The Wolfes

Sheila's POV

A tiny finger poked at my face, as I slept on the large, warm bed. It rained through the night yesterday and for me, it made sleeping even more enjoyable. The sound of soft giggles assaulted my ears and I frowned with my eyes still closed. How does she manage to so bubbly every morning?

I opened my eyes to be met with wider, blue ones.... very similar to her father's. Madeline Wolfe, the nine year old daughter of André Wolfe, who had been keeping me company for the past three days. I got to know that André is indeed a single dad, which leaves Madeline to be by herself most times, since he's basically a very busy person. She had been showing me around the large, grand mansion and even pointing out places that are considered forbidden and out of bounds...which happen to be a lot. Sometimes I find myself enjoying her company, other times I find her a bit overwhelming. This morning was one of those "overwhelming" moments. I've always wanted to have children of my own with Dylan but now I was starting to realize how little I know about children. This one is definitely a lot to handle.

Madeline had always made it her duty to come wake me up every morning but this morning, she seemed to be even more excited. Her father, André hasn't been seen around since our last discussion. He just ran off to God knows where, leaving his daughter with a random stranger in this big mansion. There were also a handful of maids present though.

"Good morning Maddy!" I groaned out to the little girl, who was busy running her hands through my messy, red hair. She seemed to love doing that.

"Guess what's for breakfast?" She chirped in excitement.

"Mmm... Pancakes?"

"Yeah. With scrambled eggs and some bacon. Oh, I think some frittatas and sausage too." She smiled, probably amused by the look on my face.

Ever since I've been staying here, their choice of food for breakfast never ceases to amaze me. Their breakfast was my whole meal for a day! My stomach growled at the prospect of having such and I gave Madeline a sheepish smile.

"I call dibs on the ribs." She suddenly shouted, before storming out of the room. Woah! There's ribs too? I quickly sprung up from the bed.

I gave myself a once over in a nearby mirror. My skin looked much paler, due to my lack of exposure to the sun for a while. My disheveled, red hair was looking like a damn bird's nest. I could see however, the results of the good food I've been eating. I was getting a little thicker... barely noticeable, but still there. My brown eyes stared back at me, so much worries within them.

I wondered what André was doing with that piece of information I gave him. He has no doubt done a lot for me, but it's not still enough to look the other way when it comes to Dylan, my boyfriend. Hopefully he's somehow able to get him out of prison and bring him back to me, so we can be together again. I was starting to miss him even more. I missed how Dylan would play with my hair, with his deep, soothing voice, he would lull me to sleep. Dylan was always there for me. His smile, his kisses and touches were always making me complete. Without him here, it felt like my world was at a complete pause. It was kinda scary.

I suddenly took in a deep breath to calm my growing worries. For now, I'll go out there and have breakfast like a totally normal person. With that resolve in mind, I exited the room and was soon walking down a familiar hallway with various paintings hanging on both sides of the walls. No matter how many times I passed these hallway, I could never stop myself from staring in awe. Like...how many rooms are needed by just one man and his nine year old daughter? There's probably some more people living here, apart from the maids of course. And who the hell has so much paintings on their walls? André Wolfe of course.

I soon got to the large dining area but instead of seeing Madeline there, I was met with a calm, scrutinizing gaze from an elderly man. He was clad in an expensive looking tuxedo, had some kind of staff/ walking stick in his hand. He was wearing a hat, so I couldn't see his head but I could tell they were full of grey strands of hair...like his beards. Also, he had a kind of semblance to André and I suspected him to be the latter's father. He was smoking from some kind of tobacco pipe and he suddenly took a deep puff, before talking.

"It feels so good to see my granddaughter being her lively self again." He gave me a faint smile, as I just remained rooted in my place, not knowing what to do or say. This is definitely André's father and Madeline's grandfather. There's no doubt he's very wealthy and dangerous too. André didn't tell me I would be meeting his Dad but then again, I am literally in his house.

"I should be thanking you." He said, looking dead in the eyes.

"M..me?" I found myself stuttering, which made the old man smile.

He suddenly snapped his fingers and a maid quickly hurried to his side, taking away the pipe of tobacco he was smoking, much to my releif. I was starting to feel my eyes water.

"Old habits." He chuckled, making me look down at my fingers nervously.

"Come have breakfast with me." He said, patting a chair beside him on the long dinning table, filled with different kinds of food.

I was in awe of the quantity of food on the table for just "breakfast". I've had breakfast down here with Madeline before, but the menu had never been this...extra. I was practically fighting my urge to openly salivate.

Slowly plopping myself down on the chair he pointed out to me, he nodded his head for me to go on and eat. I wanted to ask him about the whereabouts of Madeline and even André, who I haven't seen for days.

Madeline's laughter suddenly echoed through the hallways and we both turned to look towards that direction. She was dragging along a tall, handsome man, who didn't seem to be too pleased.

"C'mon uncle Marco, she doesn't bite." She said to the man, who also happened to have the same shade of blue eyes as André. Must be his brother.

"Grandpa! Uncle Marco is scared of a lady." She shouted out, making the man roll his eyes. The elderly man chuckled beside me.

"I swear, it's like she's on something." Marco complained, looking at his niece in a funny manner.

Madeline kept dragging him till he was also seated at the table, opposite where I sat. Grandpa was seated at the end of the table, right between us. Marco took a few seconds to look at me.

"Ooh...my brother found himself a redhead." He wiggled his eyebrows, making heat rise up my cheeks.

"Jeez, uncle! You're making my friend uncomfortable." Madeline said from where she sat beside me, filling up her plate with some ribs.

"Is that so? What's your friend's name? I'm sure she already knows mine." Marco smiled at me. Damn! This family really had good looks in their genes.

"Sheila." I replied him this time, making his smile widen. He held out his hand from across the table and I gave him mine, albeit reluctantly.

He placed a firm, but gentle kiss on the back of my hand, making me smile too. I've actually never been treated like that.

"That's a name quite fitting for a stunning redhead." He remarked, earning a groan from Madeline.

"He's already got his cooties all over you." She whispered to me, making me chuckle.

"I heard that." Marco said, feigning an offended look.

"Let the girl eat already." Grandpa told Marco, who just raised his hands in mock surrender.

The rest of the breakfast session went on mostly in silence, except for Marco getting up occasionally to take some phone calls and Grandpa encouraging me to eat some more food, whenever I attempted to stop eating. At some point, I was looking at Madeline for help, but the latter was too busy stuffing her face with pancakes. By the time we were done, I was practically overfed and couldn't bring myself to move. I grew up in an orphanage. Meals like this were considered as luxury... and I was grateful to have such.

Marco started saying something about driving Madeline to school and Grandpa was already leaving too. Something about business dealings he had to get to. I was soon left all by myself in the big mansion, with maids who just went about their duties, ignoring me like I was invisible. Ugh! I'm going to be so bored. Wish I had access to my Sketch pad and pencils. Now would be a great time to draw something... anything.

I stood up, intending to head over back to my room. I was about to go down into the hallway I came from, when my eyes caught the sight of another section of the mansion. It had large, beautiful stairs that led to it and the paintings were much of a darker shade, giving it a kind of mysterious look. I became instantly drawn to it. I wanted to climb up the stairs and walk right into it, unveil the "mystery". Madeline had earlier made me understand that it was off bounds and only her father ever entered there. That was his living quarters.

Andre Wolfe isn't particularly around now, so what's the harm in checking out the place? Just a quick look and I'll be out of there.

With that, I quickly dashed up the stairs till I came face to face with a large, double door. I slowly pushed it open, only to be met with what looked like a mini library. It had lots of books lying around. The walls were covered in grey paints and more paintings were hung on them. Hyperrealistic paintings of wolves, just different colors and sizes of wolves. Some were creepy and some were looking innocent but it didn't make me stop wondering why someone will have these much paintings of wolves.

I moved further into the library to see some antique guns and swords in display glasses, with lights shining down on them. André sure has a thing for art and collecting artefacts. More paintings of wolves again. Now that I think of it, his surname is "Wolfe", guess he took it quite literally. A very billionaire thing to do.

A picture of baby Madeline suddenly stopped me in my track. A blond woman was holding her on her laps and smiling for the camera. That must have been Madeline's mother. André was also standing very close to them in a protective manner. I guess he's never really been much of a smiling type, because I could see how ingenuine his smile was. He looked like he was very wary and uneasy about something. I was about to reach my hand out to the picture to touch it.

"Looking for something specific?" A deep voice startled me all of a sudden, making me yelp in shock and surprise.

I turned around to look at the culprit and my eyes widened. I thought he wasn't home!