It had been a busy few days after the party. I had been spending so much time with Kaleb, he was so eager to ‘show me the ropes’. Me? Not so much. Which was why when Rachel demanded that she steal me away for the day, I was actually kind of grateful for the breather. Kaleb relented quickly, he was a man in love and all he seemed to want was to make Rachel happy.
By the time I came down for breakfast, Kaleb was already gone — out of town on business — and Ambrose was getting ready to head out mid-morning for lunch and to watch some sports game with his friends.
I spent the morning in my room, clutching the one thing that I had hidden away since before I got here. Hidden from Nikolai, from Rachel, from everyone.
The night before I left, after I ran away from Finch, I was in my bathroom when Heather found me with urgency. In her shaky hands was an envelope with my name on it. ‘Anastasia’ was scribbled on the front. I’d had no idea that when I read its contents that I’d be set on this warpath. She’d said the letter had been in the mail, and she had come to find me as soon as she’d seen it. I’d never received mail at the King estate as there were few people who knew I lived there.
My throat had caught thinking about the only other person that had found me there, the lawyer. I’d had a bad feeling about the letter straight away. My mind had started racing with the prospects. It could’ve been anyone, one of Anton’s loan sharks looking for payment? Maybe the lawyer with some more unbearable news. I thanked Heather but made her swear that she wouldn’t tell Nikolai, no matter what.
I read the words again, for maybe the hundredth time since that night. The creases in the luxurious paper were softening by the day. I wasn’t sure how much more stress it would withstand.
To my valued associate,
I write to you with my utmost gratitude. The problem has been eliminated and the Verela’s will no longer stand in our way. We are free to move forward as planned. Thank you for the part you played. Please continue to monitor the situation, I’d hate for Anton to cause any complications.
Please feel confident that the favor will be returned, if and when it’s needed. Anything to protect our own. Enclosed is a check for valued services rendered. Send my love to Alessa and the boys.
Sincerely,
Bellucci
It was neatly printed as though from a typewriter, with the exception of a signature. ‘Bellucci’ — which was in an elegant cursive. I ran my fingers over the words of the letter and felt the indents of the keys.
The letter had me completely freaked. This was evidence that someone, Bellucci, had hired Anton to kidnap me. But what was worse, was the hand-scrawled note that had been paperclipped to the letter. The paper looked to have been ripped off of a notepad and the writer had complete disregard for the lines. The handwriting was different, the scrawl fevered and frantic.
“Keep away from the King family or we will come for you and finish the fucking job properly like we should have done the first time around.
Stay away from Nikolai King.”
The pen it was written with made deep, angry lines in the thin paper. The last sentence was underlined several times. I let out a shaky breath. I had to know who sent this letter, and why they wanted me away from Nikolai and his family. The only thing keeping me away was the threat to Nikolai’s own safety. And if Drex or Zedd got hurt? I could never have forgiven myself.
I wondered if I might’ve had a chance today to get into Kaleb’s office and see if there were any older documents - check books, logbooks, diaries or… something, anything that could’ve connected the dots. I was so certain that I would find it if I looked hard enough.
Of course, I couldn’t go rummaging if Rachel was wanting to spend the day with me. My only hope would be tonight or if Kaleb was still away tomorrow. As the office was on the way into town, I wondered if there was a chance I could’ve slipped away under the guise of an errand. I had already checked the library, aside from the armchairs and bookshelves there was a reading table next to a set of drawers. But nothing had come of my search. I had figured, having anything important in the house would have been far too obvious.
My only option, I had to get Rachel out of the house somehow.
I didn’t particularly relish spending a whole day alone in Rachel’s company, but she was nice enough for one half of a crime syndicate. And at least Ambrose was gone for the day. We hadn’t really spoken much at all since I came to live here — I loath to say ‘moved in’ as it really wasn’t the case.
As Rosetta had the day off, I wondered what Rachel’s plans were for lunch. When midday rolled around I headed to the kitchen, walking in to find Rachel stood staring at the open pantry, hands on her hips and sighing. She turned at the sound of my squeaky sneakers on the tiled floor.
“Oh, Anastasia,” She smiled. “How nice that we have a whole day together! Are you hungry? I could make us some lunch?” she added brightly.
I pushed a smile onto my face, making sure to crinkle my eyes as I did. “Yeah, Kaleb’s been keeping me busy.”
“Oh, I know. He doesn’t stop talking about you and all the time he’s getting to spend with you. Are you enjoying yourself, dear? Here with us, I mean?” Immediately alarm bells started ringing in my head. What did she mean by that? Did she suspect me? But her face showed no sign of discontent, so I answered as naturally as possible.
“It’s nice, a little jarring sometimes, but yes,” I said. It wasn’t an outright lie, they weren’t unpleasant to live with — except Ambrose’s attitude problem — but the fact remained, I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be with Nikolai but that just wasn’t an option for the time being.
“That’s good. I suppose it is difficult to get used to such a big change. We’ll all adjust in time though, I’m sure.” She closed the pantry door with a bang. “There’s simply nothing here that I want to eat! How about we go out to eat? Do you like sushi?”
Despite having never had it before and that the thought of eating raw fish wrapped in seaweed made me sick, I nodded. “Great, I know just the place. I’ll drive!”
“Great,” I repeated as I followed her out to the garage.
