Page 53 of Day Break

I replaced the wood floorboard, shut the closet door quietly, and snuck out of the room.

For the rest of the morning, I thought about what it would have been like growing up with a normal family. Even as screwed up as Lane’s was, they at least had one another.

I had… no one. I couldn’t even contact the people I’d thought of as parents for help. We’d been excommunicated. Outcasts. Apostates. From the moment we’d escaped into the night, turning our backs on the rest of them, we’d been blacklisted.

I doubted even the woman who’d given birth to me cared where I was now.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Not knowing when the dawn will come,

I open every door.”

- Emily Dickinson

Lane

Something with Chloe changed in the coming days. She was less accessible around the house. Whenever my family stopped by, she disappeared, and, honestly, I couldn’t blame her.

My cousins were acting like vultures, as if Chloe was the last woman on earth and they had to have the prize. Honestly, it was unnerving to watch.

There was no denying that even I felt a physical pull towards her. She was, after all, incredibly beautiful.

The more time I spent around her, with her, the more I realized that all she wanted was a place to be. A job. A purpose.

I worked in my grandfather’s study most days and could overhear how she spoke to him. How much she cared for him and Byron.

The only times I came out of my hole to interact during the day was when a member of my family showed up. I was not going to let them strongarm my grandfather into anything.

Time flew by quickly and as the weather grew warmer, my family grew less patient. Their little day trips grew more frequent and soon they were spending the entire day at the house, using Chloe as their personal servant.

When I caught my aunt yelling at Chloe one day, in the upstairs hallway, I jumped in.

“What in the hell is going on?” I growled at my aunt Reba.

“Oh!” Reba jumped, her hands over her heart. I could tell I’d scared her, but Chloe had been facing my way and had seen me coming. “Nothing that concerns you.” Reba had recovered, then she’d turned back to Chloe, dismissing me.

“It does when grandfather has requested that we all leave Chloe to tend to her business,” I answered.

Reba turned slowly towards me, her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed.

“I’m simply telling”—she waved her hand at Chloe, as if she didn’t even know her name— “her that she ruined one of Robert’s shirts and that the cost of it will come out of her pay.”

I wanted to throw a line of curse words at my aunt, but instead asked, “How? How did she ruin his shirt?”

Reba’s eyebrows shot up. “She washed it on warm.”

I slowly shook my head. “Why would Chloe be washing Robert’s anything?”

Reba made a tsking noise.

“Since last week, I’ve been taking care of their laundry,” Chloe said firmly.

Her hands were gripped together so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

“You…” I took in a deep breath. “What the hell?” I turned to Reba. “She is not your maid. She’s not your dry cleaner. She’s not your cook. She is not your employee. She works for my grandfather and no one else.” I said all of this very slowly.

“I don’t see that it’s any of your business. We can all benefit from her employment. She can cook and clean up after all of us while we’re here.” Reba waved her hand and turned back towards Chloe. “She’s only an employee after all.”