Chapter 73
CATHERINE’S POV
After our conversation, Rose agreed that I could come to her place in the evening to pick up the gun. Her husband wouldn’t be home then, so that’ll make things much more easier. Convincing her was not difficult since she already knew what I planned on doing with the gun. She was surprised to learn I hadn’t gotten rid of the slave bitch yet. She advised me to act fast before I ran out of time. And she was right; time was slipping away, and I was losing Sebastian faster than sand slipping through my fingers.
Feeling extremely restless, I couldn’t wait until evening to get ready. I dressed in a chic casual outfit, applied light makeup, and styled my hair in a half-up half-down fashion. I grabbed a thick, studded purse, big enough to discreetly carry the gun, ensuring no one would suspect. With everything in place, I headed out.
As I made my way down the hallway of the main floor of the castle, I walked past an open door of one of the servants’ quarter’s rooms where I was sure I had seen the stupid maid that failed me, Vivian.
I stopped in my tracks and turned, just to make sure I saw correctly. It was her indeed and she was packing her belongings. I had thought she already left since, since I knew Sebastian fired her. Luckily, she was alone in the room. So I could do or say whatever I wanted to her without the other maids finding out. Good. I entered and shut the door with a bang behind me to attract her attention.
She raised her bead when she heard it and on seeing me, she stopped what she was doing and her breath hitched, fear creeping into her. She should be afraid. After failing to complete my job, I wanted to punish her most severely. Sebastian had done well in firing her. Now it was my turn. I was going to make sure she lost everything worth losing like I promised. Which included her little belongings and most importantly, her family. I’ll hire professional assassins to get rid of them. All of them! That’s what she gets for failing me in a job that important.
“Good…Good afternoon, Luna Catherine,” she dipped to a bow, fidgeting, struggling to maintain her shaky control.
“You fool!” I threw at her, advancing as if ready to devour her, and she quivered in fear. “Tell me! What’s so good about the evening!! After you not only failed to complete my task but also sold me out to my husband. Speak! Before I make you!!” I snarled and grabbed her arm forcefully. She continued shaking her head in agony, on the brink of tears, trying to play innocent. But her fake tears didn’t sway me. They wouldn’t save her from what I intended to do to her. “You useless, incompetent creature! I did warn you of what would happen if you failed me. And you still did. Now, I'm going to make sure you’ll lose everything worth losing in your wretched, meaningless and pathetic existence.”
“No…Luna Catherine…no,” she cried out, tears flooding her eyes and wetting cheeks. “You’re mistaken.”
My brows drew together in an angry frown as I looked at her most sternly. What was this foolish girl talking about? What did she mean by I was mistaken?
“You foolish girl!” I yanked her arm harder, my nails digging into her flesh. She tried to cry out, but I shushed her, and she stifled her pain, holding back her cries and sobs, which formed an ocean inside her throat. “How dare you say I’m mistaken…”
“She did it,” she struggled to say from the thickness of her cries. “The healer’s daughter… please you’re hurting me.”
I froze with a pensive expression on my face. I released my grip on her arm, and her breath stammered in relief. She backed away from me, as if I was her worst nightmare, holding her injured arm where my nails had drawn out blood. Despite my confusion and curiosity about the healer’s daughter, a smirk played on my lips. The foolish maid deserved that and worse. This was just the start, a mere warm-up for what lay ahead.
Who was the healer’s daughter and what does she have to do with her failure in the job? That question hammered in my head. I tried but couldn’t come up with any idea of who the person could be.
“Who is the healer’s daughter and what does she have to do with all this?”
She was breathing quickly, stifling her sobs and taking my time. I couldn’t afford to waste time on her pitying looks and tricks. I had to get a gun real quick before Rose’s husband came back.
“I said who is she?!!” I snapped at her and she began talking.
“Her name is Amelia. She was the maid that was staring and eavesdropping on our conversation that morning. She was the one…she told Alpha Sebastian about our plan to poison Brianna.”
Amelia? I looked away in deep thought and growled the moment I knew who she was referring to. She was the maid with the large cartoonish emerald eyes that usually treated me. Earlier that morning after I had seen her while I discussed my plan with Vivian, I never thought she overheard anything we said. Even if she did hear us, I never imagined she could have the guts to tell Sebastian about it. How could she? How dare her? If Vivian’s accusation turns out to be true, I’ll make sure that Amelia regrets her actions. She shouldn’t be sticking her nose in matters that didn’t concern her.
“And sure are you that it was this Amelia that told my husband,” I fixed my furious gaze on her, eager for an explanation.
“I swear on my life, Luna Catherine,” she swore, still holding her hurt arm. “I know it was her. She overheard us and was the only one that knew of our plan. I almost had Brianna like you wanted,” she said like she meant it. “She was just a second away from putting the food into her mouth…when Alpha Sebastian rushed in and stopped her. He knows you’re involved in it. He confronted me about it and tried to make me say it in front of everyone on the lawn. But I didn’t like you wanted me to,” she looked at me as if she wanted me to pity her. Then suddenly, she came close to me and fell on her knees, taking my hands into hers to my surprise. “I didn’t say it because I’m forever loyal to you.”
“Your loyalty can rot in mud for I care,” I sneered and forced my hands out of hers, the impact causing her to crash onto the floor.
Her useless loyalty and pathetic face wouldn’t stop me from my plan for her. If only she had prepared the food and poison on time, serving that slave quickly, then she would have been dead before Sebastian arrived. It’s that simple!
Furiously, I made my way to the door. I had to find that Amelia and fire her for sticking her nose in things that didn’t concern her. Then I’ll go get my gun as quickly as possible and kill that slave bitch myself.
As I was about to head out, I noticed Vivian’s hands curled around my ankles, stopping me from moving further.
“Please, Luna Catherine,” she pleaded while on the floor, in the pool of her tears. “I’m an orphan…I have no one…I have no place to go from here…Please help me…”
Oh, she was an orphan with no family. That meant I wouldn’t be hiring the assassins again to get rid of them. Lucky her.
“Oh, darling,” I sneered, squatting down and looking at her with disgust. She looked utterly pathetic, crying and wailing on the floor like a desperate madwoman. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re an orphan or where you end up, whether it’s in the slums, under a bridge, or better yet, you could make yourself useful by working as a whore in a brothel. If only you had prepared the food and poison in time and served that slave quickly, she would have been dead before Sebastian arrived. It was that easy. I could have given you the world, but you chose to fuck it all up.”
I stood and shook off her grip, then purposely stepped on her hand, pressing my heels into her palms. She yelped in pain, and I couldn’t help but smile, relishing her reaction.
“Pack your rags. Do not take anything else and get the hell out of my castle!!” I said to her before leaving the room.