"Yes. It was the only way I could find to keep you alive."
"What if I neglect my thirst?"
"If you can contain yourself, there's no problem. We can feed on ordinary food."
Anna turned her face to the wall.
"Send the nurse away." She said tiredly.
"If you drink her blood, your voice will return to normal faster."
"I'm in no hurry."
Maxwell took a deep breath and looked at the nurse.
"Go, find my mother in the hall and tell her you're my snack and that she should take you to my car."
The nurse left and Anna turned angrily to Maxwell.
"Snack? Helen was your snack, right? I saw that, but I didn't understand at the time what it meant... The truth was in front of me the whole time..."
"Cheer up, my dear. I think we'll be going home today. You'll be among your children and everyone who loves you."
"Not everyone. Has Tayme gone to boarding school?"
"Yes. Jenna went to take her, but I still haven't heard how she reacted when she found out about this decision. But don't worry about that now. If you're sorry, we can bring her back."
"You're a good man. I don't deserve you, Max. Anna said, and a tear fell from her eye. "But we can't bring her back while it's still in her mind what she saw. I'll only bring her back when she's forgotten, or when she herself asks to come back."
"Knowing Tayme, I don't think that will happen. Neither of those things will happen. But... I'm still processing the fact that I'm not going to see her for days... I don't know if I'll be able to stay away from her."
"It won't be easy for either of us. But it's necessary."
"Let's not think about that now."
"Didn't your mother and my father travel? How did you get here so quickly?"
"That's the advantage of having private jets. As soon as I called your father, totally oblivious to the fact that he was supposed to be traveling, he still hadn't boarded the jet with my mothers. The pilot has a viral infection, and it took them a while to find another pilot at the last minute to replace him. And Jasmine will probably want to be your best friend now."
Anna didn't want to talk about it yet.
"What about the children? Who did they stay with?"
"They went with the nannies and the bodyguards. Ian wanted to go with them. You don't have to worry about any of that."
"Adam..." Anna started to speak, but tears stopped her.
But Maxwell felt, at that moment, that his brother hadn't put an end to Anna's love for him. Maybe she was hurt, but she still loved him.
"Adam asked me to tell you that he's sorry for all the bad things he's done to you since you met."
Anna nodded, and became pensive.
"There's a man, who defended me, the night Adam came to my room, to... me. To lie with me for the first time."
"How do you know that?"
"I see all the memories that flash through your mind. You were there, that day."
"Yes. I was."
"You never heard from this man who dared to try to stop Adam. And when I was asleep, underground, without the strength to save myself, this man appeared to me. Is he dead? I need you to ask Adam that. I want to do something for him, because he was the only one in the crowd of people who had mercy on me."
"I don't need to ask Adam, Anna. That man was my 'snack' that night. I never saw myself telling you that story... It turns out that man was a spy for Ryan, who had been looking for your location in order to take you. He wasn't satisfied with Adam keeping you all to himself, and he was trying to steal you secretly and take you so that more Lens werewolves could have access to your body, thinking that this would break Adam's enchantment with you. My brother knew everything, but he allowed it. Adam always liked to see stories through to the end. It was like he was testing his own limits... and that day, Adam recognized this man as soon as he saw him, and I was thirsty, so we agreed that later I would quench my thirst. But he jumped the gun. If he hadn't confronted Adam, he would have lived a few more months. I like feeding on victims and watching them wither away little by little... but don't kid yourself, Anna. That man didn't really want to save you. It was a false kindness. All he wanted was for Ryan to put him in a position of leadership among the men who worked for him. He wanted to pass himself off as my friend when he saw how similar I was to Adam."
Anna stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. That life had already led to the death of many people she loved and didn't even know. She didn't want to get involved in it anymore. She would convince her father to retire and enjoy the children that were to come. She could no longer allow something like this to happen again in her family. No more deaths. No more murders. No more life of crime and revenge.
That evening, after dinner, the doctor came into Anna's room to clear her to go home, and handed her a prescription with all the precautions she should take. She was feeling fine, and it was with relief that she received the news, but before the doctor left, she called him back.
"Doctor... Is Adam also cleared to go home? And the men, who were also injured? I saw when you touched me." She explained when he turned to her puzzled.
"Their doctor has now released almost all of them. Only Alexander will stay for a few more days... His injuries were more serious, but he's fine. They just won't let him go home, because they know that if he gets an infection with this poison inside him, he'd rather die, but he won't go back to hospital. He's very stubborn."
Anna stared at the doctor. She didn't remember him, but it was certain that he knew Adam.
Maxwell left, saying he needed to talk to his mother, but Anna knew that he was actually looking forward to drinking the nurse's blood.