Chapter 4

Five days until I left for good.

I didn't want to take a single thing connected to Adrian, so I went to the mall to buy a few daily necessities to bring with me.

What I didn't expect was to run into the very last person I wanted to see, here of all places.

Adrian was picking something off a shelf. A girl came bouncing up to him with a pair of matching cups in her hands.

I recognized her at once. His assistant, Vivian Shaw.

“Let's get these. And then let's pick out a big bed for our place, so we can do whatever we want on it.”

She bit his arm, lost in some fantasy of the two of them living together.

Adrian stroked her hair, indulgent. “Sure. Let's grab a few sets of sheets you like. We'll be changing them a lot every night.”

Her face went red at that, and she swatted his arm, all coy. “Stop it. That's your fault.”

The two of them teased each other exactly like newlyweds.

A salesclerk came over and smiled. “A lot of newlyweds like you go for a bigger bed. Would you like me to show you some?”

Adrian didn't correct her. He took on the role of husband without a flicker of shame.

I took in every sweet, sickening second of it.

So Adrian had already bought her a house behind my back.

So on all those nights he wasn't beside me, he'd gone home to another house.

I didn't make a scene. I quietly finished my shopping and went home.

As my hand closed over the door handle, I heard the servants complaining inside.

“Did you hear? Mr. Locke's reassigning us out to some villa in the suburbs to wait on another woman.”

“Another woman? Who besides the lady of the house?”

“Don't be dense. The one Mr. Locke brought home that night. Middle of the night and she's got us buying condoms. They go through several boxes.”

“Mr. Locke's cheating. Poor lady.”

“For a man with as much power as Mr. Locke, a few mistresses on the side is nothing unusual. We just work here. It's not our place to worry about it.”

“I always said it. Humans and beastkin shouldn't be together. The two of them can't even have a child. Does he want his line to just die out?”

My heart dropped.

The fact that I couldn't have children had always been a thorn in me.

Humans and beastkin were built differently. The odds of a pregnancy were next to nothing.

I used to blame myself for not being able to give Adrian an heir, and he'd say, “I want to spend my life with you, not with a child. Even if we never have one, I'll still love you.”

But now, thinking about it, I was almost relieved I couldn't give Adrian a child.

If we'd had one, I might have swallowed everything and stayed, for the child's sake.

“I hear the mistress's a real beauty, some white fox. No telling how hard she is to please.”

“If you ask me, there's no one easier to please than the lady of the house. A slice of cake and she's happy. And she's so trusting. Mr. Locke's been carrying on with that woman this long and she never even noticed.”

Just then the door opened, and I stepped inside, and the servants fell dead silent.

I didn't scold them. I just walked straight to my room.

That night Adrian came home drenched in perfume.

Still the gentleman, gentle as ever, peeling off his suit jacket as he spoke. “I've found you a human housekeeper. And I'll be letting some of the staff here go.”

I knew exactly what he meant, but I played along. “Fire whoever you want. You don't need to do it in my name.”

Adrian sat beside me, his hand on my shoulder. “I know you're softhearted. But human habits and beastkin habits aren't the same. I'm doing this for your sake too.”

I said nothing more. He was sending every last servant off to wait on Vivian Shaw, and calling it for my sake.

“I've arranged for the best doctor in the human world to see you tomorrow.”

I was about to say don't bother when my phone rang in my pocket.

I answered.

“Hello, is this Miss Penelope Carter?”

“Speaking.”

“Miss Carter, your travel pass to the human world has been processed. You can depart in five days.”

“Got it. Thank you.”

When I hung up, Adrian frowned, puzzled. “Your travel pass? Penny, why would you suddenly go back to the human world?”