Chapter 229 229
Sabine POV
“Patience, my love,” he chuckles. “I’m worth the wait.”
Their eyes meet briefly in the rearview mirror, something unspoken passing between them.
When Maurice slides into the front passenger seat, the energy inside the car changes instantly.
It’s like believing you’re alone in a room until a shadow flickers at the edge of your vision. Fear coils with anticipation. The fine hairs at the back of my neck rise all at once.
“Maurice,” Aurélie says firmly, “you need to rein your aura in. Sabine mustn’t fear us.”
Her hand tightens around mine, and only then do I realise I’m clutching at my chest, struggling to draw in a proper breath.
Later, Doctor Fabrice gives me a thorough examination. He takes blood samples and sends them off for analysis, his attention repeatedly drifting back to my eyes as if he expects them to change when he isn’t looking. Maybe he thinks I hit my head.
He tells me they don’t keep insulin because they don’t need it but that he’ll review my bloodwork to understand why I’ve been taking it in the first place.
Now I sit in the living room with a warm bowl of soup cradled in my hands.
Everyone is watching me.
Aurélie. Damien. Fabrice. Lucas whose name I’ve only just learned. Maurice sits beside me, his hands clenched tightly in his lap.
Did I do something wrong?
“Can you tell us why you were hiding in a warehouse?” Aurélie asks gently.
“I ran away from home about two weeks ago”
“With help?” Damien cuts in rudely.
“Yes, with help,” I finish, irritation flickering. Was he always this abrasive?
“Who?” Aurélie asks, far more tactful.
“People you wouldn’t know.”
“Try me,” Damien says, raising a brow as he leans forward, elbows resting on his thighs across from me.
“My father is protective,” I explain. “He worries about me because of my diabetes.”
Damien scoffs, and instantly every gaze swings to Fabrice.
“The money Mum left me… I got frustrated when I didn’t receive it like he promised,” I continue. “So I decided to take matters into my own hands. When he finds me, he’ll only keep me away until I’m twenty-one. Which he would’ve done anyway.” I shrug. It doesn’t feel like a big deal to me.
They look at me like it is.
“Gaston has been keeping you locked away?” Aurélie asks, her tone careful but I don’t like the way she frames it. Too dark. Too dramatic.
“What do you mean?”
“Sabine,” she says softly, “you don’t have any records. There’s nothing to prove you exist. I hate to say this, but I doubt you even have a bank account holding your mother’s money. I believe your father has been using it.”
“What happened to your mother?” Maurice asks quietly beside me.
His voice is calm, but there’s pain behind it. His eyes green like Aurélie’s are darker, nearly black.
“She died when I was twelve,” I say. “After that, Father said I was legally his and took care of me.”
I stiffen when Maurice’s hand brushes the back of mine, his thumb tracing slow, absent strokes that send an unfamiliar tingle through me. I don’t pull away. My body reacts before my mind can protest.
“How much?” Damien growls.
I lift my gaze from my hand to him. “Excuse me?”
“How much,” he repeats. “How much money did your mother leave you?”
“I’m not sure of the exact amount,” I admit. “But enough to keep me comfortable for two lifetimes. Maybe two-hundred”
“Two-hundred thousand?” Maurice asks gently, his fingers closing around mine. I don’t move away.
“Two-hundred million,” I correct.
Aurélie gasps.
Maurice’s grip tightens.
“Fuck!” Damien roars, shooting to his feet before storming out of the room.