Chapter 189
KATYA POV
I couldn’t stay in the kitchen.
The warmth, the slls, the pretending—it all felt wrong now, like I’d walked into soone else’s life and overstayed my welco.
I slipped out before Miss Stella could stop , my footsteps light but urgent as I moved through the corridor. No one called my na. No one tried to drag back.
That sohow hurt more.
The doors to the garden stood open, letting in the late afternoon breeze. I stepped outside and inhaled deeply, like I’d been underwater and had only just broken the surface.
The air slled like earth and leaves and sothing faintly floral. Real. Unpolished.
My chest still felt tight.
Lila’s words echoed no matter how hard I tried to outrun them.
Killer.
Enemy.
Stray.
I walked without direction, following the stone path that curved through hedges trimd into careful obedience.
Everything here was controlled. Even nature knew its place. I wondered what happened to things that didn’t.
The garden was quiet—too quiet. Surprisingly, No guards in sight, though I knew better than to believe I was ever truly alone here.
I wrapped my arms around myself, the fabric of the oversized shirt slipping against my skin. I considered turning back. Asking permission. Explaining myself.
But I was tired of explaining. I reached the edge of the garden where the hedges thinned, opening into a small clearing I hadn’t seen before.
An old stone bench sat beneath a towering tree, its branches heavy with leaves that whispered softly in the breeze.
I sat.
The mont I did, my shoulders sagged, like my body had been holding itself upright on sheer will alone.
"What if she’s right?" I whispered into the open air. No one answered.
What if this kindness wasn’t rcy but delay?What if I was only being kept safe until they decided what to do with ?
I pressed my fingers into my palms, grounding myself. I wasn’t in the basent. I wasn’t bleeding. I was alive.
But survival wasn’t the sa as belonging.
My gaze drifted toward the tall iron gates in the distance. Beyond them was a world I dreamt of for years.
Streets. Noise. People who didn’t know my na or my sins. Would they even let leave if I asked?
The thought settled heavy in my chest. I didn’t want to run. I just wanted to know I still could.
A soft crunch of footsteps reached my ears.
I stiffened instantly, every muscle snapping tight. My heart began to race before my mind could catch up.
I turned And relaxed only slightly when I saw it wasn’t Marina.
It was a guard. Not close. Not approaching. Just... there. Standing at the edge of the path, pretending not to watch .
So that was my answer. I let out a slow breath and looked back at the sky, blinking hard.
Five days, I thought.
Five days and Roo hadn’t co near .
Five days and the house still felt like it was holding its breath.
Maybe Lila was right. Maybe he’d already decided. I leaned my head back against the tree, closing my eyes.
"I didn’t an to hurt anyone." The words dissolved into the air, caught by the leaves and carried away like they didn’t want the weight of them either.
I had no idea Gina was in the basent, but why? Marina couldn’t have gotten tired of her so easily that she discarded her like....like that.
Gina was her favorite, the one who carried out her order like it was the gospel, why would Marina let her be in the basent? And where was Marina?
I keep counting my days for her to unexpectedly kill buf it’s been nearly a week! Had she gone sowhere? Did she travel? Was that why Gina was in the basent? But who gave that order.
It couldn’t be Roo, and certainly not Marina, Was it Nonna?
I opened my eyes and focused on what was in front of —really focused.
The way the sunlight filtered through the branches, breaking into soft fragnts that danced on the stone path.
I counted breaths.
In.
Out.
I let my thoughts blur, refusing to chase them when they tried to sharpen into sothing painful.
Following the movent of a ladybug crawling along the edge of the bench, its tiny legs working with quiet determination.
It didn’t know where it was. It didn’t know whose garden this was. It just kept going.
No Gina.
No Lila.
No basent.
No blood.
Just green. Just light. Just now.
My fingers traced the rough texture of the stone beneath , grounding myself in the present.
The bench was cold where the sun hadn’t reached it yet. Real. Solid.
My back still ached, a low reminder that I wasn’t whole, but it didn’t scream anymore. It existed without demanding all of .
The slow sway of the roses nearby, heavy with bloom, their petals brushing each other like they were whispering secrets.
Sowhere farther in, water trickled—a fountain or a stream, steady and patient. I shifted slightly, relaxing my balance.
I was just... sitting. Letting the world pass without trying to swallow whole. I tilted my face toward the sky, letting the last of the afternoon sun warm my skin.
Whatever I was in this house—stray, guest, problem, responsibility—I was still here.
Still breathing. Still choosing not to break. And for now, that had to be enough. Wasn’t it?
A prickle crawled up the back of my neck.
That feeling—the one you get when you feel eyes on you.I stilled.
The garden hadn’t changed. The roses still swayed. The fountain still murmured. The guard hadn’t moved.
No one was suddenly watching . No whispers. No footsteps. And yet.
I lifted my head slowly, scanning the paths, the hedges, the open stretches of green. Nothing. People passed farther away, busy with their own routines, their lives orbiting mine without touching it.
No one cared. I tried shaking off the feeling that I was paranoid as my eyes drifted upward.
The mansion lood behind the garden, My gaze followed the familiar lines, past balconies and shuttered windows, higher and higher until it landed on the top floor.
Directly to that office.
Roo’s office.
The wall there wasn’t stone. It was glass—darkened, reflective, ant to look like a mirror from the outside.
I knew it well. I’d stared up at it more than once, wondering what kind of man chose to work inside a room that watched everything.
At first, it looked empty.
Then a shadow moved.
Just once. Subtle. A shift of darkness against darkness, like soone stepping closer to the glass and then stopping.
My breath caught.
I squinted, my heart thudding, trying to convince myself it was nothing. A trick of light. A passing cloud. A curtain stirring.
But the shadow remained. Still. Unmoving.
Watching.
††
Well, thank y’all for the constant support and well wishes about my health.
I’m getting better
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