“How hurt is Beckah?” Clara asked eagerly. It was now the evening and she had been sitting on her bed waiting for Caiden to return. She had sent the demon out earlier to find out how Beckah was doing after her fall down the stairs at the train station.“She was taken to the minor injuries department at the nearest hospital. She doesn’t have any major injuries and her head is fine. She was treated for shock and various grazes. The nurse told her that she will have a lot of bruising tomorrow. That was it. She went back to the hotel after being discharged.” Clara was pleased to hear that Beckah had survived the fall with minimal injuries. She had experienced an attack of nerves on the train ride back to the park. She felt guilty that she had deliberately pushed the bully down the stairs with the intent of hurting her. Clara had come to realise that she wasn’t cut out to be a bully herself. To her, it didn’t feel right to hurt someone deliberately. “You look like you regret what happ
Clara was keen to finally hear James’ story and followed him into the study. She sat down on the leather couch whilst James retrieved a very thick folder from his desk and placed it down on the table in front of her. She wondered if the information in the folder was on the same level as the information Arthur gave her when he investigated her targets. “It’s taken years of investigative work to compile this information,” James said and sat down next to her. “I only knew about your mother’s side of the story and finding out everything else that happened later on was difficult.” He opened the folder and pulled out a photo. Clara recognised that the man in the photo was a much younger James next to his wife and the child in the middle had to be Clarissa’s mother. She could see the resemblance in the eyes. “As you know, your mother was called Fiona St. Clair. She was a very normal child until she was 16. My wife died then and Fiona went a little off the rails and made some unsuitable
Clara was shocked to hear that Clarissa had a twin sister. She had never seen this revelation coming. “Due to the father being skilled at adopting different identities, finding out where he went and what name he operated under was a very hard task,” James explained. “I knew the other baby was with him as the neighbours had heard him leave the flat with a crying baby after having a loud argument with Fiona the week before she died.” “That sounds like they broke up badly,” Clara said. “I guess he also changed the other child’s name so Fiona would never be able to find her.” “He kept the first name the same,” James said. “He respected that at least. It took years to find where he had gone. The police managed to find that he had taken a flight bound for the US and couldn’t tell me anything beyond that. That’s when I started hiring investigators. It’s been a very long journey that’s come to an end at last."Clara took a closer look at the photo of Clarissa’s father. He didn’t look anyt
Clara stared at him in surprise. It felt like everyone wanted to tell her about her connection to Clarissa today. “I’m her twin,” Clara said. “James told me today.” It was Caiden’s turn to look surprised. “That’s quite an odd coincidence,” he said. “I never looked into the future to find out Fiona St. Clair’s story so I never had any idea of the truth.” “I didn’t faint when he told showed me a photo of Clara St. Clair,” Clara told him. “However, I did faint when he told me that we tried to commit suicide at exactly the same time. I never realised we died at the same time because of the difference in our time zones.” She realised when she said that that there was a very good reason for both of them attempting to erase themselves at the exact same time and why Caiden was holding a contract in his hand. They had both been part of a demon contract that had led to their deaths. “Yes, that can be explained by looking at the contract,” Caiden said. “Should I wait until tomorrow to tell
“That’s a very optimistic way of looking at this,” Caiden commented dryly. “I never thought I would hear you say something that optimistic.” “I guess I’ve never shown much optimism,” Clara said. “It’s not in my personality.” Her strongest trait had always been her ability to hold her head high despite her low social class and her bad school experiences. That hadn’t been optimism, it had just been her will to stay strong and get through her sad life. “Perhaps finding out about your family has changed you for the better,” Caiden said. “You never talked about finding your parents, but I get the feeling not knowing anything about them bothered you.” “It did as a child growing up in the care system,” she replied. “As I got older, it didn’t bother me as much. Being called an unwanted child by the bullies did hurt though. When I was reborn, I stopped caring.” Arthur would have found out who her parents were if she had asked him to, but that hadn’t wanted to do that. She had committed to
Clara packed her suitcase with a nervous feeling in her stomach. She was going back to her home country to complete the final stages of her revenge plan.Everything was booked and she just needed to get on the flight. Clara distracted herself by checking the contents of her suitcase against her checklist and noticed that she had left out a few things. She retrieved her toothpaste and cotton pads before zipping up her suitcase. There was her handheld luggage to do and she busied herself with filling up her bag. This was the first time she would be taking a flight by herself so there was a lot to think about. Eventually she was done with packing and she had three hours before her flight was due to leave. Clara wheeled her suitcase down the many stairs in the St. Clair mansion. James emerged from the study when she walked past. “Have you got your tickets?” he asked. Clara held up her phone to show her e-ticket. “Phone charger?” he questioned next. Clara patted her bag and James n
Clara found it was pleasantly sunny outside when she left the hotel for a short walk. The blue sky was a considerably clearer of clouds than the grey sky she had seen in London at the airport. She had chosen to stay in Seattle as that was where Griffen Investments was based and her main target was still Beckah. Clara looked up the location of the nearest drugstore so she could buy some toiletries and other things that had forgotten to pack. There was a drugstore a short distance away so she walked there at a slow pace so she could take a look around and take in the different skyline. Now that she had been living in the UK with only one short trip to her home country, seeing a different city view was odd. Everything was bigger in the US and felt too big to explore by walking. Clara walked into the drugstore and picked out the items on her list. She went past the family planning section on her way to the checkout and hesitated before stopping in front of the shelves. She might need
Clara woke up slowly and took a moment to recognise the blue ceiling of her hotel room. She was in a different country now. She then noticed that she wasn’t wearing anything and the events of the night before came rushing back to her. She had finally slept with Caiden. Clara blushed at the memories. They had certainly made up for lost time and she had dropped off to sleep very quickly after they had run out of energy to go for another round. It turned out that sex was a good way to fall into a new sleep cycle. She looked around for any sight of Caiden. The demon had been in the bed when she had settled down to sleep. She couldn’t see him anywhere and his clothes weren’t on the floor. He must have gone back to the demon realm. It made sense when she looked at the time. It was now late morning. Clara sat up slowly and became aware that she was feeling sore. She had read about the morning after in books and so far, the books she had read were fairly accurate. It had hurt a little wh