Lady of Greystoke (Sequel to "At all costs")

Slave

Soon Alice was pushed towards a cold and dirty room in the attic. Alice was both frightened and confused, but in the end decided that she would not accept the strange behavior anymore.

'What is going on here?!' She yelled. 'I am Alice Clayton II, Daughter to the Earl of Greystoke and, I demand to speak to whoever is in charge of this house!'

The man who had pushed and dragged her upstairs turned around to face her, looked at her in a strange expression of disbelief with a sadistic grin. Then he began to laugh loudly. For a moment Alice was just confused by the laughter, but the longer it lasted, the more it started to scare her.

'What's going on, missy, is that you have been kidnapped. Your name means nothing, and the only way you will ever speak to who owns this house is when he barks orders at you. Get it sweetheart. You are now his slave.'

Alice eyes went wide with fear. Slavery was abolished; it had been for quite a while. 'That is illegal!' She yelled, hoping it would change something. But again, she was only met with laughter.

'Do you honestly think we care, girl? You might be a Lord's daughter back in London, but out here, far away, nobody cares about those laws, or your title. Here you are just another black girl with no name, title or money. And you should be happy you're still alive.' He pointed at a pile of slightly dirty clothes on the bed. 'Now get dressed! You're new master is expecting you to be downstairs in 20 minutes, and if you keep him waiting, you will be punished.' He slammed the door behind him as he left, his evil laughter echoing in the hall, filling Alice with even more fear as the sound slowly faded away. Then after staring into space for a full minute, her knees gave way beneath her and she broke out crying.

When John and Anthony arrived back home they stormed inside, surprising Jane as they walked into the hall. She could see in the brooding look not only that something was wrong, but someone was likely to regret their decision, fairly soon.

'John, what happened? What's wrong?' She asked as she rushed towards him.

John took a deep breath, and his he bolted his hands into first. Anthony, noticed his father's frustration and sighed. 'Someone took Alice, mother.' He stated, the worry and sadness obvious in his voice.

Jane gasped and looked from her son to her husband.

'Please tell me it's not true...'

John nodded, defeat in his eyes.

'It is, I'm afraid. She received a not this morning, supposedly from William, asking her to meet him alone, by the Mayville bridge. When we got there, her Necklace was on the ground, the clasp snapped, and there were clear signs of a struggle. Someone took her, Jane. And I will not rest until I found out where she is, and who took her.' With that John walked of, down to his own hidden office in the basement, where no one would disturb him.

Jane sighed and walked over to Anthony, and gave him a hug. 'It is dangerous for any person to take away a man's daughter.' She spoke as she looked at him. 'But for a man to take away someone your father cares about.' She sighed. 'It is not far from signing their own death sentence...'

hey guys, so this is a kind of short chapter, but since I have been quite slow with updating this story I figured I'd upload it anyway, even if it isn't the longest chapter. Hope you enjoy it ;)