Chapter 3
723 Words
I had tried to escape once before.
I had reached my breaking point a year earlier. While Elliot was away, I went to his father and begged him to set me free.
I told Victor that my health was getting worse. I had nearly fainted several times while working, and nightmares kept me awake almost every night. I wanted to leave.
Victor took pity on me and agreed.
Somehow, Elliot learned what had happened.
That evening, he smashed every antique vase in his study. Porcelain shards littered the floor around my feet as I stood frozen in the doorway.
"You want to leave?" he asked.
I was too frightened to answer.
Elliot walked toward me. He gripped my chin with one hand and rubbed his thumb over the circular blood servant mark behind my ear with the other.
It was the mark Elliot had branded onto me when he made me his blood servant. I had scrubbed at it countless times, but nothing could make it fade.
Elliot smiled faintly, but his voice was thick with menace.
"Wherever you go, I'll drain everyone around you dry. How does that sound?"
The next instant, his usual brown eyes turned a vivid red.
He held me so tightly that I couldn't move, and terror robbed me of my voice.
I stayed. That night, he punished me by driving his fangs deep into my neck until I nearly passed out.
Elliot came to my room himself three days later. He pulled back my blanket and gently licked the wounds on my neck.
Vampire saliva could heal human wounds quickly. Within moments, every bite mark on my neck had vanished.
He leaned over me and spoke in a quiet voice.
"Haven't I treated you well? Why would you want to leave?"
After that, I never dared mention leaving again.
Now Megan, with no idea what she was getting into, was volunteering to take my place in that hell.
I was afraid she was only bluffing. Worse, I feared the whole scheme would collapse and Elliot's anger would land on me instead.
Still on edge, I returned to the sitting room on the third floor of the main house. Elliot was reclining on a sofa with an old book in his hands.
At the sound of the door, he looked up at me.
His expression revealed nothing, but a chill raced down my spine.
"Why did it take you so long to come back?"
"I went to collect my salary from the head housekeeper. I met a few new maids on the way and spoke to them for a while."
The sitting room became unbearably quiet. A cold sweat broke out across my back.
After a long silence, Elliot suddenly smiled, and his voice softened.
"Your salary? Of course you had to collect it."
He tapped the sofa cushion beside him. "Come sit here."
I walked over slowly and sat beside him.
He lounged against the back of the sofa, looking relaxed but tired. He liked me close.
He loosely wrapped both arms around me and rested his head against my shoulder, draping himself over me like a drowsy cat.
Then he breathed in my scent. His eyes turned red at once, and his brows drew together in displeasure.
"You smell like other people. I don't like it. Who did you meet today?"
My stomach clenched. "Only a few new maids. We spoke for a moment."
He nuzzled against my neck, still dissatisfied.
"Stay away from them. You're my personal maid, so you belong to me. I don't want strangers' scent all over what's mine."
My throat tightened. It took me several seconds to answer.
"I will."
He studied me for a moment, then asked, "They envy you, don't they?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Elliot gave a soft laugh. "Who wouldn't envy you? You get to stay by my side every day and wear the things I give you. Other people would beg for that privilege and never get it."
I lowered my eyes and didn't dare respond.
After watching me for a while, he said, "I'm leaving tomorrow for a few days."
I looked up in surprise.
"I'll return in three days."
My heart leaped.
He would be gone for three days. If Megan approached Victor while Elliot was away, she would have the perfect opening.
- Writer
