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Vivienne

His obs ession is a sickness. It will eat into your bones and rot you from the inside. The longer you stay locked up in this castle, the harder it becomes to remember who you once were before him. But there’s a cure. A single stroke of blade, a whisper of steel against skin, and you will be free~

Vivienne’s fingers run daintily across the words written on the paper, her mind reeling.

Her thought had been fear when she saw the first note some days ago.

She couldn’t help but think this is something Zev is capable of doing.

He does have a thing for twisted games. Maybe he’s testing her, to see if she will betray their sham of matrimony.

But that doesn’t make any sense. He only came home at midnight the morning she received the first note.

How could he have left her the note if he wasn’t even in the country?

Then her second thought was hope . Now that’s a dangerous, fragile thing.

But what are the chances that someone else is aware that this isn’t a happy marriage?

That she didn’t ask for this? That she’s nothing more than a prisoner in this castle?

That could mean she isn’t alone, right? That someone else sees her.

Cares about her freedom and might help in setting her free.

But then again, hope is a double-edged blade.

And timelessly, she has been cut by that blade before.

Then earlier, while she was in the bathroom, she thought she heard someone enter.

She had assumed it was Zev returning home.

But when she came out, she saw no one. She wanted to lay on the bed.

But there was a note there waiting for her.

It has the same handwriting and the same ink as the last note.

But this time, the note came wrapped around a shiny golden dagger.

Now, hope was quickly obliterated, and doubt shut down her mind.

The dagger isn’t a fake one that can somehow turn out to be lipstick.

It’s a real dagger with sharp edges that will slice a skin without a thought.

With the presence of the dagger which suggests killing Zev, the note is definitely from someone who has a hidden spite for Zev or Lucan.

They’re just trying to use her in their game.

Knowing this fact, she can’t help but still feel like the person behind the note really gets her.

At that part where he mentioned how soon she will no longer remember who she was before she met Lucan—Zev.

She knows what Zev has desperately been trying to do to her.

To awaken the darkness locked away in her mind.

To fill her head with poison. Soon, she will forget happy things and kinder things and be filled with spite and evil.

Soon, she will forget friendship. She will forget Kenji.

And she doesn’t want to forget Kenji.

Now she’s caught between her loyalty to her husband and her freedom. She has never been this confused in her life.

As she stares at the majestic use of the alphabet in this note, she hopes the answers somehow bounce to the surface. What is she to do in a situation such as this?

She takes in a sharp breath, her heart pounding, a gentle throb pressing against her skull. Maybe she should just throw the note in the fire just like she did the first one, pretend she never saw it. Maybe the person will leave her alone.

“I’ve been waiting for my wife to join me for dinner for over ten minutes.” Vivienne doesn’t realize when the door opens and Zev steps in.

“Why?” he demands.

Quickly, she tucks the note under the sleeve of her arm warmer, happy that the dagger isn’t with her. She hid it earlier in one of the drawers in her section in the walk-in closet.

“I’m not hungry,” she says, her voice raspy. She squirms slightly as the heavy pad of his footsteps echoes against the floor.

She feels the heat of his presence even before he finally appears next to her. She raises her eyes to him, and he is staring at her through the curve of his lashes, his hands in his pocket.

“You didn’t eat lunch. Barely touched your breakfast.” He points out. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“I said I’m not—”

“I don’t care what you said, Vivienne.” His voice is controlled and low, though his jaws clench. He pulls a hand from his pocket and thrusts it in front of her. “Let’s go.”

Taking in a deep breath, she raises her hand from her lap, placing it gently on his. With ease, he pulls her off the bed, leading her across the room.

Silence settles between them as they head away from the wing, arriving at the dinner table.

Matteo Serrano is on the table, and so is Aiko, the sister.

And the sight of that vindictive woman alone floods Vivienne with memories that she wishes she can lock away at the darkest part of her mind.

Her stomach lurches, and her fingers twitch, irritation brewing in her mind.

Constantly locked away in their wing, Vivienne has tried her very best to avoid Aiko since she came here.

But at dinner time like this, their encounter is unavoidable.

And Vivienne will always catch her stare across the table, feline eyes sharp, filled with dark intentions.

At first, Vivienne thought she was just being protective of her brother, something that might pan out the longer they have to share a roof.

But earlier today, after Zev stepped out of the house, Vivienne finally realized that the girl actually does hate her. And she found out why.

Desperation, they say, can make you feed from your enemy’s hands—or was it hunger they referenced like that?

Anyway, Vivienne didn’t know what she was doing when she left her wing in search of Lucan’s sister.

She just can no longer nurse the situation of not knowing how Kenji is doing since she left.

But she was sure if Aiko didn’t like her, that meant she would be pleased with the idea of helping her disappear.

All Vivienne wanted was a phone call to Kenji, ask how he was doing, and talk about how to get her out of there.

She doesn’t know how she is going to convince the witch to borrow her phone, but she is putting everything on the line for a chance.

But arriving at her door, she grows cold with doubt, fear, and worry.

This could end up working in her favor or put Kenji in danger.

What if she decides to flip a switch and report to her brother?

What if the crazy wanker decides to hurt Kenji because he thinks Kenji and her are conniving against him?

This rid her of all the courage she managed to muster, and she slowly turned around to leave.

But she could swear she was hearing a strange sound from behind the door.

She finds herself turning back. She finds herself raising her fist to knock on the door.

She finds herself twisting the door and opening it when no answer comes.

Entering the room, it was empty, and it smelt of slight lavender and cigarettes. Then she hears it, a muffled sound, a lot like a moan from behind the bathroom door.

She should leave the young woman to her privacy, right? But when she thought she heard a familiar name from her mouth, Vivienne froze, heart racing. She doesn’t realize it until her feet are planted right in front of the bathroom door, her ear pressed into the cold wood.

“Oh, fuck, Lucan yes, yes.”

Vivienne had stilled at first. Then her head snapped away from the door, her lips parting, her breaths leveled. She felt her hand ball into a fist, something bitter swirling at the pit of her stomach.

Nausea pressed at Vivienne’s chest. She knew Zev was out. She saw him leave in the car with a few of his men five minutes before she came down to his sister’s wing. So Vivienne knew it wasn’t him doing such a disgustingly abominable act with her.

But still, Vivienne’s fingers curl around the door handle, twisting it gently. And over the sound of the Japanese pop song playing from her iPod, she didn’t hear the gentle creak of the door as Vivienne’s head peeked through the little crack.

She was in her luxury bathtub, naked, head thrown backward. It took everything for Vivienne not to throw up or walk right there and drag her by the hair when her body locked and she came all over own fingers, her brother’s name a prayer on her stupid lips.

Vivienne was green with disgust and red with furry.

She had heard of and read about step-siblings having a sexual attraction to each other, but never when they are related by blood.

So why the hell was the bitch having sexual fantasies of her big brother?

What kind of sickness is that? What kind of family is this?

Right now, sitting across from her on the table, Vivienne glares right back this time, wishing she can slither over the table and rip her gut out for being so disgusting, dreaming of her brother’s cock.

This time, Vivienne can’t help but physically gag, and unfortunately, it attracts the attention of some people.

“Is everything okay?” Zev asks, his dark eyes staring at her across the table. She can’t tell what his gaze holds, and even if it’s worry, she doubts it’s genuine. He doesn’t care about her. Not in the way she wishes.

“Knocked up already?” A sinister voice slithers through the air, laced with spite that she masks as mockery.

“Far from that, actually,” Vivienne says, her eyes on Aiko. “Just remembering the disgusting movie I watched this morning.”

“What’s it about?” Matteo Serrano asks before taking a gentle bite of his meal.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.”

The silence stretches between them as silverware clinks against fine China, everyone busy with their meal. Even Zev.

Yes, Zev eats. Unlike Lucan, Zev eats a lot. Vivienne guesses that’s why Lucan still stood tall even though he didn’t like eating. That’s because his second personality eats for the body.

“Boss.”

Vivienne and everyone else at the table pauses at a sudden intrusion. A soldier has hurried in, armed and alert.