🐕2/5🐕At The End of The Road (50 Book Series)

I stopped at a gas station trying to find my new home. The attendant raised his eyebrows as he said, "Take a right at the stoplight and go to the end of the road."

Thanking him, I followed the directions and arrived at the home that my Grandma had lived in all her life. Chuckling to myself, I said, "Home more like a haunted castle."

When I received the letter from her lawyer, I had just ended my engagement to my fiancé, Sam. I had hoped that as our wedding approached, he would put boundaries in place with his family. Six months before the wedding, he had asked if his parents could come with us on our honeymoon. He could not understand why I got upset about them being in the same villa as us. I told him that if he could not put boundaries up, then we needed to stop planning the wedding. The next day I came home to our apartment, and all of his belongings were gone. The next day, I  received the letter from Grandma's lawyer stating that I was her sole beneficiary and that I inherited her property to do as I wanted. He even included a video of the estate that showed me everything I would need to know. With a fully furnished estate, I decided it was time to start the business I had always dreamed of. That was to create a boutique hotel. But the lawyer told me the building is a giant puzzle and there are a bunch of mysteries that will be solved in each and every room. 

When I asked him what kind of mysteries he chuckled and said "in every room, closet or space there can be 4-5 small gift wrapped boxes and there is a website where if the mystery is answered correctly you can win a prize."

The lawyer also mentioned that there was a small store set up at the beginning of the driveway for the things I did not want to keep.

Pulling up, I said, "Home sweet home."

Pulling along the driveway, I saw the store and continued on to the castle. I pulled up to the front steps and took out my key. Going to the door, I walked in and looked around. I almost expected to hear my parents walk through, claiming who is better at tennis and challenging each other. Sighing, I said, "You know I miss you all. I could have used you all right now to help me get through this."

Taking my bag, I walked up to the second floor and went to the owner's suite. Opening the door I expected to find my Grandma sitting near the windows, knitting. I was going to walk downstairs to meet the movers when my phone rang. Looking at the screen, I saw Sam was calling. Picking up, I said, "Hello Sam, what do you need?"

"Ella," He said. "I went to the apartment today, and the maintenance guy said you moved. We need to talk about what happened."

"Talk about what happened," I said. "Sam, you wanted your parents to come on our honeymoon. When I asked you to set boundaries, you wouldn't. Then I came home, and you moved out. No goodbye, you just left. So fine, I inherited my grandma's castle, and I am going to turn it into a resort."

"But, Ella, we can have our future," He said. "My parents could move in with us and help you run your resort."

"Sam, listen to yourself," I said. "I would not have your parents live with us. If you do not understand, then we could never be together."

"Ella," he said. "I will give you time to cool down, and then my parents and I will come see you to plan the wedding."

He hungup as I started to argue with him. The gate alarm buzzed, and I let the movers bring everything from my apartment and my parents' belongings to the castle. When they pulled up, I handed the main person a map and said, "This has all the rooms labeled for the items."

He nodded and got the men to work bringing everything in. As they moved into both estates, a car honked and my best friend Maggie pulled up. She got out and asked, "You doing okay?"

"Sure I am doing great," I said. "Sam thinks we are still getting married."

Shaking her head, she said, "We will deal with him later. I cannot stay for long because I have to get Matt from the airport. Why he couldn't ask my parents to come get him is beyond me. What I do for my older brother. But I brought some sandwiches, so let us sit on the bench and talk."

We walked over to the bench, and she handed me a bag. We pulled out the food, and she asked, "How are you financially? I know you quit your job when you moved here, and I worry about you."

"You do not need to worry," I said. "When I cancelled the wedding, I got back the deposits, so that was $18000. I never touched the cash from my parents' estate, so that is, 750 thousand. From Grandma, I inherited four million. The utilities have large payments on them, so I will be good for a while."

She nodded and said, "Good. So what is your plan?"

"First things first," I said. "I am going to work on the owner's suite. That way, I have my own space in all of this chaos. Besides, do you see that building at the main gate?"

She nodded and said, "Yes, I do."

"The door is in the wall," I said. "It is my store so whatever I do not keep is going into the store. I will also have a few mysteries for us to go through at one time. There are 4-6 boxes that contain mysteries where I can win cash or prizes."

She jumped up and came back witha basket. Smiling she said, "It was going to hold your wedding gift so use it to hold the mysteries. When you fill it let me know we will spend a day working on them."

"That sounds like a plan," I said. 

Maggie looked at her phone and said, "I have to go get Matt. I will call you tomorrow."

She hugged me as the movers came out and said, "We are all finished."

I handed all the men a twenty and said, "Thank you."

One of the movers asked, "What are you going to do with this place?"

"I am going to turn this place into a boutique hotel," I said.

He asked, "Do you have a website?"

Chuckling I handed him a card and said, "I will be updating daily."

After they left, I grabbed my camera and took pictures all over the property and throughout the castle.I ran out and went to a few fast food places to have dinner and a few heat up meals. After I checked out the fridge and pantry I will do a food shopping trip. A quick 150 later, I was on my way home and brought everything up to the owner's suite. Since the sitting room had a microwave and a fridge I could store some food. Placing the bags on the table, I ran down to the front door and made sure the doors were locked. Going back upstairs, I sat at the table in the sitting area and started to update the castle's website. I did put a disclaimer on the website that only the information posted by me is the accurate truth about the castle and what is happening there. After I had finished uploading everything, I made another post about the first area being the owner's suite that will be worked on. I took pictures and added them to the website.

After I ate, I put everything away, and I went down to the store and flipped the lights on. I saw Paper an tape under the counter and wrote a sign that said, Coming soon. I arranged the shelving and racks in the store and made sure the display case was ready for the higher-end items. Then I went to my SUV and grabbed a few boxes along with my pull cart. Going upstairs, I opened my grandfather's closet and started to go through the clothes. Since this closet was bigger I would use this closet when it was finished. I remembered to check all the pockets as I sorted and tagged all the items I did not want. I carried the boxes down to the cart and by the time my 9pm alarm went off, I had finished a third of the closet, and I had a few of my grandfather's things still hanging in the closet. I also found three mystery boxes, which I placed in the basket. 

I took a shower and lay in bed ordering new drawer liners for the built-in storage drawers in the closet. I put the TV on and flipped to a show, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

Waking up the next morning, I lay in bed, sitting up to look at the website for the castle. Looking at the comments on the post I saw one that made me sit up a little more. It said, "I see here that the castle is currently not open to the public. I was told by my friend you will be offering garden tours for a fee before your upcoming wedding."

Oh sams Mom went into overdrive. Chuckling I wrote, "Thank you for reaching out. The wedding was cancelled when I ended my engagement. As for private tours for the gardens and property, you never know what may happen in the future, but I have never made any plans for this. Any information for the castle will only be accurate if you see it posted on the website.-Ella"

I got up and went to the fridge, grabbing out a Pepsi and a few slices of pizza to eat. Putting the pizza in the air fryer, I went to the bathroom and changed into leggings and a sweatshirt. Looking at my laundry pile, I brought the basket to the laundry room and started a load of laundry. When I got back upstairs my pizza was done, and I sat with my laptop answering a few more comments. On my table, I notated some suggestions for the castle. The thought of property tours that I know Sam's mom is trying to orchestrate, it is a good idea, though, and I am considering letting people come in through the store, pay a small fee, and let them walk the grounds.

As I continued to reply my phone rang and it was Sams Mom Susan. I sighed and decided to answer. I said, "Susan I am getting ready to start working. How can I help you?"

"Ella Dear I was looking at the website for your castle," She said. "You fibbed about something."

"No Susan I have not fibbed about anything," I said. "But I will humor you, what did I fib about?"

She sighed, annoyed and said, "You said you were no longer engaged. That is a fib."

Chuckling I said, "No, Susan, Sam, and I are over. His co-dependence on you and Mitchel is rather scary, and I decided I could no longer overlook his behavior. He didn't want a wife; he wanted someone to cater to him. So I ended the engagement and moved on with my life. I would suggest that you and Sam do the same."

"But what about Mitchel and I coming to live with you," She asked. "We need to move soon."

"Susan I never offered for you to move in with me," I said. "If your son offered that, it will have to be you moving in with him. I am no longer in the picture."

"But," She said. "You have money, and he works very hard for what he has."

"No maam you are not my responsibility," I said. "His dependence on you is why we broke up. Now, if you will excuse me, I have stuff to do."

Hanging up the phone, I finished eating and put the paper plate into the garbage. I went downstairs and took the cart of items to the store. Placing the items in the store, I made sure the door to the store was locked and secured. Then, taking the boxes and cart back to the house I left the cart in the entry way and I went back to my suite. Since it was nice out I opened all the windows in the suite and got back to work on Grandpa's old closet. I would take pictures here and there and by the time it was lunch time I had a few pictures to post an update. 

After I brought the items to the store, took some pictures, and I came back inside then I posted the following post on the website: "Check out the pictures! I will be finishing what was my Grandpa's closet and starting my Grandma's closet today. Super excited on how things are progressing and found three more mystery boxes. Let me know what you think. Check out how much the store is filling up."

For the next few days, I worked hard and finished the owner's suite. The number of views my site was getting was growing a lot. The store was filling up nicely and I decided I would be able to have a store day soon enough. When I brought another load of items to the store I took pictures to show what we had. Then I went inside and ate some lunch, working on a new article.

Maggie mesaged me and asked, "How many boxes do you have now?"

Chuckling, I sent the reply of, "twenty-five."

She asked, "What needs to be done in the suite?"

I sent her some pictures and said, "Nothing, I kept the paint color. It is very clean."

I walked down to the stairwell that headed to the basement and I checked the carpet, railings and lighting to see what would need to be done. The carpet and paint were fresh and I looked at the paintins lining the wall and the hooks on the wall. I decided to keep the paintings of the gardens and moved the rest to the store. Ifound anther box attached to the paintings.

Ella- Main (4,768,800), 26 mystery boxes

Sam- Ex Susan-Sam's mom Mitchel

Maggie- Best friend

Matt- Maggie's brother

The Castle

1. under the stairsbasement-
2. landingbasement-
3. laundrybasement-
4. laundry closetsbasement-
5. furnace roombasement-
6. storagebasement-
7. canning roombasement-
8. hunters roombasement-
9. hunters closetbasement-
10. Servants kitchenbasement-
11. servents pantrybasement-
12. servents laundry basement-
13. Servants suite 1basement-
14. servants suite 2basement-
15. servants suite 3 basement-
16. servants suite 4basement-
17. servants bathroom 1basement-
18. servants bunk room 1basement-
19. servants bathroo 2basement-
20. servents loungebasement-
21. servants bunkroom 2basement-
22. mudroom basement-
23. enclosed patio for servantsbasement-
24. hallway 1basement-
25. hallway 2 basement-
26. hallway 3 basement-
27. hallway 4 basement-
28. first floor- entry way
29. poolfirst floor
30. check in roomfirst floor
31. coat roomfirst floor
32. office first floor
33. household officefirst floor
34. hallway 1first floor
35. hallway 2first floor
36. hallway 3first floor
37. hallway 4first floor
38. kitchenfirst floor
39. breakfast roomfirst floor
40. pantryfirst floor
41. butlers pantryfirst floor
42. butlerssuitefirst floor
43. head of maids suitefirst floor
44. dining roomfirst floor
45. formal party roomfirst floor
46. ball roomfirst floor
47. sitting roomfirst floor
48. mens loungefirst floor
49. smoking roomfirst floor
50. attriumfirst floor
51. sunroomfirst floor
52. bathroom 1first floor
53. bathroom 2first floor
54. bathroom 3first floor
55. storeroom 1first floor
56. storeroom 2first floor
57. grill roomfirst floor
58. storage roomfirst floor
59. cleaning roomfirst floor
60. stairs to second floor
61. landing to second floor
62. second floor- sitting area
63. nursery second floor
64. nannys suite second floor
65. childs suite 1 second floor
66. childs suite 2 second floor
67. childs suite 3  second floor
68. hallway 1 second floor
69. hallway 2 second floor
70. hallway 3  second floor
71. hallway 4 second floor
72. cleaning closet second floor
73. bathroom 1 second floor
74. bathroom 2 second floor
75. reading room second floor
76. enclosed patio second floor
77. sunroom second floor
78. sewing room second floor
79. billards room second floor
80. music room second floor
81. theatre  second floor
82. stairs to third floor
83. landing to thirds floor
84. third floor sitting area
85. guest suite 1  third floor
86. guest suite 2 third floor
87. guest suite 3 third floor
88. guest suite 4 third floor
89. guest suite 5 third floor
90. library third floor
91. card playng room third floor
92. television room third floor
93. bethroom 1 third floor
94. bathroom 2 third floor
95. hallway 1 third floor
96. hallway 2 third floor
97. hallway 3 third floor
98. hallway 4 third floor
99. bathroom 1 third floor
100. bathroom 2 third floor
101. cleaning room third floor
102. storage third floor
103. ladies office third floor
104. movie room third floor
105. lounge third floor
106. enclosed patio third floor
107. sunroom third floor
108. stairs to fourth floor
109. landing to fourth floor
110. Guest room 1 fourth floor
111. guest room 2 fourth floor
112. guest room 3fourth floor
113. guest room 4fourth floor
114. guest room 5fourth floor
115. guest room 6fourth floor
116. bathroom 1fourth floor
117. bathroom 2fourth floor
118. bathroom 3fourth floor
119. Staff bunk room 1fourth floor
120. staff bunk room mensfourth floor
121. staff bathroom 1fourth floor
122. staff bathroom 2fourth floor
123. bowling alleyfourth floor
124. mens hunting loungefourth floor
125. Hallway 1fourth floor
126. hallway 2fourth floor
127. hallway 3 fourth floor
128. hallway 4fourth floor
129. loungefourth floor
130. enclosed patiofourth floor
131. art roomfourth floor
132. sunroomfourth floor
133. saunafourth floor
134. hot tub roomfourth floor
135. spafourth floor
136. reading roomfourth floor
137. stairs to fifth floor
138. landing to fifth floor
139. roof top garden fifth floor
140. roof top greenhouse fifth floor
141. observatoryfifth floor
142. party room fifth floor
143. hallway 1 fifth floor
144. hallway 2 fifth floor
145. hallway 3 fifth floor
146. hallway 4 fifth floor
147. bathroom 1 fifth floor
148. bathroom 2 fifth floor
149. bathroom 3 fifth floor
150. bathroom 4 fifth floor
151. dance room fifth floor
152. sporting room fifth floor
153. sun room fifth floor
154. lounge fifth floor
155. stairs to attic
156. attic
157. attic storage
158. mini suite 1 attic
159. mini suite 2 attic
160. mini suite 3 attic
161. bathroom attic
162. attic lounge
163. attic bathroom
164. attic hallway 2
165. attic cleaning room
166. pool house walkway
167. pool house suite 1
168. pool house suite 2
169. pool house mother in law suite
170. pool house bathroom
171. pool house changing room 1
172. pool house changing room 2
173. path to the gardens
174. garden suites hallway
175. garden suite 1
176. grden suite 2
177. garden suite 3 
178. garden suite 4
179. pathway to the garages
180. garage 1
181. garage 2
182. garage 3
183. suite 1 garage
184. suite 2 garage
185. suite 3 garage
186. garage tinker room
187. garage repair room
188. garage tool room
189. garage bathroom 1
190. garage bathroom 2
191. path to boat house
192. boathouse storage house
193. boathouse suite 1
194. boathouse suite 2
195. boathouse suite 3
196. pathways to garden cottage
197. garden cottage 1
198. gardern cottage 2
199. garden cottage 3 
200. garden cottage 4
201. Path to the sporting areas
202. tennis courts
203. patio to sporting areas
204. shuttle board courts
205. basketball courts
206. sports cottage 1
207. sports cottage 2
208. sports cottage 3