Chapter 12

"Yes", he answered nonchalantly, propping his elbow on the desk and resting his face in his hand as he stared down at me. There seemed to be an emotion in his red eyes that I couldn't decipher, something I'd imagine a lion would have when eyeing their prey.

"Is this regarding what we spoke about last night?" I asked, unable to help feeling like an idiot despite trying to ask it in a calm way.

There's no way he'd get a contract for something like that. There's no way!

Magic contracts were expensive. Only the rich made such things.

He laughed at my words, it was a cold and dry laugh, void of humour, "you think I'd need a contract for something I can do by my own power. Don't be so foolish", he pointed a long, pristine finger to the contract and began to tap the top of it. "It's your inheritance. Your mother trusted everything she had to you and the duchess allowed her to make a contract for it".

"My inheritance?" I furrowed my brows in confusion.

Did mother even have anything to give me?

"It seems your father wasn't a complete sleaze bag and did in fact leave you some cash. Your mother saved it away for you and I must say with the value of money on the rise it is quite a fair price", his voice didn't change at all as he spoke. He still sounded as if he had many different thoughts running through his mind as he spoke.

"My father left me an inheritance? Are you certain?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"It's written in a contract. There's nothing else to believe", he opened the pages in front of me, where the amount was written down and I gasped.

It was true that one couldn't lie when it came to magic contracts. It would lead to an immediate death. There were so many cases of such death and the atrocities of it that people had rarely used the form of contract these days.

"T-This much… " I stared the many digits in shock. "I could pay off both Angela's and my own slavery off with this…"

The words left my mouth as a whisper. And I was in such a shock I hadn't realised I'd said in-front of my master. When I realised that, I gasped and looked up at the man- no the boy, who gave me a sadistic grin.

I felt something coil in my stomach at the sight of it and I opened my mouth before I could think.

"Why- Why are you looking at me like that?" My voice came out shaky, fear made my hands shake.

He smiled wider at my words and leaned in so close that all I could see were his beautifully frightening, but beautiful red eyes. He began to laugh at the back of his throat as he stared right into my eyes like… like the devil.

"Your wrong, Bella", whether it was the nickname he used to call me by or his words, I felt a sense of dread loom so closely over me that I couldn't breath.

"Wrong?" I repeated, barely a whisper.

"I've revised your contract since I'm the owner of it now", he smirked at me.

Suddenly I could see it. The net I had fallen into and the spider that looked at me in satisfaction. I knew at that moment, I had truly made a mistake. A very big, stupid, impulsive mistake.

"No", I shook my head in horror.

"You really think you can leave me? After all this time? I think not", a smirk that looked so cruel and made my insides feel utterly helpless appeared across his face.

"What if I pay you?" I said after a moment of silence. Hoping I still had a chance.

He laughed at my words. A cold and humourless laugh.

"You couldn't afford the price I've put on your head in this lifetime or the next", I felt the futility beating me down, but I stayed strong. I was trained to deal with such emotions.

"How much", my lips quivered ever so slightly, betraying the confidence I tried to ooze, yet failed so miserably.

"1 trillion".

I felt my body slump back in my chair, my head lowering as I realised that I had been tricked. I had been so close to freedom that it breathed right in my face, yet I lost it. I lost it because of him.

I looked back up at him. He looked so content with himself, so happy that I wanted to stab him. I had never wanted to hurt anyone so badly as I wanted to hurt him at that moment.

"I hate you", I whispered. The feeling of hot tears spilling from my face as I glared at him went unnoticed by me, because I was so angry. Angry with my self. Angry with him. Angry at the world.

He looked taken aback for a moment. As if the thought of me hating him hadn't occurred to him at all.

"Oh really?" The humour in his face left and now he also seemed angry, "that's unfortunate since we are going to be spending a lot of time together from here on out".

I'd rather die!

I don't think I was completely sound at that moment, my eyes were glued to the sword at his waist. I wanted that sword to slice me open. To put an end to my suffering. I wanted it all to end.

"Oh don't make that face", my face was grasped by his gloved hand, the feeling of velvet rubbing on my face as his thumb stroked tears away from my desolate eyes, "if you try to escape whether it's by leaving or by harming yourself then please remember that little sister of yours will be at my mercy".

That's when I truly realised I had no place to hide. That in this world, even death was not my companion. And then there was only one question that needed to be answered.

Something that bothered me so much at times that I had been ignoring it for so long. For maybe, too long.

"Why me?"