Scarlet burst out laughing. She pointedly said to Ricky, "Aww, are you worried?"
"This is not funny," Ricky growled. "Inez has been gone for weeks. If this continues, I am afraid that we might never see her again." he paused and added, "And I believe that Dominic regrets it just as much. Haven’t you seen him? There are shadows under his eyes."
"Well, there were wounds under Inez’s clothes, and I never saw any of you worrying about it," remarked Scarlet with a hint of mockery in her eyes.
"Leave it." Scarlet’s smile dropped, and it turned into a scowl as she said to Ricky, "Firstly, I don’t know where Inez is. And secondly, even if I did, I would never tell you or anyone else where she is. Because you know what? After what you and the rest have done to her, there is no such thing as a second chance. So tell your master to kindly fuck off."
Scarlet twisted on her feet as she dropped those words and headed out of the room without looking behind her. As soon as she opened the door, she ran into Maria, who was eavesdropping right outside of the door of her room. When Scarlet saw her mother, she rolled her eyes and walked past her.
Maria chased right after her, and while fumbling with her words, she said to Scarlet, "Scar, you have to tell me where your sister is... she is not safe outside, believe me."
"And she is safe here?" Scarlet didn’t pause as she picked up her jacket from the rack and threw it around her shoulders. She tugged it close and then turned to look at her mother, who was teetering on the verge of saying something. "She isn’t. Is she?"
After she finished speaking, Scarlet was about to leave when —
"She is a part siren."
All actions ceased to exist at that very moment. Scarlet turned around and looked at her mother in shock. She whispered, "What did you say?"
"Inez—she....she is a siren," Maria spoke. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she choked on her sobs. "I—I told her to never tell her identity to anyone. But I never thought that she would one day run away from the pack. I am... oh, I am so worried, Scarlet. What if someone finds out the truth about her identity... I dislike her, but she is my daughter in the end. I can’t... I don’t want her to die. Please tell me where she is—I am worried."
She wrung her apron and added with tearful eyes, "Especially with the continuous disappearance of the rare and unique skills shift. I am worried sick out of my mind —every night I wonder if those witches caught Inez."
Scarlet stared at her mother. She waited for the woman to say something, anything that would tell her that this was just a lie, but when she didn’t, Scarlet strode inside and came to stand in front of her mother.
"Are you fucking crazy?" Scarlet hissed. Her voice was so low that no one other than them could hear it. "You hid such important information from everyone?" If she had known that Inez was a siren, she would have thought of something else. Scarlet wondered if this was the reason why Inez had always been on the edge with this family.
She frowned and questioned her mother, "Tell me, did Nessie’s disappearance have something to do with her being a siren?"
When Maria didn’t say anything, Scarlet’s wolf lunged to the surface. A hiss erupted through Scarlet’s mouth and she snarled, "You are fucking crazy. You knew! You knew her pain and sufferings, and yet you didn’t let her tell Dom anything? Have you fucking lost it?"
By the time she finished speaking, Scarlet was yelling.
Her voice attracted Ricky, who rushed down the stairs and looked at Scarlet, who was fuming mad and then turned to look at his mother. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Ask your good mother." Scarlet pivoted on her heels and then rushed out of the house. Now that she knew the reason why Inez had always been the way she was, she wondered if her sister was fucking alive or not. The last thing she needed was for Inez to be eaten like a fucking fish.
"Achoo!" Inez sneezed as she covered her nose with her hands. Her eyes were squeezed shut, which she opened after a few seconds. "I shouldn’t have gone for a swim yesterday."
"Is that a sneeze that I hear? I never thought that one day I would hear a fish sneeze."
She turned around and looked at Killian, who was striding towards her.
With a frown, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I came here because I had a little task for you," replied Killian with a charming smile. He then placed the folder that he was holding in his hands right in front of Inez, who looked at it and questioned, "What is this pile of papers?"
"Why don’t you open it and see what it is?" Killian said to her, which only made Inez even more curious.
She picked up the folder from the counter and frowned when she realised that it was actually the competition form for the S’Design Awards. Though Inez had never known how to drive a car, she knew the basic functions of it. Just like how she had never participated in these competitions, she knew the gist of the entire thing.
Evelyn had made a huge fuss about these competitions because it was through these competitions that she was able to get the title of being a genius. Thus, even if she didn’t work hard when it came to completing projects, Evelyn would pay special attention to competitions like these.
"What do you want me to do?" Inez asked with a frown.
"You always moan about not having a job, don’t you?" Killian winked at Inez. "This is your job, win this competition for my company."