Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 25•

Once in, Herr Bastian walks ahead and opens a door on the other side of the room, leading us into a garage. Despite the dimness, I could easily make out the randomly placed building tools all around and a car, completely covered by a grey cloth draped over it, in the centre of the garage.

Someone switches a light on, turning the room into blinks of light before the whole place illuminates. Armin brushes by me and walks over to stand by the car, bending and gripping the edge of the grey cloth.

"Verdi meet Lillian, your new master," He says to no one in particular, before slowly pulling the cloth away, "Lily meet this bad girl," He says whilst peeling the rest of the cloth away to reveal a very beautiful military green Bugatti.

On their own accord my feet walk towards the car for a closer inspection, eyes thirsty to drink in the sleekness of the gorgeous car.

"Wow," I whisper in mesmerisation.

Armin pats the rear of the car twice, "Darwin left you this bad girl with my father,"

Naturally, I turn to look at Herr Bastian, hands still covering my mouth in shock.

"He wanted to gift you this himself for your 18th birthday but the circumstances dictated otherwise," Herr Bastian says apologetically, handing me a pair of keys with a grey, thumb-sized Teddy bear key fob dangling from it.

Sniffling, I watch Herr Bastian drop the keys into my open palm, the kiss of the warm metal is the most blissful caress I've felt in a while.
Though it's not close to how exciting the sight of the car -my car- is.

My car. Holy crap.

I skip towards my new car, but my elbow is gripped, bringing my happy skip to a halt.

Herr Bastian shakes his head at me, grinning, "Not yet. Marlene would kill us all if we leave before supper,"

The specification of the meal and its connection to the time has me checking the time on my phone, trying to ignore my heart sinking at the text I didn't realise I received.

~Clara: Elias is furious. He's yelling at his men for their 'carelessness' at losing you. I think you should get back~

The bottom of my belly clenches, making me field the need to pay the closest toilet a quick visit. I decide to text back casually.

~Me: We're almost done. How's Elle ?~

~Clara: Try to make it back before nighttime. Elle found Elias a lot more entertaining than me~

My chest constricts, but I shake it off, putting my phone away.

Supper was delicious, I make sure to let Frau Marlene know. She begs me to come over more often because she has't had enough of me and Élise, whom she stressed I bring next time. I leave her to head to my father's office, promising her to bring Élise with me on my next visit.

I'm not done here, I realise as I place my hands lazily over my hips, giving the whole room a once-over. I take a clear picture of the board, the numerous files we came across, and the screen displaying my father's riddle.

Armin appears at the doorway, "I know you want answers,"

I swivel around to face him, "I need answers, Armin. Last time I saw Aurick, he insinuated that my parents might.. still be.."

He nods in understanding, and I sigh in both relief and defeat. Relief at realising I don't have to word it out and defeat at feeling helpless.

His calm piques my curiosity, "Do you think that too?"