BENEDICT
The rain had turned into a relentless, grey drizzle by late afternoon. I was sitting on the edge of my leather armchair in my bedroom, staring blankly out the bay window while icing my swollen right knuckles with a bag of frozen peas.
The house was suffocatingly quiet. Aunt Chloe had gone to the hospital to check on Nathan and deal with his frantic parents, leaving the estate deserted except for the domestic staff moving silently through the halls.
A sharp, hesitant knock at my bedroom door broke the stillness.
I set the ice pack down, wincing slightly as I flexed my fingers. "Come in."
The heavy oak door creaked open, but it wasn't Aunt Chloe returning to deliver another lecture. It was Maria, one of the senior housekeepers. She gave me a nervous, uncertain look, holdin
