20
Help
The knob rattles as I pound my fist on the stupendous doors. I lean on the cool surface as my eyes wander. The sun is asleep and the moon's now taken it's place. Creatures of the night out to serenade the dormant society, I shift my weight. It's probably past midnight now, I'm astonished to have made it this deep into the night without one of my father's soldiers finding me. They must've had a tribulation seeking for me; or, it could be that they've never noticed my absence.
As I await outside in the frigid weather I could see my icy breath floating away on the winter breeze. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" I fell on my derriere when the door swung open. Miss Cloira offers a hand which I grab onto. "Oh by the gods, what happened to you? Where had you been, you're lucky your father is off for business or else—"
"Dear Cloira, I am fine. Calm your voice or you'll wake up the men." I wiped my hands on my skirt. "I just wanted a few hours of solitude,"
"You snuck away as soon as Sir Koenig left your room, I couldn't help but worry." She expressed her concern in a whisper.
The manor was as dead as day, only the (almost) unaudible footsteps of Miss Cloira and mine could be heard. "Don't worry about me," I said to her as I placed a hand on top of her shoulder.
"He was fuming mad, Vernamina. He almost gunned the guard out!" She said while I close the door. "Did you irk him?"
I never irked him. My thoughts recall the way he spoke to me, he seemed so... tense and controlling. Far from the man I knew, instead I'm faced with the ruthless philidelphian heir. Loud ringing pierced my ears, contributing more to the forming ache in my head.
"You belong to me now." I'm drowned by his words. "He couldn't pay off the money he borrowed from the Russians. Foolish man he is, he owed them trillions."
My stomach twisted, as doubt poured my chest. He tells me this, yet I couldn't help but feel as though this wasn't his truth. I fed off his lies. Nodding my head to his story.
"I was able to pay him double than what the Americans bid for you. I kept it because I didn't want you to think your a charity case for your family." His eyes narrow at a part of my face, "Does this answer your questions?"
No, the word stuck in my throat as I nod my head. I wanted to ask more, yet I held my tongue. He wouldn't pipe out the truth unless it's filtered to his liking.
Why do I get the feeling that it's more than the debt?
I plastered a smile on my face, dropping my phone down on my bed before facing Miss Cloira's examining eyes. "No, I did not."
"Thank goodness! We wouldn't want another body lying in front of the mansion. That was a bitch to clean up." She expressed as she gathered my hair into a tight bun.
Ah yes, our infamous fight back when I was still in high school. In my senior year, I... let's just say that my reputation's not as clean. Getting involved into more fights and entertaining majority of my suitors. My father didn't approve of my previous lifestyle; even threatened one of the boys he caught me making out with.
And apparently, neither did the great Stavros Koenig. I never cared for his revendouz, yet he seem to be poking his nose in mine. Always arguing with me about who I'm flirting with, who I choose to bruise my lips. I snubbed all his countless warnings and threats to my suitors, all until one day. He caught me half-naked with one of his friends on top of me.
His first kill.
"The thought of him having a crush on you's still on my mind up to this very day." Her confession made me bite on my bottom lip, guilt gnawing at me. Although Miss Cloira and I were close, I've yet to inform her of my relationship status with the devil.
I changed into my silk pajama short set, "Actually, I have something to tell you..." She paused rumaging through my closet drawers. "He's kind of—uhm— my boyfriend." I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.
Her piercing screech took me off guard, momentarily covering my ears with a pillow. I shush her in haste, afraid to awake the men residing in the manor. A look of realisation paints her face as her mouth forms into the shape of an o. She hits me with her small fan before squealing like a giddy high school girl.
"Oh my goodness, since when?! Tell me!" She grabs onto my arm and starts shaking me. "You hid this from me for a month!"
"Cloira, what would you do if," I said in a solemn tone. "I don't know if I'm overreacting; But, what if your boyfriend isn't exactly telling you the truth?"
My time at the treehouse gave me a sense of rationality and peace. It cleared my mind and opened my heart to all sorts of challenges I might have to conquer as I rummage through my family history and the skeletons in Stavros' closet. Cloira's eyes cast onto mine, her brows knotted as her lip pursed.
"I'm not quite sure on what I'd do," she said. "But, I do know one thing and that's to get the truth out of him. You're having troubles with him?"
Troubles, I hardly knew if I could call it as our troubles. She pressed on the topic once more, asking me of 'our troubles'. I trust Cloira with my life, I knew I won't find the answers in my family. That's why I asked her, she would be able to snoop on the grounds for me while doing her tasks.
"Would you find out, for me?" A glint of hope laced with my voice as I ask her.
"Of course."