111 Matvey's Secret Weapon

- DOMINIK -

When I pull back into the circle drive of the mansion, it is sufficiently late enough that it shouldn't raise any eyebrows—the only eyebrows I am concerned about being Matvey's, of course. When I get out and make my way through the front doors, it is not with a small amount of surprise that I encounter Jeffrey, the butler, waiting.

"Master Dominik," he says with a deep bow. 

The old man has known me since I was very young, and I'm sure he remembers when I was just a sad, terrified boy mourning the deaths of my parents and being newly forced to reside within these large, imposing walls. 

"Jeffrey, it is late," I say, pausing my footsteps. One glance up the staircase is unavoidable, as I try to tune into the center of my universe that is up there hopefully sound asleep in her room.