Chapter 6 Missing money

Evan froze, and so did the person at the door. The knock never came again. Thinking it was a hallucination, as she always did, Evan went to the bed. Not bothering to remove her beautiful ball gown, she covered her slender body with the blanket. Little by little, with a sour heart filled with injuries, she drifted to sleep.

…

Soon dawn broke and all the maids were already on duty.Evan was asked to help in the kitchen for the first time in history. She giggled within as she wore the apron and went inside. She was asked to chop vegetables, which she happily did. Mrs. Caviar had made sure to teach little Evan these vital things. But Mrs. Caviar never let Evan help in the kitchen when making their masters' food.

Evan didn't know why.As far as the woman was able to let her learn a bunch of things, the rest were fine.

“Are you done?” came the housekeeper’s hoarse voice. Evan immediately spun around to meet his eyes. She bowed slightly, muttering,

“Yes.”

“Hmm,go join the other maids doing the dishes!”

“Yes,”replied Evan. She was exhausted after chopping all those vegetables. It was so annoying but yet fun.

The kitchen was massive,containing everything needed by a professional chef. It could contain all twenty maids cooking at the same time. Evan immediately went to where the other maids were washing the dishes. The dishes were many, so a total of three maids were cleaning them up.

She was about to join when the housekeeper's voice sliced through the chilling air.

“Evan!”

“Sir,I'm about to join them,” replied Evan, waving to indicate that she was about to start.

“But I called you,right?” said the housekeeper in disbelief, speaking as if Evan had committed a murder.

A pang of anger stirred within Evan.She hated this housekeeper so much for what he did to her. She wished she could feed him to the rats.

“I'm at your service,sir,” said Evan as she appeared in front of the housekeeper. She heard him sigh before speaking.

“Why don't you disappear from my life, you little bitch.”

‘Eh?Did he just call me a bitch?’ thought Evan as she clenched her knuckles, turning them pure white. She now wished for a new housekeeper. This one was condemned in her eyes. He was so mean, not warm like Mrs. Caviar, the last housekeeper. Everyone loved Mrs. Caviar, and Evan couldn't wrap her head around why the poor woman died for no reason. She wasn't even old, just 62 years of age, and as far as Evan knew, 62 was too young to be called old age.

“Take these, go buy groceries from the market,” said the housekeeper, handing Evan a pile of money. She took it from him, a little taken aback. This was almost too good to be true. The housekeeper never sent her to get anything outside the mansion. She remembered the last time she went out; that was two years ago. She recalled Mrs. Caviar and her going to the market to get blood tea for the vampires. She was fourteen at the time.

No one ever sent Evan out of the mansion,and she wasn't used to running errands outside the Donovan mansion.

“Sir, I think I can't remember the road to the market,” said Evan honestly. She looked at the coins in her hand with confusion. Her eyes then lingered on the beautiful coins. ‘This is five times my monthly earnings,’ thought Evan inwardly, not noticing the housekeeper's intimidating gaze. He glared at her as if she was the worst creature on the planet. Evan began feeling the heat radiating from him.

Noticing this had made the housekeeper angry,she gave a slight bow and ran out of the kitchen. She could just ask the coachman. After all, he went there every time.

“Evan, Evan! Wait!” A maid's voice caught through the air, and hearing it, Evan could tell who it was. It was one of them.

“Hi,Rose,” Evan fretted as a faked slight smile formed on her lips.

“I heard a rumor,”Rose started without beating around the bush. “Guess what? Everyone is talking about it,” she blurted, using one of her hands to brush the strands of hair from her face.

Evan pouted and then sighed.She knew this was going to happen. The maids must have been talking about her and the duke. She shook her head in disbelief.

“Rose,can you please tell me what it's about?” asked Evan, wondering if the maid would spit it out.

“Why should I tell you? Just find out for yourself,” said Rose as she casually walked away, holding her dress to avoid it from sweeping the ground.

“Crazy,crazy,” Evan mumbled to herself. She knew Rose wouldn't spill a word. “It's not even important anyway.”

Feeling the coins in her hand,she tossed them into a corner in a fit of anger, walking away to her room with gritted teeth.

A tall man stepped into view immediately after Evan left.He walked to where the girl threw the coins, and a deep line formed between his brows. Zeke's mind wondered where she had gotten that much money. He remembered correctly that even maids weren't paid that much.

He slipped the coins into his pocket and walked out of the corridor.

When he got outside, the coachman was already waiting for him, the carriage just in front of the mansion. The Donovan family was influential and rich. In this family, almost every relative that had passed was a lord or a duke. The family currently had twelve carriages. Two were used to take maids to the market.

When Ezekiel got to his carriage,he didn't get in and patiently waited outside as if he was expecting someone.

“Milord,shall we leave now?” asked the coachman, fascinated why his lord was waiting when he was a bit late for his destination. To his surprise, his master replied.

“Yes,” making the coachman's eyes grow wide. A few moments later, Evan arrived, looking hopeless, devastated, depressed. She now realized that she had lost the money the housekeeper gave her. Both hands were on her head as tears welled up. This was going to be her last day on earth. How could she afford to lose that much?

It was then Ezekiel realized where the money had come from.

“Get in,”Evan heard a voice ahead of her. Looking up, she saw the duke in front of his fancy carriage.

“Get in, let's go!”

Evan ‘???’Evan ‘???’