Haunted Heiress

Wealthy Judge

“Hey, Mom says we can go with her to the office today, hurry up, get dressed” he announced excitedly but as he walked into the room, a hand reached for him through the door and caught hold of his left ear.

“Did I not tell you to always knock?” Donna’s voice followed and Stephanie looked up to see the blonde woman all dressed up in a light blue shirt.

Donna frowned at the cold and looked up to see Stephanie sitting on the window frame. Stephanie froze, her eyes widened as they gazes met.

Smiling sheepishly, she climbed down the window frame and closed it, her expression changed to one of an innocent cute girl as she stared back at Donna.

“Never ever do that again” Donna warned seriously. They were more than twenty feet above the ground!

To be fair, even if she had fallen, the snow would cushion it and she would be fine … as long as she was not so unfortunate to hit something or get pierced by some wood or sticks. She couldn't say that aloud to Donna though so she simply nodded.

“Don’t you feel cold?” Donna asked Stephanie with concern, she had seen this girl do a lot of odd things and it made her very curious about her origins, she already had some guesses though.

Stephanie was only wearing a sleeveless tank top on track pants. Her arms, shoulders, feet and a bit of her stomach were exposed and just a moment ago she was sitting in the blizzard. The room was still freezing cold, it would take some time for the heater to take care of it.

Unable to explain, Stephanie could only shrug casually. Donna understood that Stephanie didn’t want to talk about it so she did not pressure her to.

“I’ll help you pick something, we have to hurry” Donna nodded at Stephanie and pushed Adrian out of the room, closing the door behind her, she took in the sight of Stephanie’s room. It had to be the most tidy room in the house, and at the same time the most simple.

Stephanie had an unusual taste in furniture, decoration and clothing. She stood out, not because she didn’t dress well but because she dressed too well. While her mates were flashy, she was more noble. And her bearing somehow commanded authority even as a child. That saved her from bullies many times.

Opening the wardrobe, Donna’s eyes scanned the clothes in it and she eventually picked out a white t-shirts and cotton trousers.

With a suffering smile on her face, Stephanie picked the up and began to change her clothes. She would have chosen something different but she did not want to make Donna late.

Donna was about to pick a jacket for her but without skipping a beat, Stephanie took a long black coat out from the wardrobe, the fleece collar made Donna smile and shrug without objecting. She would have made Stephanie wear more, but the girl was stubborn about her clothes so she just let it be.

“I’m wearing three layers and you only have two” she still couldn’t let it go without commenting.

“My liver works better than yours” Stephanie joked and for no reason at all a bright smile bloomed on Donna’s cheeks.

“Come here” she motioned with her hand and Stephanie walked to her. Donna embraced the little girl into a warm tight hug, her arms wrapping around the frail body.

“Don’t pay any attention to Edward, he is a bitter fool but he is also a good man” she comforted Stephanie.

Stephanie nodded her head in Donna’s warm embrace, she did not feel cold but this hug made her feel very warm in her heart.

She wanted to tell Donna that she did not mind Edward’s actions but she choose to be silent at this time and just enjoy this warmth.

Until that day when she saw for herself what kind of a man Edward was, she was scared of him. Now she was just naturally cautious as anyone would be towards someone with a bad attitude but she trusted the man and she knew he was not a bad person. With her eyes closed, her mind drifted to that day in the snow only a few months ago.

***

Donna and Adrian had snuck into he woods to play with wolf cubs when a few men cornered them, fortunately the mother of the cubs came back and with a pack behind her so when the men tried to fend off the wolves, the two of them escaped. Only Stephanie had tripped and had a small wound on her knee.

As they ran, they eventually reached a frozen lake but the ice surface did not look reliable so they had to stop. Just as they thought they would either be caught by the men or eaten by wolves, Edward who had been looking for them noticed them from the other end of the lake.

“Dad!” Adrian called after hurriedly wiping the tears from his eyes.

It only took one scream to attract Edwards attention. As soon as he saw the kids, without hesitation he lay down on the snow and began crawling over with the aid of a knife.

At this time, Stephanie looked back to see one of the men rushing towards them. Edward noticed her turn so he followed her gaze to see the man. Crawling was too slow, he got to his feet and began running over the ice. Maybe it was the trauma of losing his daughter but he was on fire that day.

Unfortunately, he was too far away, the man reached the kids and immediately lifted Stephanie onto his shoulders. Adrian courageously tried to hold him but a slap instantly knocked him out.

“Adrian!” Edward’s called after reaching his son.

“Edward, what’s going on?”

Edward turned to the voice and saw a young woman running towards him with a rifle. It was one of their neugh probably hunting deer.

Ignoring her he looked down at Adrian who woke up at this time before breathing a sigh of relief, then he remembered Stephanie.

“Lia please watch my son” he said to the woman who had reached them now. Her heart thumped in her chest as she heard him call her name and she nodded.

Without caring for the woman’s reddened face, he got up and sprinted in the direction the black coated man had carried Stephanie.

It didn’t take long before he found them, two wolves confronting them. Stephanie was on the ground with a wolf almost on her while the black coated man was fighting off another one. The wolves were starving or they would certainly not confront humans like this.

Stephanie was almost at her wits end, she didn’t think she would go against her parents orders so soon. Just as she was about to make a move she heard a loud obscene shout.

“Get away from my kid you f*king savage”

The wolves were started by the wild scream even the black coated turned to he sound as bus lips twitched. Was there any need for the drama?

Edward did not care what was going through their minds, he rushed over with a thick stick and swung at the wolf, the sound of stick and bones breaking brought everyone back to their senses as the stick hit the left side of the wolf sending it flying. The other two wolves whimpered and moved back but Edward didn’t care about them. For the first time he looked at Stephanie with care and fear in his eyes, he didn’t want to lose her, he hated her but he still did not want to lose another child.

Seeing that Stephanie was okay, he revealed a rare smile but that vanished as soon as he saw Stephanie’s knee wound.

“He did this?” Edward asked as the wound did not look like what a wolf would cause.

“He…” before she could reply Edward charged at the man and tackled him to the ground. What followed was a series of ruthless punches and Edward’s groan of fury.

“Sir, Sir Edward” Stephanie called anxiously. She was worried that Edward would accidentally kill the man.

As she tried to reach him, she stumbled and almost fell to the ground but Edward hurried to her and supported her.

“Let's go” he lifted her and carried her in his arms ignoring the bloodied faced man who he had just knocked out with punches. From that moment unit they arrived at the hospital and she was treated, Edward remained anxious. So much that Adrian began to feel left out again. But as a kind soul that he was, there was no jealousy in his heart.

****

Donna was startled to find that Stephanie had suddenly fallen asleep in her arms.

“How much stress have you gone through to be so tired?” she muttered as she stroked Stephanie’s hair.

“What did you do to her?” Adrian asked in shock when he saw Donna coming out of the house with sleeping Stephanie in her arms.

“She fell asleep” Donna replied casually, rolling her eyes at Adrian. Carefully she took Stephanie with her into the car and laid her down in one of the chairs.

There were two rows of seats in the limo both facing each other at the front and back. Donna laid Stephanie on the one behind the driver, while she sat together with Adrian facing forward. Together they watched Stephanie sleep.

“I don’t think she’s comfortable like this” Adrian whispered to his mother who simply shrugged, she was thinking more about what was going on in that office.

“How are we even on the road?” Stephanie who was supposed to be asleep suddenly asked.

“When did you wake up” Donna exclaimed in surprise.

Stephanie did not sit up nor did she reply to the question, she actually woke up the moment Donna set her on the seat but she was too embarrassed to say, she hadn’t gotten much sleep at night and got too comfortable in Donna’s arms which led her to fall asleep.

“There’s a snow thrower truck thing ahead of us, two of them actually “ Adrian replied to her question knowing well that Donna would not getting her answer.

Donna Voltz was the CEO of Voltz Engineering and Development Corporation. It was big multinational construction and engineering company, they handled everything from real estate development, to management. It was the biggest construction company in the city and recognized as one of the top in the country. But Donna was always under the pressure if the board members who would rather have money in their pockets than serve the clients a good job, unfortunately, she was the opposite of them. She made sure to see her contracts through for the clients satisfaction and because of this the company kept growing, only their earnings were not enough to satisfy the board.

Recently, she had managed to get a contract from the country’s wealthiest man, Anthony Judge, and for some reason, he decided to visit the company today to finalize the contract deal. This would naturally be a good thing but Donna was a cautious person by nature. Why would Mr. Judge be in such a hurry to navigate this snow storm?

Unfortunately, she could only ask when she got to the office but even then, there was no guarantee that she would be getting any answer.

They arrived at the company after two hours, it usually wouldn’t take this long but they were moving very slowly due to the bad weather and roads. Fortunately, when they arrived, Mr. Judge was not here yet, only Donna’s assistant Jill was waiting for them in the ground floor of the office complex.

The company headquarters took the first five floors of the Acia Tower, the tallest and most expensive complex in the city. Stephanie always felt a little nervous being up there, to her it was too much height and that meant her fate was in the hands of the architect and constructors.

The limo stopped and they all got out into the ground floor which was a reception hall, the reception served all the companies using the building which made managing it quite challenging but it was mostly AI controlled.

“Mrs Voltz, here’s the contract details if you want to go over it again,” Jill handed a document holder to Donna as soon as she spotted them enter.

As Donna received it, Jill noticed Adrian and smiled warmly at him but her gaze soon fell on Stephanie and her smile disappeared.

Stephanie had no idea why Jill disliked her, she had tried getting close to Jill many times but without any positive results so she long have up. Donna noticed the change in Jill’s expression but she did not say anything. Jill’s employee contract made it impossible to change her, and getting into a disagreement with someone she would work with everyday was not much of a good idea.

Fortunately, Jill had never done or said anything out of line so Donna saw no point in confronting her but, in her heart, as soon as Jill’s contract ended, she would have to go.

Returning her concentration to the contract, she carefully studied it looking for any mistakes or clause that would be disadvantageous to either party but despite searching hard, she could not find any. Frustrated and even more confused, they could only wait for Mr. Judge, fortunately, a car pulled up at this time and they instantly recognized the plate number.

A white suited young man stepped out of the car and from the other side, an old man looking about seventy years of age alighted with the help of a security guard. The guards waited outside while the white suited young man and the old man in a grey suit entered he lobby. They quickly recognized Donna and walked straight to her.

“Mr. Judge” Donna smiled and reached out her hand to the old man, her expression respectful but not subservient.

“Mrs. Voltz” the older man accepted the handshake with a humble smile on his face. He nodded at Jill and then noticed Adrian and Stephanie.

“These must be your kids” he asked curiously.

“Yes, Adrian and Stephanie” Donna replied proudly turning to the two of them with a warm smile on her face.

Stephanie’s lips twitched but she didn’t say anything, she could tell that Donna was feeling very pleased right now and she had no intention of ruining that, besides, it would be rude to say she Donna’s daughter at this point and at a place like this.

“I have to apologize for making you all come out here in the storm, please accept this” Mr. Judge waved and a black suited guard presented Donna with a small gift box.

Donna smiled and accepted it before passing it to Stephanie as for forgiving the old man for making them come out in the snow, she had no intention of doing that.

“Mr. Judge, please” Jill stepped in at this moment and motioned for then to follow her.

Stephanie watched Donna, Mr. Judge and Jill make their way to the elevator, as for the white suited young man who got out of the car with Mr. Judge, he was still standing with them and the old man never introduced him.

“Adrian” the young man turned to them with a warm smile on his face.

“Vincent” Adrian returned the greeting with a curt nod and a grin.

“This must be your sister Stephanie? I wonder why she has a different last name” Vincent asked, his eyes scanning Stephanie.

Stephanie regarded him without an expression on her face. Vincent looked to be seventeen or eighteen years of age, he was much older than her but only a few years older than Adrian. She had never heard of him before but he and Adrian seemed to know each other. There was something more to their relationship, she didn’t care at all for it but she knew this white suited devil would be using her to insult Adrian so she walked away.

“The one your mother loves most” Vincent turned to Adrian with a mocking smile on his lips.

Adrian simply shrugged without caring for his words. Fortunately, Vincent was unaware that Stephanie was actually a maid.

“It was nice to see you Vincent” he returned the smile before following after Stephanie. Well he tried to follow but when he looked again she had disappeared.