Bloom

The Midnight Meeting

"Lewis," she hissed, shutting the door as she glared into his eyes. "What are you doing here?" He stared down at her, his eyes seeming to bore into her soul. She defiantly refused to break eye contact, wanting to make him uncomfortable and the first to look away.

Without even blinking he asked her, "My dear, what happened to your arm?" Still staring into her eyes, paralyzing her with the intensity they radiated, he reached for her left arm. Adeline shrank away from him, backing up into the door.

"Nothing happened, and I am certainly not your dear. The only woman you should be calling dear is your wife." She spat, pushing him away from her.

"Oh, getting a tad physical are we?" His eyes burned as he grabbed her right wrist, yanking Adeline to him.

"Where is Camilla?" Adeline strained away from him, both of her arms rendered useless as she tried to squirm away. Lewis glanced out the window briefly before his eyes met hers.

"That is what I have come here to speak to you about." He whispered.

"What happened?" Lewis sighed, leaning in much too close for Adeline's comfort. "Please Lewis, why are you here to speak to me about Camilla?" He smiled at her, kissing her hand. She hoped to the Heavens that he didn't notice how her heart accelerated when he did so.

"It was never the plan to get married. She wanted out of her current style of life and I wanted to make you jealous," he winked at Adeline before he continued. "So it was an even contract."

"But you didn't answer my question." She pointed out, yanking her hand away from him. Lewis smirked at her. "Where is Camilla?" She heard someone call his name. Lewis froze, his eyes hardening as he abruptly backed away from her.

"Where is your father?" He asked coolly, eyeing the window every few seconds.

"What?" Adeline stared up at him confusingly. Why does Lewis want to speak to Father? She reached for the doorknob, blindly, as her hand traveled down the wood. She found the brass knob, never taking her eyes off of Lewis as she turned it. He did look down at her hand on the knob.

"Now Addie," he cooed, his hand slowly encircling hers as he tried to take her hand off the knob. With one swift motion, she turned the doorknob and sent Lewis sprawling on the hallway floor. "Adeline!" He barked, quickly brushing himself off as he pushed against the door, trying to get back into the room. "Please, let me explain!"

"What in God's name is going on out here?" Her father bellowed, swinging the door to his office wide open, bathing Lewis in the light of the fireplace. "What are you doing here?!" He exclaimed, grabbing Lewis ruffly by the shirt sleeve and yanking him into his office, slamming the door behind him.

Adeline took several deep breaths, breaths she hoped would calm her racing pulse but that objective was never accomplished. She paced the spare bedroom, contemplating whether to go back to bed or wait for her father to finish with Lewis. I will never be able to get back to sleep after this incident with Lewis. She sighed, placing a hand against the bed beam as she slid down against it, slowly sliding to the floor.

Her mind was spinning with all sorts of ideas as to what had become of Camilla and what Lewis might have done to her. What a wretched fool I was not to warn her!

She was thinking of going back up to her room to sleep when she heard someone whisper her name. What was that? She walked carefully around the room, looking for anyone but there was no one. Then she heard it again, but this time she knew where the sound was coming from. Adeline ran over to the window, throwing open the thin curtains as she pulled the window up.

She dared herself to look down at the ground below.

Camilla! What happened to her? And why is she bleeding?!