"What do you mean I can't see him?"
Adam sighed in frustration.
"I can't let you see him, Evelyn."
I groaned and sat down in the chair across from his desk. My father had been in the castle for three days and Adam was now refusing to let me see him after I began to ask questions.
"My mother is dead," I said gruffly. "My father is the only blood relative I have left alive and you're not going to let me see him because you have a point to prove."
Adam walked around his desk and stood in front of me.
"That man was not a father to you and never cared for you to say the least. Why on earth do you want to see him after all those years of being beaten within an inch of your life?"
I bit the inside of my lip.
I wasn't sure why I wanted to see him, but I did.
"You'll be right there with me," I protested. "He can't hurt me."
"Not physically," Adam muttered, turning to walk back behind his desk.
My eyebrows furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
He sighed, sitting back down in his desk chair.
"You're not in a good place emotionally, love. You've only just found out three days ago that your mother has died and now you want to see the man that was abusive to you after years of trying to escape him? It doesn't make sense to me."
"Well, it's not like he killed her," I muttered.
When Adam failed to respond, I looked up to him for reassurance.
"He didn't kill her, did he?" I asked, eyes wide.
"We don't know how she died. When you father was found he told my men that your mother was dead. They took his words to be true due to the fact that he was covered in blood."
"So, she might not actually be dead?" I asked him, sitting up straighter in the seat.
"I wouldn't get my hopes up, love."
I knew it was a stupid thought. She would never survive without my father. If my father hadn't killed her, she would certainly have died from the extreme cold and the withdrawal from her painkillers.
"I'm sorry," Adam apologized.
"For what?" I asked.
"That you never got to say goodbye to her."
I shrugged.
I could no longer mourn her death with tears or anger. It was like being around Adam, Jace, Liu and all of the other emotionless creatures in the castle had turned me cold. Being that they were purebloods, I doubted any of them had ever even cried. I imagined that I would become more and more like a robot the longer I stayed with them.
"Let me show you something," Adam said, motioning for me to come over to him.
I stood up and he opened his desk drawer and reached inside as I walked around the desk. He pulled out an old picture frame and handed it to me.
"This is my mother," Adam said.
I took the black and white photo from him and stared at it intently.
She had dark, wavy hair like his. She had fair skin and high cheekbones that Adam had also inherited. I could see him in her more than I could in his father.
"She was gorgeous," I said, sitting down on the edge of the desk.
Adam hummed in response.
"I don't remember her," he said.
I looked up from the photo at him as he sat back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
"I was only six or seven when she died," he explained. "My father only married her because she was a pureblood."
"She wasn't his mate?" I asked.
Adam shook his head.
"He never told me what happened to his mate, but I knew he hated my mother because she looked so much like her. He cheated on her every chance he had."
"She didn't have a mate?" I asked.
Adam chuckled.
"Oh, she did."
"Who was he?" I asked.
"The Alpha Superior of South America," he said.
My jaw went slack.
"That's why your father-"
"-invaded South America, yes," He finished.
I took a deep breath, looking back down at the photo.
"How could she have married your father if she was mated to the Alpha Superior of South America, then?" I asked.
"My father got to her first," he answered. "According to everything Xavier ever told me, she met her mate at a gala that was being held for all the Alphas and their mates. My father found them in his bed later on that evening and he swore to kill him and to take his land."
"And he did," I sighed.
Adam nodded.
"You see, my father's father, who was Xavier and Victoria's brother, grew up in a house where you kept the throne limited to only purebloods and this was even before mating was restricted to only purebloods. Xavier told me that Victoria's mate was an average wolf and she rejected him up to keep her dignity."
"That's why she tried to get you to do the same," I said.
He nodded.
"What happened after your dad took over South America?" I asked.
"Well, he killed the Alpha Superior and made my mother watch. She killed herself only a few days later," he said solemnly.
"Is that why your father went mad?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "He couldn't live with the guilt."
"That's terrible," I said, sighing.
"I say all that to say that no family is perfect," Adam said as I handed him the picture.
I sighed.
"At least you don't have daddy issues," I said.
Adam laughed.
"You don't have daddy issues, love. Your father has daughter issues. Don't blame the abuse on yourself."
I smiled at the reassurance.
"But," he continued. "If you want daddy issues, I'd be more than happy to give you a few."
I gasped and slapped his shoulder, laughing.
Adam laughed and stood up from his chair, resting his hands beside my thighs. He leaned in close and kissed me gently.
My eyes fluttered closed as I kissed him back.
I pulled away as the kiss deepened.
"Someone is going to walk in here."
"I told my guards you were the only one allowed in here," he said kissing my neck.
"Since when has that stopped someone?" I asked.
"Tell me not to kiss you," he said.
"Don't kiss me."
"Mean it."
I faltered.
"I can't."
He smiled as I felt his hand slide up the skirt of my dress.
"No one will come in," he said in between kisses. "Just try not to be loud and no one will know."
I sighed as he pushed me back onto the desk and began to unbuckle his belt.
"No promises."
- - -
Adam's P.O.V.
I kissed Evelyn goodbye before she left the office.
I couldn't help but smile to myself as I buttoned my shirt back up and combed through my tousled hair with my fingers.
However, I took one look at the document that sat on my desk and my smile fell.
I picked it up and read back through it for the thousandth time that morning as I sat back down at my desk.
This was Jace's report updating me on the case he had opened on the mystery man who had attempted to retrieve the invitation from the post office during the Centennial.
While Jace and his team were no further along in their investigation than they had been in the beginning, they had found one key piece of evidence: security footage from outside an inn the night that the Germans had arrived at the Centennial.
The video showed Diedrick, Barret, and their father coming and going from the inn.
Earlier in the day, Jace pointed out that someone had checked into the inn under a name that didn't belong to anyone who lived in the village and a description that matched the man who had entered the post office.
I was certain this meant the four of them were in cahoots.
Jace had gone into town that morning to see when the man checked in and to see if he was still there. If he was, Jace would bring him back to the castle for questioning.
I pushed that folder away from me and picked up the other one that Dr. Zosak had given me, detailing his reports on Mr. Chandler.
The Chandler case puzzled me.
Dr. Zosak was able to confirm that the attack had happened before Chandler had been brought to the castle. He also said that the reason no one had noticed the bite mark earlier was because it had been small incisions on his leg that only became noticeable after they became infected.
While he wrote in his report that the bite was certainly one of a Vampire, he also happened to theorize that the loss of blood from Chandler's major artery had been the cause of his amnesia. Although, he suspected that Chandler's trauma would take years of recovery to restabilize his mental state.
I hadn't told this to Evelyn yet.
She had experience enough devastation in her life so far this week, I wouldn't be the bearer of bad news again.
The ringing of my office phone shook my out of my daze.
I picked up the phone and answered it.
It was the jailer, telling me to hurry down there.
My eyebrows furrowed.
Thinking it had something to do with Evelyn's father, I hurried out of the office and down the passageway to the cells.
When I arrived, I was met by the jailer who had a panicked look on his face.
"What is it?"
He couldn't speak.
"Damn it, man! What is it?" I asked again.
He gulped and stepped out of my way as I pushed past him to see what the problem was.
I looked to Evelyn's father's cell, where he was curled up in a tight ball in the corner of the room.
"What's the problem?" I asked, not seeing an issue.
"Sir, of all the years my family has run this place for you, we've never once had one of them escape," he said quivering.
My eyebrows furrowed.
"I've failed you, sir," he gulped, pointing behind me.
I turned around to see Diedrick's cell empty.
Shit.
- - -