The Alpha King's Mind Reading Maid (Cecilia) novel Chapter 165

Chapter 165

“You’ve been crying.’

It wasn’t a question.

I reached up instinctively, brushing my fingers beneath my eyes, feeling just how tender and swollen they were.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “What’s happening?”

“You really haven’t heard?” Calira asked, surprised. 1

I shook my head, impatience creeping in.

“No, what is it?” I asked, feeling my voice rising slightly.

Jasmine hesitated, looking at the others for confirmation, and then Claira nodded. It was subtle, but I noticed it almost right away. Jasmin exhaled before turning back to me, her expression softening, though I could still see the lingering worry in her

eyes.

“It’s Vivian,” she finally said. “She was found dead last night.”

My heart stopped.

“What?” I whispered.

I looked around the room again, this time with a new perspective. My eyes scanned some of the faces around me; some of the girls looked shaken… others… well, they looked less shaken and more victorious. It made my stomach roll with nausea.

I noticed Elora standing apart from the others, which was odd for her, considering, like Vivian, she also liked to be the center of attention. The other girls seemed to enjoy talking to her as well, sof wasn’t sure why she wasn’t partaking in any of the conversations happening around her. But she looked as if she hadn’t slept all night, and her face was pale.

It almost looked like she might collapse at any moment.

As if reading my thoughts, Jasmine added, “Elora found her. In the gardens.”

My gaze snapped back to her.

“In the gardens?”

I thought back to when I was attacked and kidnapped in the gardens. A chill ran through me, something I couldn’t stifle. I wondered if the same person who attacked and kidnapped me was the same one who killed Vivian? The thought made me feel even sicker in my stomach than I already was.

Jasmine just nodded, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth.

“Vivian was apparently covered in blood. She was torn apart and barely recognizable.”

I swallowed down the bile that rose in my throat.

“So, how do we know it’s her?” I asked. “It could have been anyone, no?”

Even as I said it… I knew the truth. It wasn’t anyone… it was Vivian. She would have been here by now if it weren’t. She hated it when anything happened, and she wasn’t a part of it.

“If she were alive, she would be here,” Cora said, echoing my thoughts as she wrapped her arms around herself like she was desperate to hold herself together.

“Maybe she wants us to think she’s dead,” Jasmine muttered. “She always did like attention.”

“Not like that,” Claira said, wrinkling her nose. “She knows if she put on a performance like that, it would result in her actual

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death.”

“Do we know who did it?” asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Jasmine opened her mouth to answer, but Landon’s voice cut through the atmosphere, effectively silencing her and making us turn our attention towards him.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Landon said, standing in the center of the room.

The murmuring quieted.

“I’m sure most of you have heard by now,” he began, his gaze sweeping across the room, briefly pausing on me, “that Vivian was found murdered late last night.”

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