Chapter 26 #2
Next, I tried to read, pulling a book from the shelves in the sitting room. It was one of my favorites, a thriller I'd read three times already. The fact that Julian somehow knew that along with everything else creeped me out, so I only managed two pages before throwing it aside.
The sun climbed higher in the sky, and I eventually checked the time on a clock that sat on the bedside table. Nearly noon. I'd been awake for hours, and no one had come. Just me, alone in my beautiful prison.
Maybe that was the point. Isolation. Break me down through loneliness and boredom until I was grateful for any human contact, even his.
But it wasn't going to work. At least that's what I told myself.
Around two o'clock, I heard footsteps in the hallway outside. I tensed, wondering if it was Julian again, coming to check if I'd calmed down yet. Then came a soft knock.
“Miss Calloway?” A feminine voice spoke to me, muffled through the door. “I'm here to clean up and bring your lunch. I just wanted to let you know I'm coming in.”
Not Julian. A maid.
I straightened, trying to decide how to play this. Another person meant another potential ally. Or… another Club loyalist who would report everything I said and did back to Julian.
“Okay,” I called out.
The lock clicked, and the door opened. A woman in a simple black uniform pushed a cart into the room. On it sat cleaning supplies and a silver cloche covering what was presumably my lunch.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, stooping to get something from the bottom of the cart. “I was told you accidentally dropped a glass in here, and I was supposed to come by to clean it hours ago. But things have been absolutely hectic around—”
The woman stopped midsentence as she looked up, and I froze. I knew that face. Taisiya. The maid from the night of the initiation ceremony. The one who'd helped me leave.
Her eyes widened in recognition, her gaze moving from my face to the lavish room around me. “Wait, you're...” She trailed off, clearly trying to piece things together. “Was it… Kerry? Kelly?”
“I introduced myself as Kelly when we first met, but my name is actually Violet Calloway. I can explain, though,” I said quickly, even though I had no idea what explanation I could possibly give her.
She blinked. “So… you’re not Kelly. Not one of the entertainers.”
“No. I lied to you when we first met, and I’m sorry for that,” I said. “I had my reasons, I swear.”
Taisiya's expression shifted from surprise to something a little harder. “I’m guessing you don’t really have a sick brother, then?”
“No,” I said, cheeks flushing with shame. “I’m really sorry.”
She pursed her lips and moved to the shattered glass. “I suppose it’s none of my business,” she muttered. “There’s no need for you to explain.”
My heart sank. The staff at this estate had been happy to help me in the past, and I’d wondered if I could use that to aid in my escape, but I'd probably burned that bridge now.
Still, I had to try.
“I know you have no reason to help me at this point, but I don’t suppose you happen to know a way out of here?” I asked, gesturing around the room. “Concealed passages, or anything like that?”
Taisiya finished picking up the glass and moved to wipe up the water with a cloth. “I’m sorry, Miss Calloway,” she said stiffly. “I can’t help you.”
Yep, definitely burned that bridge.
It was worth a shot, but I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to help me after I’d blatantly lied and manipulated her last time we encountered each other.
She rose to her feet and brought the tray of food over to me. “Enjoy your lunch,” she said, setting it down on the table. “I’ll be back at dinnertime.”
“Thanks.”
With that, she turned to push the cart out of the room. When she reached the door, I called out to her. “Taisiya?”
She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“I really am sorry for lying to you that night. And I'm not just saying that because I’m trying to manipulate you into helping me,” I said, lifting my palms. “It's just... you were so kind to me, and I took total advantage of that. So… I’m really sorry.”
Something in her face softened, just slightly. “I understand, Miss Calloway.”
With that, she was gone.
I lifted the silver cloche to reveal a plate of grilled chicken, roasted vegetables, and some kind of grain salad.
My stomach growled at the sight of it all, so I wolfed it down, feeling like it was acceptable for me to do so.
After all, Julian hadn't brought it to me, and it was just food. Fuel. Nothing more.
A couple of hours later, another knock sounded at the door.
Maybe Taisiya had taken pity on me after all and decided to come back with information. Or maybe it was Julian again.
“Yes?” I called out in a tentative tone, rising to my feet.
The lock clicked, and the door opened. But it wasn't Taisiya. It wasn’t Julian, either.
Another man stepped inside, and my blood froze in my veins at the sight of him. I knew that face. I’d seen it in the photos on Cal's phone.
Roman Valcourt.
“Hello, Violet,” he said, stepping closer. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a very long time. I’m—”
“Roman Valcourt,” I said in a low voice.
He blinked. “You know who I am.”
“Of course I do,” I said, chest heaving with barely contained fear and fury. “You murdered my sister, you piece of shit.”
He stared at me for a moment, eyes flashing with something I couldn’t quite read. “Oh,” he finally said.
That was all. Just ‘Oh’, as if pushing my sister off a three-hundred-foot tower was no big deal. As if her death was just an unfortunate detail to be briefly acknowledged and moved past.
Rage exploded through me, and I grabbed the knife off my dirty plate and leapt onto the bed, brandishing it in front of me. “Stay the fuck away from me,” I hissed. “Or I’ll kill you.”
Roman's gaze dropped to the knife, then back to my face. “With a butter knife?”
“Fuck you!” I shrieked, voice cracking. I looked up at the chandelier, hoping Julian had installed some sort of surveillance camera there so he could keep an eye on me even when he wasn’t around. “Julian! Help! Help me!”
I thought Roman would advance then. Knock the knife out of my hand and finish what he'd started with Cal.
Silence me the way he'd silenced her. Instead, he just stared at me for a long moment in silence, his gaze unwavering.
Then he turned and stalked toward the door, letting it slam shut behind him.
So that was why he’d come. Just to intimidate me. To let me know he could walk in whenever he felt like it and do whatever he wanted. To let me know the threat was always there, dangling over my head like an executioner’s ax.
I kept staring at the door for what felt like hours, body quaking as my heart hammered painfully hard.
Before now, I’d figured Julian was the worst thing about this place.
After all, he was the one who hunted me and brought me here against my will.
But in the haze of that fear and confusion, I’d stupidly forgotten about Roman.
So now, I also had to worry about him. The man who killed my sister.
The knife finally slipped from my trembling fingers and clattered onto the floor. Then I sank down onto the bed, curling my knees up to my chest as my mind raced.
For the first time since all of this started… I almost wished Julian would come back.