"What are you—"
Penelope chuckled dryly.
"Now, now, will someone look at that? Listen up, Young lady, just because the Don brought you home last night and proclaimed you his woman doesn't mean you are in a higher position than I am. I have been his bed mate for decades now, and young blood or not, you are not capable enough to take that position away from me!"
Genevieve stared at her for several seconds, unblinking. What the hell?! Did this woman think she would fight her for the opportunity to sleep beside an old man over seventy years of age?
Unable to control herself, she was about to voice her thoughts out when a flurry of whispers started to approach her from behind.
"O. M. G! Is anyone seeing what I'm seeing?"
"Is that the late mistress's dress she's wearing?"
"Why do some people love to court death?"
"What do you mean court death? Didn't the master announce her as the new mistress last night; surely she can get away with wearing the late mistress's dress?"
"Get away? Hah! The master almost killed his own blood sister for trying on the late mistress dress just months ago, and you think he will spare some young lady?"
"Shit, she's too pretty to die young."
Genevieve turned to see it was a group of maids carrying cleaning buckets and mops. They went quiet immediately they felt her eyes on them and scurried past her, stopping only to bow to Penelope before they continued on their way.
"What are they talking about?" she asked.
"None of your business," Penelope hissed. Grabbing Genevieve by her hand, she began to pull her down the hall until they got to a point where the east, north, south, and west wings of the mansion met, and a flight of spiral stairs led down to a lower floor. "It's almost time for breakfast. We will continue the tour after..." she continued to pull her, skipping multiple steps as if what they risked arriving late at, was much far more important than breakfast.
As soon as they got to the last step, she pushed Genevieve forward and concluded her sentence, "We will continue the tour after... if you survive breakfast."
Genevieve, on the other hand, heard the words but was unable to ask any questions as she was now the centre of attention of five pairs of shocked, seemingly angry eyes.
"What the fuck are you wearing?!" One of them yelled.
~
A few minutes earlier,
Adrian stepped into the dining area, pretending to be oblivious to the furtive glances from the maids and butlers setting the breakfast table, as they scurried away from him. His uninterested eyes made a quick sweep around the area and when he didn't catch sight of a particular ginger haired troublemaker that he came here for, he turned to the man already seated at the head of the table, eyes glued to a stack of papers.
His father.
''Where is Annika?''
''Unusually late to breakfast, as you can see. Good morning to you, too, by the way.'' Roberto replied without sparing his son a glance.
Ignoring the sarcasm in the older man's words, Adrian turned to one of the maids lingering near the door and instructed, ''Get my sister.''
''Yes—' the maid had just started replying when two young women sauntered into the room, heading straight for their designated chairs on either side of Roberto, totally oblivious to Adrian's presence.
However, three seconds had barely passed before his intimidating aura alerted them of his presence. The ginger haired one, also the younger between the two women, leapt out of her seat immediately, hurrying across the room towards Adrian.
''Bratishka!'' she exclaimed, crashing against him. ''You joined us for breakfast today. Is this a dream?''
''No,'' Adrian deadpanned. He raised his middle finger and, with a bored expression on his face, pushed her head away from him until she took a few steps back.
''Then, is it because you missed your precious little sister and couldn't stay one more second in that isolated wing of yours without seeing her face?'' Her voice grew highter in pitch as she talked, attracting the attention of everyone in the dining area with them; the maids around, the woman who had walked in with her, and even Roberto who finally discarded his papers to pay attention to the scene in front of him. She continued with a coy tone, ''Aaawww, Adrian. Don't be shy. Admit that you missed me.''
Annika went back to one of the seats and pulled an extra one out for him, keeping her eyes on him as she waited for his reply.
''In your dreams,'' Adrian replied, his voice customarily emotionless even though he went ahead to sit beside his sister. He pulled her hair gently, wiping the smile away from her face. ''I only came to see if you were still alive. To check if I'll have to add a funeral ceremony to my itinerary.''
She scoffed and rolled her eyes at the same time.
''Off with the excuses, Adrian. Why would I die?''
''Because you stabbed yourself. Or so you threatened when you called me in the middle of last night," he deadpanned, causing Roberto to finally cut into their conversation.
''Your sister threatened to kill herself last night?! Why?''