Was it just a nightmare?
Wonderful… my childhood dream had finally come true, but the price was steep. Now, with my heart still pounding, I had to decipher that vision; to sense the danger my father had warned me about. Sweat soaked my neck, and the sun's rays streamed over my room, announcing that I had succumbed to sleep for more than seven hours.
I looked at myself with pity; I had slept like a miserable corpse in my dress, shoes, and phone, its screen burning out the last of its battery. Suddenly, time stung me…
"Eight forty-five!"
Only fifteen minutes until breakfast. I jumped up frantically, pulling at my hair in anxiety, because the unwritten rule here gave Suntra the right to berate me with her sharp tongue if I was even a second late. In a race against time, I plunged into the water, threw myself into my clothes, and rushed to the dining room, my breath catching in my throat.
The table was already full. I glanced around, taking in everyone: Custer was devouring his food with his usual ravenous hunger, while next to him, Stacker seemed lost in a formal file, sipping his juice with a chilling indifference. Meanwhile, Tig and my mother were exchanging roles as lovers in a romantic scene that infuriated me.
But my eyes were fixed on an unfamiliar guest. Sauntra was engaged in friendly conversation with a woman sitting next to her; a woman in her forties, more beautiful than my mother with her sharp features and deep, dark eyes. She wore a tight dress that accentuated her confidence, dark makeup that added to her mystique, and a mocking smile that made me feel like a younger, more dangerous version of Sauntra.
The stranger spotted me with a broad, confident smile, as if she'd been expecting me. I pulled up my usual chair and sat down nervously, trying to compose myself as I greeted her in a shaky voice:
"Good morning, everyone..."
She reached over the fruit platters with a confident, swift movement and said with a smug smile, "Regina... and you're... Diana?"
I shook her hand cautiously, while her gaze pierced me as if reading my very being. "Nice to meet you," she said.
I had no idea who this woman was or what had brought her to this cursed fortress so early in the morning, but her presence was overwhelming, like Sauntra in her prime.
"You're feeling better," she continued, her tone laced with feigned consolation. "I heard you were in the hospital. I hope you're feeling a little better. I wish you a speedy recovery."
She was always ahead of her time, brazenly invading my privacy. She had just introduced herself, and the next moment she was talking about my illness.
I turned to my mother and found her giving me a sharp, narrow look, a look that silently commanded me to be polite and respond with the decorum befitting the occasion.
"Thank you... I mean... yes... I'm fine, thank you."
A soft, mocking laugh escaped her lips, a laugh that seemed to ridicule my confusion and disjointed words. She took a piece of pancake and, chewing slowly and deliberately, said, "You shouldn't have been so curious, little one... the monster is used to preying on the pretty ones."
My hand froze on the fork. So, she knew! She knew what had happened in the library and she knew the rules, which meant she wasn't a random stranger, but rather part of the dark fabric of this family.
"It wasn't curiosity," I replied coldly, trying to shield myself with my words. "It was just my stupid desire to read a book, nothing more."
"A book in the middle of the night? What a wild desire..." Regina continued, her cold eyes scanning me. "You look beautiful; short hair, alabaster skin, and sharp eyes... It would be foolish to let that beauty fall into the clutches of a monster to be ruined, wouldn't it?"
I glanced quickly at my mother and thanked God she was lost in her own world with Tig. Had she heard those words, she would have started digging into the past to understand who this "monster" was. My mother still lives in blissful ignorance; she thinks those rules are nothing more than a desire for privacy, and she believed the "thief's" lie without hesitation when she saw him smash my face.
I turned to Regina; I knew for certain that her presence in the mansion was yet another bad omen to add to Joseph's list.
"She's new here. She'll learn in time; she doesn't know much," Sauntra interjected, her voice gruff, cutting the conversation short.
Regina let out a ringing, provocative laugh and said in a dramatic whisper to Sauntra, "I remember when I was her age... my first encounter with the monster was met with a kiss, and he didn't break my neck... No one understands him like I do."
Sauntra's expression hardened, and she gave her a sharp sideways glance before whispering sternly, "Regina, get a grip! This is off-limits here... Be serious for once."
What was she implying...? This meant she had met Joseph before, and perhaps they had even been involved.
Dealing with her, with all that information and her family standing, wouldn't be easy. I hoped she wasn't some girl version of Joseph.
Regina returned to her plate coolly, as if nothing had happened. As for me, I tried to swallow my food while secretly watching Stacker. He had been silent the whole time, and then suddenly, he pushed his chair with an annoying creak, grabbed his file, and headed for the door without a word of goodbye.
Seeing him like that left an inexplicable pang in my heart. I felt a heavy weight of guilt; not only because my mother was the reason for his imprisonment, but also because he seemed like someone burning in silence, unable to express his pain. He was ignoring me with an embarrassment that betrayed everything that had transpired between us before that fateful night.
I waited five minutes, feigning composure so as not to arouse the suspicions of Caster, who watched every move with his usual jealousy. I excused myself and walked slowly, and as soon as I crossed the threshold, I sprinted off like an arrow, trying to catch him before he left for the company. But I froze in my tracks when I saw the car already leaving the gate.
Disappointment consumed me, and I turned to go back, but I spotted a driver getting off the steps.
"Wait! When will Stacker be back from work?"
The man stopped, surprised. "But Stacker hasn't left the mansion, miss."
A glimmer of hope flickered in my eyes again. "Where is he now, then?" The man shrugged, unsure of what to do. "I don't know, but he certainly didn't go out."
I thanked him and hurried back. I knew exactly where he was hiding; I headed for the room where we had broken our first rule together—the room of his favorite servant. I opened the door without knocking, and my hunch was right. He was standing there, in front of the large window, watching the dense forest with its eerie shadows. He didn't turn toward me, as if he had been expecting me, or perhaps waiting for me in heavy silence.