"I see you've found some form of entertainment."

☆

"Sleep well?" Chanelle looks up from the long dining table to see Remi enter the spacious room.

Remi pulls the soft fluffy dressing gown a little tighter around her frame as she takes a seat at the opposite far end of the table. "What do you think?" She mutters under her breath.

"Was the guest suite not to your liking? I don't usually get complaints." Chanelle takes the freshly made tea to her lips as she continues to watch her guest.

"You've forced me here against my will. You've taken and burnt my car. You said you would help me find my brother..."

"And I will. But you must eat first. Pancake?" Chanelle gestures for an obedient servant to offer the plate of pancakes with syrup.

Remi looks away. "I'm not hungry."

"Well, that is a shame, I thought we would get along. We are on the same side."

"How the hell are we on the same side? I am a hostage, just like my brother."

"Enough of this!" Chanelle bangs the table as she raises her voice before taking a breath and calming herself. "You are my guest. You can leave at any time. You're not shackled to that chair, but you chose to be here. A wise choice I may add." Remi doesn't move. She looks at Chanelle, knowing that no matter what the lady said, she didn't have any other choice but to stay right where she was. She slowly reaches out for one of the pancakes, pulling one onto her plate. It causes Chanelle to smile as she watches on. "See... you're my guest." She chuckles as she gets up from her seat.

Chanelle walks over to Remi, her slim frame towering over the other as Remi stays seated. Chanelle's hand holds onto the back of the chair for support. Remi looks to her side, feeling the power the other woman possessed. Her silk dressing gown parted a little at the top to reveal the lace trimmed slip underneath, accompanied with the slight cleavage. Chanelle's black hair looked like the silk of her dressing gown, as it spilt over her shoulders, making Remi all too aware of the new kind of danger she felt in her suddenly racing heart. She swallows hard as she forces her eyes upwards to meet those brown eyes of Chanelle.

"Believe me when I say we will find them. We just have to play the waiting game for a little while. Why run around searching when we can have others do it for us." Chanelle reaches forwards, her hand cupping one side of Remi's face. "You worry too much." She grins before she removes her hand and steps away. "Enjoy your pancakes." She calls over her shoulder, as she leaves the dining room and disappears out of sight.

Remi turns back to look at the array of food on the table. "Who else is coming to eat?" She questions as she looks to the female servant to the side of the room.

"Just you, Miss Tennet. Miss Matheson doesn't eat breakfast." Comes the reply.

"Oh," Remi looks back to the door in which Chanelle had left. "Well then, I guess I should eat." She turns back and begins to load her plate.

***

After a very filling breakfast and a very long shower, Remi found herself getting lost in the maze of rooms in the Matheson mansion. It was true that she wasn't being treated like a hostage, but more like a guest at a 5-star hotel. Her every need so far had been catered for, from what brand of shampoo she preferred to what clothes she had on at that moment. Maybe she should have suggested something more expensive and glamorous than a simple tracksuit, consisting of sweatpants and a hoodie. But it was all make-believe. She was a prisoner of her own free will. This was all a distraction to make her stray from what was really important. Finding Rio.

Remi stops in her tracks when she sees a room that catches her eye. Through the slightly opened heavy oak wood door was the sight of books, adorning seemingly endless bookshelves. She pushes against the door as it slowly opens, to reveal more books displayed in a floor to ceiling fashion. To the left, there was a desk and a leather bound office chair, with a large picture of a seascape on the wall behind, and towards the centre of the room, two expensive leather sofas sat opposite each other. "A library," she utters to herself. "I mean, of course this place would have a library. Why not?" She takes a step inside to see that even the shelves had some catalogued system, ranging from architecture to cookery and even a biology section.

Remi doesn't stray too far from her comfort zone as she heads towards the aforementioned, pulling from the shelf a hefty looking book titled 'The history of blood'. "I see you found some form of entertainment." Remi looks up to see Chanelle enter the library, making herself comfortable on one of the leather seats. She sees the book in Remi's possession and emits a chuckle. "Don't tell me you're as obsessed with vampires as my father was."

"Vampires?" Remi looks surprised. "No. How ridiculous!" She looks at the large leatherbound book in her hands. "It just happened to be the first thing I picked up." She pushes the book back into its slot on the shelf, glancing over to another area of the library. "I guess true crime is more your genre."

Chanelle bursts into laughter. "What are you suggesting right now? I'm a businesswoman."

"You're a criminal." Remi dares to say back.

"Well... maybe I bend the rules a little, but if you want to survive in this cruel world, you need to make choices not everyone is going to like."

"Is that why he ran?" Remi wonders as she slowly walks towards the edge of the leather couch Chanelle was sitting on. "Because of your decisions."

Chanelle shakes her head with amusement. "Darling, Carlos is many things, but he's not a born leader. He's just having a tantrum. I don't care what he gets up to."

"Then why are you so obsessed with finding him, and why did he have to bring my brother into all of this?"

"Did I mention he is foolish?" Chanelle exhales a sigh as she leans further into the couch. "He took something of mine. Something precious, and I want them back.