Second Time's a Charm (MxM)✔

Chapter 20 - The Crime

The shadow was taking on the form of Cain and Williams's silhouettes. Cain's shadow grabbed his father's by the throat and shook it comically until the head fell off.

He was so startled by the strange depiction that he failed to make a move when his father turned to see what he was distracted by.

As soon as William Duclair looked, the shadows returned to normal.

"What on earth are you looking at?"

Cain blinked, his rage momentarily dissipating and his rationality returning. "A moth." He lied, then bowed. "I'll do as you say, father."

"Right." William looked down skeptically at him. "And you will be taking all meals in your room from here on out. I don't want to look at you after hearing about your escapades."

"Understood."

"Get out."

Cain left, taking a deep breath and recounting the fact that had he killed his father, he'd have handed the entire Dukedom to his brother and lost all his inheritance.

While his inheritance wasn't needed for him to live comfortably anymore, the whole point of his revenge scheme was to make sure his brother never attained it either.

Gideon escorted him back to his room and hesitated to leave him alone. "Do you need me to fetch you anything?" The butler offered.

Cain shook his head, knowing he was now pretty much a prisoner in his own home. But that was fine, he would just have to be more careful the next time he had to sneak out.

Gideon bowed and left him be. He expected the demon to show up and explain herself and why she was putting on shows in his father's study, but when she didn't appear, he took out one of his worn-out books and began reading to pass the time.

His meals were delivered, just as his father said they'd be, but they were the leftovers from the rest of the family. Everything was cold and the lettuce in his salad was wilted. Cain grimaced at the meal and refused to eat it. By the time night rolled around, his stomach was grumbling, but he endured. This was nothing compared to the hunger he'd felt before.

Marking his place in the book, he laid down on his bed and decided to sleep off the hunger pangs. It was sometime later in the night that he was awoken by the demon's feathery voice from under his bed.

As usual, he shot up, confused at first, then reminded himself that he was the one responsible for the demonic being haunting his family's home.

"Yes?" He called, and the shadow pooled out from under his bed and took on the form of a maid with platinum blond hair.

She bowed like the other servants usually would, though mockingly, and Cain frowned. "What is it? You don't normally take form when you give me updates."

"That's because I finally have something to report."

Cain stood, immediately intrigued. "And? What did you find?"

Catalina put her hands behind her back and started walking around the room as she spoke. "So, Lena Duclair has a head maid that does all of her dirty work for her. I noticed this head maid isn't usually seen among the rest of the staff, but they all know her by name."

"Rosemary," Cain stated, having heard that name mentioned by the other servants back when he started socializing with them. "That's right. She was Lena's head maid that came with her when she married my father. According to the other servants, she's not around much because she's always kept busy by my stepmother's orders."

"Yes, indeed. So I followed the servants around until I finally bumped into this mysterious Rosemary. Nothing interesting came up until Mr. William returned today." She picked up one of the books from a shelf and absently started flicking through it. "Lady Lena went squealing to him about all the trouble you've caused her and her son. She even let something very interesting slip while she was ranting."