sending me off to Minnesota.
I bite back a hysterical laugh as my eyes roam around the room. Khristos had to have had someone following me way before Brad went nuts. He had to have been watching me. There is just no other explanation. I think of the dusty shoe boxes and how everything had been conveniently prepared for me under such short notice. They hadn't scrambled to make me comfortable. All this had been done long before Khristos showed up at the apartment. He'd planned to bring me to Cherry Creek all along. Brad just happened to be the ideal excuse, and my mom had fallen for it.
I rub my aching temple as all the pieces begin to fall into place. Ever since I'd arrived, I've felt like someone's been following me. Khristos must have someone watching me. But why?
Common sense is telling me to get out, to leave this place now that my suspicions have been confirmed. I can grab enough money to live off comfortably for three months in another state until I turn eighteen. Once I'm a legal adult, Khristos can't make me live here.
My gut intuition on the other hand, is telling me to stay and get more answers. Sheffield might find my mom, and he'll need to be able to reach me. There's also the curious side of me that wants to know why I am here. There is most definitely a reason. So far, no one has hurt me or threatened me. In fact, it seems like they've gone to great lengths to make me happy. The whole being followed part bugs me, but no one's taken my freedom away.
For now, I think I'm going to stay and see what happens in the next week. If Sheffield tracks down my mom before I have answers, I'll go ahead and leave so I can get out before things go bad.
But in the meantime, I need to have a back-up plan in case I have to leave town abruptly. That means I need to stash some cash in a safe place that no one will find if they search my room. I will also need a way out of town. I'm guessing the Aston Martin can be tracked through GPS. I'll need to have a plan to get to the airport, and from there, I can more likely bribe someone into buying me a ticket. I tell you, being a minor really puts a cramp into my plans. I can't wait until I'm eighteen.
After I sort out my plans, I feel calmer. And by the time I go downstairs for breakfast, I feel more in control of my predicament. Khristos and Roman might be keeping secrets, but I'm on to them. Now that I know they have ulterior motives, I can try to stay one step ahead of them.
Now, I simply need to try to dig up information on them until I find out where my mom is. When I enter the kitchen, I find Adelaide bustling around as usual.
She greets me with a friendly smile, and I sit down as she sets a plate with an omelet in front of me. I pick up my fork and watch Adelaide move around the kitchen. So if Khristos and Roman are lying to me, then Adelaide is too. Now that bothers me. She seems so trustworthy.
“This place is really nice,” I comment as I try to ignore the dull ache in my head.
Adelaide glances at me and smiles. “Yes, it is, isn't it?”
I can't resist. “I like my room. Has it always been that color? It's so pretty.”
This causes her to look at me a bit inquisitively. “Why do you ask?”
I shrug as if I don't really care either way. “It's my favorite color. He doesn't strike me as the type to have such a feminine color in one of the rooms. Did he have it painted just for me?”
“Yes.”
I watch her expression, my fork pausing near my plate. “So, he just called and said, 'decorate the guest room and put it all together immediately?'”
“Pretty much,” Adelaide says as she bends down and puts a blender away in a lower cupboard.
“Everyone scrambled to put my room together and buy me clothes, all in a matter of a week?” I ask as I turn my gaze down and concentrate on my omelet. I might be pushing too much. I shouldn't have pressed the matter.
I hear Adelaide walk over. “Is something wrong, Livvy? Are things not to your liking?”
I