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Opening the swinging door to the kitchen, I pause in the doorway when I find Adrian standing over the stove, cracking eggs into a frying pan. My stomach clenches at the sight of him wearing a stretched black t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants that hang low on his hips. I’ve never seen him so dressed down. My cheeks heat.Except when he’s been in nothing but a towel or his boxers in the bedroom.
“Stop staring,” his rough voice commands. “It’s rude.”
I bite my lip and toe the ground at having been caught ogling the man I’m supposed to hate.
“Where’s Anna?” I ask curiously, my eyes roaming the kitchen for any sign of her.
“Today is her day off,” he explains, looking over his shoulder at me. “I’m not a monster. I do allow my staff to have downtime.”
My father rarely allowed that. It was something he could get away with because most of the staff worked for him because of some debt they owed. There were very few people who had the freedom to come and go.
“That’s debatable,” I mumble beneath my breath. Adrian shoots me a warning look over his shoulder. His hair is loose, and uncombed. A few stray pieces wisp over his forehead as his blue eyes burrow into mine. He almost looks normal. Human.
I giggle to myself. Domesticated.
“Sit your ass down, Vanya,” he growls, but there is very little heat to it. Not wanting to break whatever spell is currently cast over the beast in front of me that is making him nearly docile, I take a seat at the small, rounded table in the breakfast nook where the staff normally eat. A few moments later he’s turning off the burner, plating the eggs, and setting one of them down in front of me.
The heavenly smell envelopes me and I grab my fork to dig in. My stomach growls as I take the first bite of the scrumptious scrambled eggs. They are light and fluffy, and the bacon is mouth-wateringly crisp. I hear the refrigerator door open and close. Adrian sets a glass of orange juice in front of me before taking his own seat across the table.
Trying my best to ignore the beastly man in front of me, I focus on my breakfast. Ada never mentioned that he could cook. Then again, she never really spoke about him when we were together.
It doesn’t take long for me to finish the plate. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the food was sitting right in front of me. I go to pick up my plate, but Adrian stops me.
“Don’t worry about that now,” he tells me. “Tell me—” he pulls out his phone and turns it toward me. “Do you know this woman?”
I squint my eyes as I look down at the screen. The photo is mildly blurry, but I can make out the older, gray-haired woman sitting across from Ada at some café.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ve never seen her before.” His eyes narrow on me.
“Are you sure?” he asks again. “You’ve never run into her? Ada never introduced you?”
“Introduced me?” I question, tilting my head slightly in confusion. “Who would she introduce me to? Ada may have been allowed to run errands off the property, but she was never allowed to bring anyone back. As far as I know, she had to take a guard everywhere she went, too.”
“Why?”
“My father never trusted any of the staff,” I say before taking a sip of orange juice. Fresh squeezed. “Most of the staff, like Ada’s mother, owed him a debt. They didn’t work for him willingly.” I look down at the photo again.
“This is after she got engaged to you,” I point out. “She cut her hair just before the wedding.” Adrian picks up the phone and studies the photo. Something odd crosses his face but I can’t decipher what it is.
“Ada wasn’t a maid in your house,” he insists. His tone grows frustrated, jaw clenching. “She said her mother was friends with yours. That your parents were strict about who you spent time with.”
Why would Ada say that? Did she lie to Adrian because she believed that if he knew she was a maid he wouldn’t love her? That didn’t make any sense. I’d told him the truth back at my family’s home. He was obviously still having trouble accepting what I had told him as the truth.
Why would I lie?
“Who is she?” I ask tentatively. “The woman in the photo?”
Adrian grunts, taking his last bite of eggs. “That is the woman Ada introduced as her mother.”
Standing, he takes both our plates to the sink and comes back for the glasses. I am still trying to wrap my head around why Ada would lie. Then again, in the end, there were a lot of things that I didn’t know about Ada. She kept so many secrets from me. Grew distant and cold. I’d thought it had been because of her marriage to Adrian, but when I look back, it began so much sooner.
“Come,” he tells me. “We have a lot to do today to prepare.”
I stand, pushing my chair in, and turn to face him. “Prepare for what?” There is a sinking feeling in my chest that I already know what he is about to say.
“For our wedding.”
Nailed it.
