information of the La Fleur mansion. Research is not helpful. I gives everything I have basically known through my family. Wait a minute! As I am looking up vintage artifacts, and photos. I see Gabrielle at a society function. The next photographic with Gabrielle makes my blood run cold, and feel like I am becoming pale.

I see the “Carvernall” family with her. Oh my God! That man is a strikingly resemblance to Owen!  Shit, all of them look exactly alike Owens’ entire family! What the fuck? What are the odds that every family member is a doppelganger of their ancestor? 1 in a million. That’s the only logical explanation. Humans don’t live for centuries. There is reincarnation but, I have never heard of every family being a carbon copy. It’s just too unthinkable.

Next I see several months later, pictures of Gabrielle with A man that has a resemblance to Ralph, “Lord Rudolph Hofer” it says. She looks infinitesimally more happy in this photo than with Carvernall family. Her countenance is shimmering. She looks radiant. I wished so much I could have a smidgen of her beauty.

“Katherine, what are you working on?” My associate Judith came up to me curiously.

“I am working on historical research for a ancient property here in town. The La Fleur Chateau.”

“Oh, what about it? What do you know? I have seen that Manor in the countryside; it looks so haunted.”

“There’s a story about it. Lady Gabreille was a rare beauty, sought after by many suitors who wanted her hand. One family was very vigorous about it. the “Carvernall” family. They were accustomed to getting what they wanted. They wanted to buy her hand in marriage. Gabrielle, however, could not tolerate their family, especially their son Silas. She found him to be a brute. So, she rejected the proposal. This enraged him, and he vowed he would have her in this life or the next. It was sometime later; she found her prince charming in a “Rudolph Hofer” an aristocrat from Germany. On the eve of their marital union, she was found butchered in the Chateau.”

“Oh my God.”

“No one knows what happened, no killer was ever caught or convicted.”

“So it could be this Silas guy, it could be someone else?”

“No one knows honestly.”

“How do you know so much?” She asked me.

“I is my families ancestral estate.” I told her. Her eyes went wide as she listened to me.

“You’re descendant from royalty?” she asked.

“Supposedly from before the French Revolution”

“If that’s true, I would take heed and keep your wits about you. Don’t mention it. There are some people around who affiliated with the current royalty, they may think you’re trying to upstage them or take their place.”

“I am descendant from it but, I don’t care.”

“They might. If the current royal line which was only arranged that way as a political election thinks you’re trying to usurp their power. It’s bad news.”

“I don’t care, I was called home here cause my Grandmother needed me. The historical society also wants to rejuvenate the old place for historical preservation. They’re interested in hiring me. I don’t know though. I think it would be eerie to be in the house where she died. Last time I was on that property, a pack of wolves nearly attacked me.”

“If we went there, do you  think they’d still be there?”

“I don’t know. I have to go there next week. I may as well find out.” I said with bitter determination. I was still reluctant to go there. I didn’t like that Fredrick was giving me no option but, relocate to the estate grounds. The place where my grandmother died, where my brother, and other family members died. What was he trying to do to me?