Chapter 9 HAILEY
CHAPTER NINE | HAILEY
LYRA
I panicked and rushed to my bed, hoping to find the poison, but even after I turned my whole room upside down, I couldn't find it.
Which meant it was either in Damien's office or in the secret room. I just hoped that whichever room it was, no one would find it before me.
I hurried out of my room and rushed to Damien's office to look for it, but I found them both there when I walked in.
“You are awake, Lyra?” Damian said with a small smile when I entered.
I paused, quickly scanning the floor to find it, but couldn't spot anything, which meant it was in the secret room, and there was no way I could go back in there.
They noticed I was searching for something. I watched as Damien raised his brows, folded his hands, and rested in his office chair before speaking. “I'm guessing you're looking for this.” He pointed to something on his table.
I walked closer to get a clear view of the object he was pointing at. With every step, my heart felt like it would tear itself out of my chest.
I swallowed when I finally saw it. A small bag, the same bag that had held the poison.
“This is what you were looking for, isn't it?” he repeated.
I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again. The bag obviously belonged to me; there was no denying that fact. How could I stop them from suspecting I wanted to use it on them? If they found out, they might end me before I could get them.
Damien banged his fist on the table in anger. “Answer me!” he yelled.
Damian stepped in smoothly, stopping his brother from lashing out. “Calm down. Let her collect her thoughts. You're scaring her.”
“I'm sorry,” I whispered, a thought hitting me. “I was tired and wanted to end it all.” I bowed my head in shame.
“Where did you get it? That's a highly toxic poison. The worst of its kind. It kills in the most painful way.”
I played along since they would easily believe I wanted to use it on myself.
“I took it when I left my old pack. I couldn't live with being rejected by my mate while pregnant. I was only waiting to give birth.” Tears fell without me thinking about it, making my lie believable.
“Well, kick that thought out. If anything happens to you, I'll follow you to the afterlife and haunt your spirit for the rest of your life.”
A laugh escaped me despite myself. Trust Damian to always find ways to ease the tension.
It was such a pity that I would have to hurt him too. He was such a sweet person.
“I've assigned a maid to you. She'll be with you at all times, except when you sleep.”
I wanted to protest. Having someone with me every hour of the day would make it difficult to do what I needed to do to protect my child. I also knew I would be risking the maid's life if anything happened and I was attacked.
But no matter how much I promised Damien that I would not try to harm myself, his mind was already made. He wasn't going to take back his words.
A knock came at the door after Damien made a call. “Come in, Hailey.”
A petite woman walked in slowly, bowing her head. She was clearly intimidated by the twins' presence.
“This is the maid assigned to you. She's one of our most trusted staff. She'll stick close to you at all times. Don't think about doing anything stupid.”
I tried to argue, but he wasn't paying me any attention again. He focused on the files on his table, acting like I wasn't in the room. I looked at Damian for help, but he shrugged, a sign that his hands were tied.
Enraged, I stormed out of the room, Hailey close behind.
She followed me into my room, and when I sat on the bed, she sat too, even lying down.
Every ounce of timidity she had shown around the twins had disappeared, replaced by confidence and smugness.
When her gaze met mine and she smirked, I instantly knew she was nothing but a snake.
“Get off my bed.”
She laughed, digging into her pockets to fish something out. Instead of getting off like I told her, she planted her foot on the mattress.
“Don't think you can boss me around, Lyra. I'm the boss here.” She said with a vile smile.
She pulled out a paper and handed it to me. “Boss said I should give this to you.”
I knew whose handwriting it was before I opened it.
“Ten days to kill them, or you die.”
My eyes widened in horror as I realized that in the name of protecting me, they had pushed me right into danger.
Hailey worked for the mysterious boss, which meant any hope of protection I had was gone.
“I'll be watching you closely. Any funny business, and you're done for.”
I shivered, slowly nodding and putting the letters back where I kept the others, under the pillow.
“You have to slowly put the poison in their food. They trust you enough to eat whatever you cook for them, and that is exactly what you're going to do. Since you'll only be using a small part, the poison will take effect in ten days, and they won't show signs until the last day when it'll be too late to save them.” She explained.
I sat rigid on the bed, afraid to tell her the poison was now with the twins. It seemed I had no way out; no matter what happened, I couldn't keep myself and my unborn child safe.
“Do you understand?” she hissed.
I whimpered and shifted away from her a little. “They found it and took it away. I don't have it anymore,” I stuttered, looking anywhere but at her.
She groaned, mumbling something about how stupid I was. “We'll go with plan B, then.”
“And what is plan B?” I asked.
She smirked, and I knew whatever plan B was, it would be worse.
She handed me a small knife. “You'll have to stab them.”