Chapter 40: Draven Lashes Out at Meredith
(Third Person POV).
Wanda’s heels clicked softly against the marble floor as she rounded the second-floor corridor, eyes scanning ahead. She spotted Xamira’s nanny fumbling with her hands near the stairwell.
"Where is Xamira?" Wanda asked, her voice calm but edged with sharpness.
The nanny stiffened. "She—she ran off on her own, ma’am. I went to the kitchen to get her a chocolate bar. When I returned... she was gone."
Wanda gave her a long, measuring stare. "Find her. Now!"
The woman nodded quickly and rushed off in the opposite direction. Wanda’s expression darkened. She didn’t wait. Her steps carried her forward, up the grand staircase, past the wide windows where sunlight streamed in like a spotlight. She reached the third floor just in time to see Draven pulling a door closed behind him.
Draven, dressed in a tailored navy coat over a steel-gray shirt, looked up and blinked when he saw her. "Wanda?" he said, voice clipped. "Something wrong?"
Wanda didn’t miss the tension in his brow. Perfect. She exhaled shakily, lacing concern into her voice. "We can’t find Xamira. She isn’t in the house."
Draven’s posture changed immediately. His gaze sharpened, and he stepped toward her. "What do you mean? What about her nanny?"
"I just met her. She said she left for a minute, and Xamira ran off on her own."
A pulse throbbed visibly in Draven’s jaw. Without another word, he strode past her, his footsteps quick and deliberate down the stairway. Wanda hurriedly chased after him, though with joy in her heart that things were still going according to plans.