Page 35 of Forbidden Deception

It’s leaked. His family has found out your name and mine. They are after me, and I’m trying to reach you. Help me, Venezia.

Help me.

Please.

“Ms Venezia?”

“Hm?” I look up at Leo, his white hair slicked back and his butler uniform neat, as it always is.

The head of security, Aiden, stands next to him. He’s a tall man in his mid-thirties with neat facial hair. He wears blacked-out clothes, not a suit but black cargos, boots, shirt, and a gun strapped to his hip with an earpiece. Only guards who are visible to the public wear suits.

“Aiden.” I nod at him, my eyes feeling droopy once more.

A flash of me piercing Samuel with the knife flashes once more, and it hits me right in the heart.

Hurry up, Venezia.

Don’t cry.

Everything will be fine.

I blink to get rid of the memories. It’s been four years. Four long, long years.

“Ms Venezia.” Aiden nods at me.

“Both of your letters got delivered at the same time at eight in the morning. Their return address is a PO box and has been traced back to a small suburban part of the city, often known for its high crime rates and murder. Drug issues are at an all-time high there,” Aiden recites.

It seems I will be taking a trip to this part of the city someday soon.

“Get the address of the owner of the PO box. We will be going there. Get a couple of guards on duty and be on high alert in the next couple of days.”

13

5 years ago

“Have you seen your face? No wonder your parents left you here to rot.”

I shut my eyes in time for a torrent of water to cover my head.

Running my hands over my face, I inhale deeply, trying to regulate my breathing. Sitting in the dining hall isn’t the best place to eat my food, so I get up. Trying not to feel humiliated has long left my mind ever since the two new girls arrived at the boarding school.

I don’t leave my room often, but when I do—usually for food—they always seem to be there.

I’ve done all I can to avoid and ignore them, but sometimes they manage to catch me alone. Though there is someone standing behind them today.

Someone who has been watching me.

Medora Hale.

She has black hair, sharp eyes, and a mean look on her face. How could you not be afraid of her when she almost stabbed another girl with a fork for pulling her hair? Or that time when she literally pulled out a girl’s chair just as she was about to sitand made her fall because she didn’t let Medora sit at her table in the canteen?

There was also the time when this one girl, cocky with blue eyes, wanted Medora’s black lace dress for the small new year’s party and slapped her when Medora didn’t want to. What did Medora do?

She tore giant rips in the blue-eyed girl’s dress, and she had to go to the party in jeans.

Medora has gotten quite the reputation since she joined the boarding school just a year ago, and right now, she’s standing above me, behind the girls who are too busy laughing to notice her.

I didn’t do anything to piss her off, nor have I challenged her in any way.

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