Page 42 of Forever Touched

“No one’s saying you are, dear,” Mistress cut in, throwing her eldest child a chastising look, one that she ignored. “Vampires are nolonger allowed to keep humans as servants against their will. Doing so will earn you a one-way trip to an SCA holding facility. I hear the cells are lined in silver and they only feed their vampire prisoners blood every few days to keep them docile.”

Octavia turned from the counter with a gasp, nearly spilling her drink. “That’s barbaric! Why would King Ambrose agree to such a thing?”

Her mother’s eyes hardened. “Because he doesn’t care about our quality of life. Venturi can afford to pay for their blood however they wish, and now that the curse has been broken, it’s even easier for them. But Feltore must continue to live in the shadows, scraping out an existence as best we can. Our suffering doesn’t matter to him, his sons, or the other Venturi. Only his youngest son cared, and look where that got him.”

“Daddy too,” Octavia whispered, blinking back sudden tears.

“Yes. Daddy too.” Mistress swung that hard look my way, and I wisely cast my eyes to the ground. “He died to give us a better future, and we will do everything we can to honor his sacrifice by continuing that noble cause. Isn’t that right, Adalyn?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Good. Now see to your chores, and no nap this evening. I want you to leave for the club early so you can show Rocky where you woke up in the woods.”

I nodded without comment, dismissing myself so I could do her bidding. Maybe, just maybe, I could leave early enough to beat Rocky to the club. If I did, I could at least wrangle Benjamin’s body into the trunk of my car before he saw it. And the head, of course. Couldn’t forget that.

He’d smell the blood, though. Benjamin had no doubt bled all over the forest floor after being decapitated.

As I left the kitchen, I pulled out my phone to check the weather app.Please, let there be rain. Please, let there be rain. I perked up when I saw there was a thunderstorm forecasted for this evening. What if it didn’t arrive in time, though?

Choosing to hope for the best, I tackled my chores with gusto. The sooner I finished, the sooner I could leave and cover up the evidence of my eventful morning. After an hour, though, it became clear that Georgina was leaving me messes on purpose.

“Troll,” she called for the umpteenth time. “Come clean my rug. I spilled nail polish on it.”

I sighed through my nose, fighting back several choice words. The sheepskin rug in her bedroom waswhite. Although she often wore neutral nail colors, she’d probably spilled hot pink polish just to spite me. Whenever I received too much attention, making my life hell was her signature move. At least she didn’t have male company over today. I’d much rather deal with her pettiness than watch the Faircroft sisters have a threesome.

A few minutes later, though, the front doorbell rang. Guess I’d spoken too soon.

“Get the door!” Georgina shouted.

Great. She’d probably make me clean the rug while she and her sister had sex a few feet away with their newest escort. They always chose a human male and never the same one, hiring up to five per week. Neither of the sisters had shown an interest in finding more serious relationships, and their mother turned a blind eye to the sex workers traipsing in and out of her home.

Probably because she was too busy sellingme.

Plastering a smile on my face, I set down my cleaning supplies and made for the front door. Greeting the escorts was always a bit weird. It made me uncomfortably aware of how awkward Rocky andthe other bouncers must feel when they sent clients up to me. Did they secretly hate that part of their job the same way I hated opening the front door?

If they did, they’d never tell me, least of all show it. I’d learned my very best poker faces from them, after all. They excelled at hiding their emotions.

I took my cue from them now and buried my distaste, opening the door to politely greet the newest sex worker. “Come on in. They’re—”

“Thanks.”

A tall figure, one that I immediately recognized, stepped over the threshold. Shocked, I stumbled back with a small gasp, then said the very first thing that popped into my head. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Everett took me in from head to toe as if he hadn’t seen me in days. I knew I must look awful. My hair was a mess, and I was still wearing the bloodied sweater from this morning. But, after thoroughly inspecting me, he seemed relieved more than anything. I could almost feel how relieved he was, like he’d been expecting to find me in a much worse state than this.

Ignoring my question, he said, “I’ve got this, Loch. Go wait in the car.”

My eyes widened. “Your brother followed me here?”

When Everett nodded, panic tightened my chest. I should have known. I should haveknownhe would follow me. Everett himself had confessed his plans to follow me this morning.

“You can’t be here,” I hurriedly said, lowering my voice. “They’ll find out what really happened this morning. Please leave. I—”

“What’s taking so long?” a shrill voice interrupted, making me flinch.

Everett’s expression immediately darkened. “I’m not goinganywhere until I get some answers. This isn’t your home, so why are you here?”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Even if I’d wanted to tell him, I couldn’t.

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