Elle
As I slip into the garden, my elbow throbs in tune with my thundering heartbeat and quickening footsteps. It’s only when I see myself in the tall windows of the sitting room that I realise my elbow’s bleeding.
Fuck, why hadn’t I noticed it before coming into the gardens? My escape from the dark garage and Silas had left me frozen and numb. Now that I’m washed in sunshine, and I see Gant emerging from the orangerie, I’m suddenly launched back into reality. Well, a surreal reality because suddenly I’m six figures richer. My head’s still spinning over the number, my fingers still sweating as I clutch my phone like I’m clutching the bills themselves.
I’d spent so much time in the garage that I was worried Gant would come looking for me and not find me where I said I was. I need him to trust me, to believe that I’m here for him. I’m about to head inside to actually use the powder room this time when that deep, cool voice stops me.
“?”
Instinctively, I follow his gaze to my elbow. I must’ve rammed it onto a nob or something to break the skin when I tried to escape. But how the hell had he seen the blood from so far away? The second I lift my head, he’s already in front of me in a few long strides, Sylo and a concerned-looking Delphine flanking him.
“What happened?” he asks, gingerly holding my arm like he’s afraid to break it. He’s been so gentle lately. Like he’s afraid to break me even more.
Wishful thinking.
“I slipped and fell,” I say quickly before thinking better of it when Delphine’s in earshot. I don’t want her to think the hidden staff was negligent. “I didn’t dry my hands well, so I dripped and skidded. The towel rack caught my fall, and my elbow grazed the sharp corner.”
Delphine’s brows knit as she reaches for me. “I’m so sorry. What a horrible first impression. Come, I’ll get you bandaged up.”
“It’s just a nick,” I say dismissively, but she pulls me beneath her arm so that I’m wedged between her and Gant.
“Darling, blood is impossible to get out of most things, including stone.” She frowns at the dark spot where I’d dripped on the walkway.
Maybe it’s worse than I thought.
“I insist. I can give you a painkiller too. It may not hurt now, but it will in a few hours. Don’t worry, Gant,” Delphine says with a reassuring smile as she tugs me toward the house. “I’ll take care of her. Sylo, why don’t you show Gant the planetarium?”
Sylo smiles, placing his pale fingers on Gant’s shoulder. “I’d love to.”
But Gant’s staring at me, completely ignoring them, as if waiting for my answer.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, prying my fingers from his side and warmth.
Silas was inside. Would he still act like nothing happened if Gant isn’t present? Sylo already told me that Silas didn’t respect Delphine after all, but then he seemed concerned about keeping her happy. Was that just for appearance's sake?
Then again, maybe a second alone with Delphine is exactly what I need for more than just answers. She’s like the pleasant version of Marisol, and maybe in some bizarre way, having her like me is like gaining that acceptance I never could from her sister, even if she were still alive.
But why would I care about that?
I don’t.
No, it’s not Marisol that has me smiling and relaxing in Delphine’s arms. Maybe it’s Jaime’s latest betrayal that’s forcing me to seek an older woman for guidance, even if it’s just for a bandage. It feels nice, normal, to be looked after.
She leads us to a butler’s pantry off the main kitchen. The creamy green cabinets scream old money, as do the black and mother-of-pearl diamond pattern tiles.
“Sit,” she says, pulling out a rolling stool tucked beneath the counter before rummaging in one of the drawers for a small medical kit.
“I’m really sorry,” I begin as she slips on gloves before cleaning my wound over the tiny sink and patting it dry with gauze. When she sprays it with disinfectant, I can’t help but jump. You’d think that after my feet debacle, a little sting wouldn’t faze me.
“Nonsense,” she says dismissively. “And careful with that lip. You’ll start bleeding there, too.”
I suck the metallic taste down my throat as I free it from between my teeth.
“Good as new.”
“Thank you,” I say, inspecting the bandage.
“And thank you.”
“For what?” I ask, but then Gant pops into my mind, and I think she’s thanking me for convincing him to visit. But then she clicks the wound kit shut, tucks it away into the draw with her hip and leans against it, arms crossed.
“For showing me your true colours so quickly,” she says, and even though her serene, motherly smile is still firmly in place, icy water drips down my spine. “It’ll save me a lot of time. This moment was inevitable.”
“I’m sorry — ”
“The powder room doesn’t have a towel rack with square corners. There’s a dainty loop for the decorative hand towels. See, those clean sharp lines are more of a contemporary, modern aesthetic, which you should know since you’re so interested in architecture and design, right?”
“I — ”
“Is that why you helped yourself to a tour of my home?”
I blink, my lips parting, though no sound comes out.
“I know you went into the garage.”
“D-Delphine — ”
“I know my husband did, too. I saw when he pulled into the estate from the gardens. Did you fuck him in the back seat?”
“ What?! ” How the hell did she jump to that conclusion?
‘Probably fucked ,’ Sylo’s earlier words echo in my ear about Silas and my mum. Did Silas just fuck anyone?
“Look, I don’t have time to pretend. If you’re not back in five minutes, Gant will come looking for you. He can’t keep his fingers off you, his little slut of the month.”
A sound does escape me then, one of utter disbelief.
“I knew it the moment I saw that cheap, wrinkled skirt. You probably fucked Gant on the way over, the cum still in your cunt, yet you try to mount my husband because my son turned you down.”
“Your son!?” I jump to my feet, though they scream in protest as the stool topples over with a loud bang, the wheels rolling midair. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You waited for Sylo to be alone, then you slipped away to join him. You bumped his elbow at the tea cart, and you tried to whisper in his ear, and he ignored you. Again. I know today isn’t your first time meeting him.”
“We go to the same academy! He’s in some senior ballet classes, of course; I’ve met him before.”
“Is that how you met my Silas? Through Sylo? Was Gant not enough to fund your lifestyle?”
My lip quivers. Say something!
“I saw the way Silas looked at you when he waved from the sitting room, a good three minutes later, like I’m some fucking idiot. How long have you been fucking him?”
“You’re paranoid — ”
“ Please , you tugged that cheap dress down your hips the moment you banked the corner . I saw you .”
I’d been trying to unwrinkle, as she pointed out, my cheap outfit.
Cheap, cheap, cheap, Beaulieu’s bitches chirps chime, and suddenly I’m so sick of these fucking people. The one percent that think money makes them better than everyone else.
“If you saw so much, then why are you questioning me?” I snap. “Your mind’s already made up.”
“You’re damn straight it is,” she snarls. “If Mari could see the filth her son’s bought home…”
I hate the feeling that wracks me. Inferiority. Guilt. Guilt for not being good enough. Guilt for existing in a world that’s shown me time and again how much it doesn’t want me.
“She may be gone, but thank God I’m here now since Bart’s too busy globe-trotting to look out for his son. Not that he’ll accept your union either.” She shakes her head. “Mari went through hell and misery to secure her son’s future prestige. She would never allow her struggles to be in vain for a council house bitch who has no money unless it’s to stuff her gut.”
I clench my fists so tight, I draw pinpricks of blood as her eyes slither over me from head to toe.
“Look at you. You can’t even stop chewing your damn lip like a heifer chews cud.” She steps closer. “That’s all you are, . A cow for slaughter, be it this month or next. You won’t ever be accepted into this family. Your ginger genes aren’t good enough to carry on the line. I’ve let my sister down, but I promised myself I won’t ever do it again, so let me say this candidly. Go away. Once Silas tells Gant about how disposable you are, he’ll drop you anyway.”
My nose and eyes burn like a thousand suns.
But I won’t cry.
I won’t scream.
I’ll show her how us council house bitches carry ourselves.
“You’re right about me, Delphine,” I say, straightening my shoulders.
She seems taken aback by that.
“You can read me like a book.”
“Your kind isn’t very diverse.”
“So then you’d know I’d need a little more prompting before I can just… disappear.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re all the same. Little fucking whores willing to spread your cunt for any man with money. And when that’s still not enough, you blackmail the wife.”
“And your husband is willing to penetrate those cunts but not yours. I can see how that’s upsetting.”
Her green eyes flash. “Watch your fucking mouth — ”
“Maybe you should watch your husband’s dick instead.” I reach beneath my skirt and swipe at my inner thighs before rubbing my fingers together like they’re sticky. She has the nerve to snort at my crassness as if she isn’t the crassest bitch on the planet given the way she’s talking to me. “He doesn’t like using condoms. Get your purse and throw in a little extra for the morning-after pill.”
“You…rank bitch.”
“ Whore, ” I correct her. “Quickly. It’s most effective in the first two hours. Send me a transfer, and I’ll take the rest in cash. Then, I’ll be on my way to the chemist.” I rub my lower stomach. “Unless you want Sylo to have a little sibling. I’m thinking of something classy and elegant. A mashup of Silas and Eloisa. Siloisa. Eloilas.”
She flinches at my hideous creation. “He’d never ruin his bloodline again. He promised me.”
Again?! I struggle to keep my features fixed. “But we both know he hates condoms.” We both don’t know. It’s a guess and a good fucking one judging from her expression. “Did you know some antibiotics stop birth control from working? I don’t think he does because he didn’t give a fuck, you know, when he was fucking me.”
“ Antibiotics? What the fuck have you got?” she recoils.
“I promise you’ll find out if Silas spares your pussy a crumb of attention this week.”
Now, look who’s chewing their lip. But I can’t focus on anything besides that word, again . He wouldn’t ruin his bloodline again. Does that mean Sylo already has a sibling?
My heart pounds in my throat.
Wait …Gant has a brother…. Silas potentially has another child… Silas was there on the night of Madame’s murder. He killed her, I know it . But Gant doesn’t know the murderer was his uncle all along. But that would mean… Silas and Marisol… Or am I not doing the math right? Am I missing a piece? Or am I completely following the formula wrong?
I look into Delphine’s worried eyes. There’s only one way to find out.
“Oh, and it isn’t Sylo I was after. I don’t have any interest in younger men. I was actually hoping that Sylo’s older brother came for the reunion.”
Shock, icy shock, washes over her features before she sets her jaw and glares at me. “You — ”
“Silas shares more with me than just his cum. He told me how much he missed his first son. I told him he should go visit him in Hungary for his birthday over the summer.”
There it is, a flicker of acknowledgement in her eyes. So am I right?
My father is an only child… Sylo had said.
He lived at an orphanage… Delphine had said.
Was he split up from Jarett at some point? Why would he lie that he’s an only child? Then I think of how embarrassing Jarett is, of how hard Silas must have worked to gain Marisol Pelletier’s favour. The Pelletiers, who never met Madame’s first and only love.
Save for Delphine…who stole it?
“Pillow talk,” I say. “Silas tells me all of his secrets.”
“Liar,” she hisses.
“He loved your sister. He had a baby with her,” I whisper. “And you stole him from her the moment she was hitched to Bart.”
Her shoulders rise, her face growing redder by the second.
Does she know that Silas killed Marisol that night? Was it an accident, or merely revenge for Marisol fucking his brother?
“He settled for you because he couldn’t have her and you…you wanted to hurt her, didn’t you? Because she never forgave you. Because she kept punishing you — ”
A stinging slap whips across my face and sends me stumbling into the cabinets, my side ramming into the counter that knocks the air clean out of my lungs.
“ Shut the fuck up! You don’t know what you’re talking about, and you have no proof. Silas and I love each other. We’re happy, and Gant wants to be happy too. You claim to care about him, so let him have his new family because the old one is dead.”
Her footsteps fade before returning a second later. She rams something between my lips. A fat envelope.
“Take the money and go away. It’ll save Gant the heartbreak later.”
The heartbreak of knowing his half-brother is also his cousin?
I finger the thickness of the envelope.
“I can, ” I say coldly. “But come now, Delphine. You’re so good at knowing what’s cheap.” I gesture to my outfit. “Surely you know this isn’t enough. Get another envelope, and you won’t see me for Christmas, as stuffed as the turkey your staff will prepare.” I rub my lower belly again.