Chapter ２０

"Sterling mentioned to me that you've been here since he was just a kid," I say to her.

She nods. "Yes, I came to Bellegarde Manor with his mother."

"What was she like?"

She stops and looks at me. "Sterling looks like her. He and she are alike in their personalities as well."

"I'm sure she was beautiful," I say. "When did she die?"

"Mr. Bellegarde was ten years old when the accident happened. She had been very depressed, staying in bed all day for weeks at a time, right before it happened. Sometimes…" She stops herself short and lowers her head. "Apologies, Mrs. Bellegarde. It's not my place to speculate."

"No, please," I say. "What is it?"

She bites her lip and says, "Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't suicide."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Suicide? Really? I guess her depression was pretty bad, then."

"Paula's family came to us shortly after Mrs. Bellegarde—Sterling's mother, ma'am—after she died. Paula's mother married one of Sterling's father's cousins, you see. And then young Mr. Bellegarde, he was so smitten with Paula… I wonder if he would have turned out quite different if it all hadn't happened so soon after his mother's death. After that, he kept associating himself with low-born girls…"

I'm a low-born girl, but I doubt this maid knows anything about me, so I don't say anything. "You've been here so long," I say. "Seen so much. You must have known Laura."

Something cold passes over the maid's face. "Perhaps."

I ask her the big question. "How did she die?"

"She fell to her death, of course."

It sounds too obvious of an answer. Rehearsed, even. "Did she really fall?" I ask.

"What else?" She turns and makes her way to the door. "You're room's clean, ma'am. Just ring for us when you've finished your breakfast, and someone will fetch the dishes." She leaves without another word and I stare at the platter of toast and bacon that she had left near the bed.

I eat the food and drink the orange juice and coffee. Just as I'm finishing up, the bedroom door swings open and Paula stands there with a cigarette in her hand and a glass of red wine in the other.

"Sterling has the servants preparing a new room for you," she says with no preamble. "The big master bedroom. He must really like you."

I give Paula a fake smile and say, "Good morning. Did you have something to do with my kidnapping?"

Her smug expression drops like a stone in a pond. A piece of ash falls from her cigarette onto the hardwood floor. "Do you think me so evil?" she hisses. "You're really not as simple as you look, are you? Just as malcontent and scheming as that bitch Laura."

"What do you mean by that?" I ask.

But she spins on a heel and trudges away.

I go out onto the balcony for some fresh air. The flowers are still there, stinking up the place with their mixed-up fragrances. They were a nice gesture of apology and kindness, but Sterling should really know that too many flowers of different kinds tend to make a place smell like...well, a flower shop.

Below in front of the house, I see Vincent come out of the front door and make his way to a red Ferrari parked nearby. Before he opens the driver's door he looks around and straight up at me, as if he sensed that I was looking at him. He gives me a wave and I wave back.

"I was just going to do some shopping," he calls up to me. "Do you wanna come along?"

I shrug. "Sure, I guess."

"Did Sterling leave for Paris already?"

Shock and surprise washes over me. "Paris?"

"Yeah he told me he had some business in Paris. Did he leave yet?"

"I guess he did," I say. "He was gone when I woke up."

Vincent nods as if disappearing in the middle of the night for France is something Sterling tends to do a lot, and I suppose it might be. "Well, get your coat and we'll get going."

I've never been in a Ferrari before. The seats are leather and warm, contoured to fit a person's body. The dash and controls look futuristic, but other than that it appears to be a normal car. I'm slightly disappointed, but the horse symbol on the steering wheel is a nice touch.

Vincent puts on dark aviator sunglasses and pulls out of the driveway and down the wooded road that leads to the main thoroughfare. He guns the engine and it roars like a lion, and I can't help but squeal as Vincent takes the car to near eighty miles an hour before we get out of the trees.

A deer jumps in front of the car. Vincent yells out "Shit!" and swerves to miss it. He hits the brakes, hard, and I jerk forward, almost hitting the dashboard in front of me. Lucky I have my seatbelt on.

Vincent laughs and said, "Whew, that was fucking close."

I laugh too, but out of nervousness. "Good reflexes."

"Has anyone told you how charming you are to be around?"

I frown in surprise. "Um, not really. That was random."

"Have you always been like this?"

"Like what?" I ask as Vincent pulls onto the highway. We zoom past the other cars, and I see other drivers and passengers stare at us. Most of them have probably never seen this type of car.

"Like, just…" Vincent hums as he thinks. "Just fun to be around, I guess. You're always up to do something new."

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I wasn't always like that."

"Then what were you like?"

I shrug. "I've been afraid most of my life. Always needing people to help me. I never knew how much I relied on my dad and brother until the universe took them away."

"Sterling told me a bit about that," Vincent says. His voice is respectful. Reverent. "That must have been hard for you."