Chapter 7 – Rose

"You won't be able to find me this time!" Alec secured behind her, making Rose smile, her face pressed against the wall, as she listened to the sounds of his fading footsteps down the hall.

"Nine, ten! Ready or not, here I come!” she announced loudly as she started down the hall, pretending not to see Alec's shoes peeking out from under one of the curtains nearby, or his soft chuckle, as if he was sure he'd already won her over.

Luckily for Rose, unlike the other two times, Jullian was right when he said that Aaron would be out of the mansion for some time, which meant that she was free to read in the library in the morning when Alec was at school, and play with him in the afternoon. However, as much as this routine that they had developed in the last three days was being great for her sanity, Rose still knew perfectly well that it wouldn't last forever. That's why she was devoting her blood, sweat and tears to finding a way to build a future for herself and Grace when she finally got out of that place, even though the prospects weren't very good...

However, she still had plenty of time to think about it. And unfortunately, she was likely to have many more fights with her “husband” as well, before never having to look at his sour expression again.

“I wonder where Alec is…?” she started to say, as she approached the curtain where Alec was standing, pretending to be looking around for him “Gee, he's so good at playing hide and seek… I really don't think I'll be able to find him this time...”

His giggles increased, although in the light coming from the window that silhouetted him against the curtain, Rose could tell he was covering his mouth with his hands.

"Uh... Wow, I think this time he really got me..." she sighed, starting to walk away, pretending not to see how he was peeking at her through the crack in the seam between the curtains, until he finally turned around. suddenly “Hey... Wait a minute... Curtains don't have legs!” Rose jumped towards him, opening the curtains and making Alec cry out in surprise, before starting to tickle him "Gotcha!"

"That's not fair!" he snorted, trying to get out of reach of her hands “You always find me! How you do it?"

"A good magician never reveals his tricks." she smiled, hands on her hips, only making the little boy in front of her even more disgusted.

"Again! This time I will beat you, I'm sure!” he assured, shortly afterwards pointing to the wall where before she had been saying “Count again! And no spying!”

“Okay, okay.” Rose laughed, especially when she noticed that he remained there for a long time beside her, making sure she had her eyes tightly closed, before finally running away, the sound of his footsteps fading away letting her know that he he had gone to hide in a place much further away this time.

Counting to twenty this time, to give him a head start, even though she knew this time she would let him win anyway, Rose walked away from the wall and went back to looking for him, turning down the hall in the direction she thought he had gone. run, if her hearing hadn't deceived her. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had limited access to certain parts of the mansion, as the servants she occasionally saw, although they seemed to be many as their faces were hardly repeated in the time she was there, moved with all silence and discretion from the world, not walking around unless they were doing strictly necessary work. Which, most of the time, left that huge place completely empty, like at that moment.

Knowing that she could easily discover where Alec was hiding, since he wasn't exactly good at going unnoticed, Rose decided to let him feel the excitement of winning, when he realized that she hadn't found him right away, like the other times. So she kept her steps slow and took her time running her eyes over the paintings on the walls, which betrayed that Vamcap money and influence dated back a long time, as they were filled with old paintings of people, especially men, whose clothes dated back centuries, to a time when humanity probably didn't even dream of the concept of photography.

However, as Rose made her way into that part of the mansion that she had never had the opportunity to venture into before, she began to watch the paintings being replaced by huge photographs, framed in frames more refined, and probably more expensive, than many of the jewels that his mother had hidden in her closet, to prevent Michael from pawning them. And eventually, among the many faces of past generations of Vamcap, she he recognized a certain stoic woman, appearing to be staring at the photographer as if she could read his soul. Her hair was so long it cascaded down the back of the chair like a waterfall, and she had a sharp beauty that, as Rose had seen with her own eyes, time had not been able to erase.

A little curious, Rose approached the painting of Adele Vamcap in her youth, noting how she and the blond man beside her, who was probably her husband, were so cold and serious in that image that they seemed to be meters away from each other, rather than just a few centimeters. And that was even clearer with the contrast of the little boy who was between them, who seemed to be trying to imitate his father's imposing posture, with his hands behind his back and his chest puffed out. But despite his best efforts, he still looked like just a little boy, less than ten years old, with Adele's red hair and his father's nearly black eyes.

Already the next photo showed that boy already grown, now really looking as emotionless as his father. In fact, Rose now understood that Aaron's frown seemed to run in the family, as most of his ancestors seemed to have been physically incapable of smiling even in the past, be it for a painting or a photo. However, she had to admit that in that particular portrait, there was an extra coldness, much more because of the red-haired man than anyone else, since the dark-haired woman who was next to him seemed very friendly, as well as the others two children, very similar to her, who were each holding one of her hands. The little girl, in particular, seemed just as friendly as her mother, and Rose remembered Jullian mentioning that Aaron had another sister named Andrea, but, until that moment, she had never been able to see her and had no idea if she was in the mansion or not.

Not that it mattered, of course. Everything would be fine if she wasn't like a certain person...

Narrowing her eyes, Rose even wondered what had happened to make that little boy with the shy smile, practically hugging his mother's hand and who had clear similarities with Alec, grow up to become a bloody and heartless frown like Aaron Vamcap. However, that thought passed through her mind as fast as a gust of wind, and soon, she had already left the family photo of Aaron behind and focused again on looking for Alec, wondering if he wouldn't end up beating her anyway. true that time, since in that plethora of rooms and decorations around, there were many places where he could hide.

However, when passing near what appeared to be a balcony and hearing something move behind the thick curtains, Rose was relieved that her search had not been so difficult and, with a smile, she moved the fabric a little to the side, ready to surprise Alec... But in the end, she was the one who ended up being surprised.

Because, standing there, in each other's arms and their mouths locked in what felt like a passionate kiss, were Jullian and Adele.