Chapter 28: Chapter 28

The journey to Axel’s house was calm, in silence, barely interrupted by a curt initial greeting and the traditional “How did it go?” followed by a “Fine, as always.”

After work at the restaurant, Gea seemed calm, and I appreciated it, although it surprised me that she was so quiet around Axel when she had been so agitated just by seeing Lia. But it was a detail I didn’t want to pay too much attention to, fearing it would raise suspicions in the new inhabitant of my head and encourage her to speak.

“You’ll have your own room,” Axel said when we left the town and the car headed down the road.

I nodded as if it were unnecessary.

“They’re all spacious and have their own bathroom.”

“How big is the house?” I asked, hoping Axel wouldn’t start describing the rooms.

“It’s spacious. It has six bedrooms in total.”

“Um, one for you and your wife, your daughter’s…”

“That’s right. There are four rooms available, well, actually three because there’s one I use for work.”

“I see,” I said, intending to continue in silence, even though I briefly considered asking him what he did, but the last thing I wanted was to get to know him. What he had told me so far was more than enough.

The road continued through the forest, but after a while, Axel turned the car into an entrance that led to a private dead-end alley.

The house appeared among the treetops, and I could tell it was truly impressive. With two levels and a high ceiling, it had all the appearance of a house for an affluent and conservative family, a couple with two or three children and a dog.

Axel parked near the entrance, in a space that seemed destined to have a shed later on. We walked towards the entrance, and at the door, we were greeted by a slightly older woman, just a little younger than my grandmother.

“Are you hungry?” Axel asked me, as if the presence of the woman who had come out to greet us invoked the need to eat. “Maggie is an excellent cook.”

Before I could respond, Maggie approached.

“Let me have a look at you, precious,” she said, approaching as a grandmother would to pinch her grandchild’s cheek. “Oh, what a beauty. You’re such a lovely young lady.”

Maggie smelled like cookies and coffee, and her way of speaking was always as sweet as her plump and kind appearance. She could have said anything to describe me, and it would have sounded good as long as it came from her mouth.

“But she looks just like you, sir, only she’s pretty,” Maggie added.

“Thank you for my share,” Axel replied with a smile.

“Tell me, sweetheart, I see you’re coming from a restaurant. Do you know how to cook?”

I had forgotten to change, and if it weren’t for Maggie’s words, I might have even gone to bed with my waitress apron on.

“Well, actually, no, I don’t know, but I’d love to learn,” I replied, trying to match Maggie’s kindness.

“Good, I like that, darling. But come on, let’s go, you’ll freeze outside.”

The double wooden door was already open, and we entered a vestibule illuminated by a massive lamp hanging from the ceiling. Before my eyes could adjust to the interior and perceive the details of the decoration, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked up.

There were two women in the house. Leading the way was Axel’s wife, an elegant woman with a slender body and the figure of a model, blonde hair, very light, and eyes of a light green that was impossible not to admire. Her daughter, my half-sister, was just a step behind her mother and was her spitting image, also thin and even slightly taller than me, although I was two years older. As I gazed into her clear green eyes, I couldn’t help but notice the disdainful look they directed at me.

“Sussan, this is my wife, Annabeth, and my daughter, Stacy,” said Axel.

“So you did bring her,” said Stacy, my half-sister, looking down at me from the top of the stairs as if she needed a little more height to be able to look at me.

“Stacy,” Axel said in an obvious reproachful tone, looking at his daughter.

I was surprised by Stacy’s reaction, which seemed even humiliated by her father’s gentle reprimand. She lowered her head and quickly apologized.

“I can see that she’s nothing,” Stacy said after her apparent humiliation. “That she’s weak and knows nothing about us. I should have been your firstborn, the one called to rule, that’s all.”

I didn’t understand a word of what Stacy said, but I understood the fact that she somehow wanted to humiliate me.

“That’s enough, Stacy,” Axel bellowed, staring fixedly at his daughter, who then seemed to realize she had gone too far and, with a trembling l*p, turned around and went up the stairs.

I followed my half-sister’s ascent with my gaze, and I was struck by the fact that, up until that moment, Annabeth, Axel’s wife, hadn’t said anything, not even to defend or reprimand her daughter.

“Don’t worry about what happened,” Maggie whispered in my ear. “It’s just that Miss Stacy is used to getting what she wants. She still needs to learn manners.”

I smiled politely as a cocktail of sensations exploded in my head. Now I realized that I was much better off with Dub and Lia, who behaved indifferent towards me and only cared that I could share the monthly allowance with them. But my new “family” seemed extremely different. In fact, I could already feel Stacy’s gaze on me and her mother’s scrutiny of my every move.

Now I truly missed the solitude of my small room with its worn-out walls.