A MAZE OF GREED

"Thank you for coming today, Rees and Thea. It was a pleasure having you!" Mr Payne said after they were done with the lunch. It was already the time of the afternoon.

Rees and Thea decided to take their leave. Mr Payne was tired after the memorable day, and it was only wise to not overexert the old man.

Ruth also decided to return back to her room as she had to complete the extra work that she was doing for some extra money.

"It was our pleasure that you welcomed us in your home, Mr Payne. We had a good time!" Rees said courteously.

"Thea, Rees may god bless you with long life and your love keep growing with every passing day!" Mrs Payne's eyes twinkled with love and moisture.

Hugging her small frame, Thea said, "We will soon announce our wedding date. And you both are invited in advance. Alright, Mr Payne?"

"Yes. We would love to have you both on our special day!" Rees smiled.

"Of course, my dear. We will be there to give our blessings to both of you!"

After bidding their goodbyes along with a promise to meet again soon, the three people stepped out of the old couple's home.

"Ruth, why are you doing this? Look now Mr Payne is well. He can resume working again. You don't have to overexert yourself." Thea said as soon as they reached in front of Ruth's room and away from the old couple's earshot.

Rees's face turned serious. He knew how much work Ruth was doing. He wanted to tell her that she did not need to do any of that. She was supposed to be the Luna of their pack. She was supposed to rule their breed of werewolves alongside Edwin.

She was not only the owner of Edwin's heart and soul but was also of his enormous fortune. She did not need to work hard for every penny.

But he kept his thoughts to himself. He knew what a proud woman Ruth was. Even if she accepted Edwin as her mate, she would never declare her right over his fortune and money.

"I am fine, Thea. Do not worry about me. Yes, Mr Payne is well now, but I do not think he can work longer now. He is getting old. There will be a time where he needed to only rest. I want to be able to take care of them then.

I can not do that with a single job. I need to plan and work for everything from now on. One day, I will not need to work this hard, and even after that, I will be able to take care of myself and them. But till then, I have to push myself a little harder." Ruth smiled with a hopeful glint in her hazel eyes.

Rees was amused to hear that and proud as well. He did not only had a capable Luna but a best friend that he could ever ask for.

'This must be one of the traits of Ruth that the Moon Goddess chose her for my Master.' Rees smiled.

Working for more than thirteen hours a day and extra time on holidays was not pushing little, Thea wanted to retort. But then she knew from where Ruth came from.

Ruth had spent all her life in poverty, and now she had two more lives to take care of. It was not easy for a young and beautiful woman in this world of lies, dark and greed.

"I know no matter what I say, you are not going to listen to me. Just take care of yourself and look after your health. Or I would never get a chance to tease my future brother-in-law because I would not get one." She rolled her eyes.

'You can not even look into the eyes of your future brother-in-law, let alone tease him, Thea.' Rees wanted to say but held back and only coughed to hide his laugh.

Ruth rolled her eyes and offered them to see off. They descended the stairs while talking and planning next Sunday's meet when a voice caught their attention.

"Hello, Ruth?"

Claire was quick to gain all three of their's attention when she saw them near the end of the staircase.

Ruth stopped. Her eyes flickered towards Florence, who stood beside Claire with a frown on her face.

"H-hello."

"I see you have guests with you. Will you not introduce them to us?"

'This girl is too evil for her age.' Thea thought.

Her face had already turned sour after seeing Florence, but Rees was taken by surprise. When he came here, he had not considered the possibility of running into Florence. But now that he had, he kept his face straight.

"Erm... this is Thea, and he is Rees. They are my friends." Ruth kept it short.

Claire ignored Thea, but her eyes lingered on Rees for a moment longer, and that action did not go unnoticed by both Ruth and Thea. Rees could hear the accelerated heart of the young girl. But it did not bother him, for he was used to getting such reactions from the women of almost all ages.

"Now that we are done with the introduction, can we leave? We have to go and Ruth, you have work to do." Thea passed a glare in Claire's way.

"Thea... I assume it's what your name is. You did not mind spending time with Mr and Mrs Payne. Can you not give us some more?"

This girl was too clingy that made Thea crinkle her nose.

Ruth did not know how to handle this situation. She was uncomfortable, but she could not say no to Claire. So she just smiled awkwardly.

"Ruth, your friends look well off than you. I mean, they are dressed well, and I have not seen them in the Eastern side of Vincardine."

And here came the first jab on Ruth's heart. That was the very reason Ruth did not want to prolong this conversation. She looked embarrassed and unable to answer.

"We both live in the Eastern part. You must not have stepped out of your alley to not see us around, little girl."

Rees stifled a smile after Claire's mouth turned downwards. She did not like the tone of Thea's speech, but she especially not liked how she emphasised the words 'little girl'.

Ignoring her again, Claire turned her attention back to Rees. Her heart again beat fast, and Rees just wanted to roll his eyes. He did not even want to imagine what must be running in that head of hers.

"So Rees, I did not know a handsome man like you is friends with Ruth." She cast a censured glance in Ruth's way.

Ruth could not do anything other than listening to every taunt and embrace the arrows of embarrassment and humiliation in her way.

For the first time since this conversation started, Rees opened his mouth, while looking straight into Claire's eyes. Her body language changed suddenly, as she became aware of the dangerous aura around this man.

"It seems like you do not know many things, madam. And as per my guess, your parents has clearly failed to teach you basic mannerisms like not addressing elders or strangers with their first name."

Thea did not hold back a taunting wide smile. She felt proud of her fiancee and winked at him.

Claire looked like a kettle on the stove, steam coming out of her ears and flared nostrils.

She was about to throw an insult in Ruth's way because she knew doing that with the other two people was useless.

"Rees... have we met before?" This time it was Florence staring at him with curious eyes.

Although Rees was the one to arrange Edwin's nights with Florence and other women, he had made sure to not communicate directly with them. He had always disliked Edwin's this way, but he was only a servant and had no authority or right to tell his master otherwise.

"I think I have seen you before." Florence's narrowed eyes widened, her brows shot up in realisation.

"You were there in 'the great manor', did not you?" She recalled his face from the day when she went there for confronting Edwin but ended up worsening her situation.

She saw Rees with Ruth. But at that time, she was too distracted by Edwin's cold treatment that it took her some time to recollect that memory.

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The large wheels of the chariot rolled on the uneven road. The coachman was careful to take a better path, but what could be done when the entire road was bumpy and full of potholes?

The brown carriage shortened the distance at the time of early afternoon when the sun blazed brightly in the sky. The forest along both the sides of the path was a refreshment to the tired eyes.

A man sat in the carriage trying to read a book in his hand. But the uneven road made the task difficult for him. After many tries, he gave up and put the book down beside him.

He removed his golden glasses with chains and looked outside the small window.

He was calm and composed, but his mind had many things running inside. He did not expect this sudden journey to the North but the recent twist of events made him do it.

Barret Addington had different expectations, and initially, they were fulfilled. But after Ripon's recent meeting with Lord Augustus, he had doubts in his mind. If Lord Augustus was saying that he knew about the killer and suspected that someone was supporting him, then it was not something to slide off.

No matter what, they were O'Dells. Every word they said, every action they did, had weightage and reasons behind them.

And now Barret had set his mind to take Lord Augustus's words seriously.