Chapter 59: Surprise Helper
TERESA’S P.O.V.
It had been two years since my world flipped itself over, shook me by the ankles, and left me dangling. Two years of pretending I didn’t know Adrian and his friends weren’t exactly running on good old human DNA. Two years of keeping my head down, raising my twins, and trying to figure out how the heck to break out of this gilded cage.
Well, maybe gilded is underselling it. Try
gold-plated with diamond trim, haunted by the faint smell of despair, and—oh yeah—occasionally blood-dripping-from-the-walls. Fancy, right?
At first, it wasn’t all that terrible. Adrian was...charming as usual. The kind of charming that felt like stepping into warm sunlight after a cold storm. His smile? Deadly. His voice? Like liquid velvet. And his eyes? Sharp enough to cut glass. Add that to his distinctive scent—a combination of rain-soaked forests and something I couldn’t quite name—and it was no wonder people fell for him. Hard.
But me? I wasn’t buying it. Not for a micro second. Sure, he bought the twins and me everything we could possibly need. He was a saint with the babies—singing to them, rocking them, changing diapers without so much as a grimace. And the twins? They adored him, giggling whenever he so much as raised an eyebrow, and infuriatingly calling him Papa.
Oh, please. Nobody’s that perfect without some kind of catch. Trust me, I found out the hard way. And let’s not forget—we’re not even talking about a regular human here! At least Lucian can play the "I’m just a normal, non-blood-drinking dude" card. But Adrian? Oh, hell no!
One night, as the twins slept and the mansion was drenched in an unsettling quiet, Adrian decided to drop the "you’re too stressed" speech on me. There he was, casually swirling a glass of red liquid that absolutely wasn’t wine, leaning against the shelf above the fireplace in the living room like some kind of vampire James Bond.
"Teresa," he began, his voice smooth enough to butter toast. "You’ve been through so much. Stressing over how you’re going to raise the twins on your own, working so hard. It’s admirable. But I’m here now, perhaps... it’s time to let go of all that stress. Focus on yourself and the children. Forget about working for now."
I stared at him, mouth half-open, trying to decide between "Thanks, but no thanks" and "Are you serious right now?" But then Adrian looked at me. Not just any look. That look. The kind that made you feel like he already knew what you were about to say and thought it was adorable of you to think you could win an argument with him.
So, I folded faster than a cheap umbrella. "Of course," I murmured. "That makes sense." He smiled, and I swear, it was like I’d handed him the moon.