Leah
“Martha. Ella. Return to your rooms. Reflect. Leah will stay in my private villa from this night forward. I will watch over her personally. And hear me clearly: I am a superstitious old woman. If any misfortune befalls my granddaughter—if she trips on a rug, catches a chill, or is bitten by a single insect—I will hold you both accountable. Do not test me.”
Martha’s face twisted with helpless rage. Ella looked ready to shatter. They turned and fled, footsteps echoing like retreating thunder.
I watched their backs disappear down the hall, a dark, delicious satisfaction blooming in my chest.
They owed me everything. I would take it back a thousandfold.
This was only the opening move.
That night sleep refused to come.
I sat at the small desk in Agnes’s guest suite, laptop glowing i
