Life In the Voltz Family

"I thought you died down there" a middle aged man glanced at the girl who had just entered the bedroom before continuing to watch the TV. He hated the sight of her, he hated to see his wife loving her and he hated that he hated her, after all, she was just a twelve year old kid.

"I was watering the flowers Sir" Stephanie replied slightly bowing. She was not as cautious with anyone else in the house but this man she was extremely wary of. As a child with her parents she had read books of Masters who tried to s*xually assault their maids and when they failed they would hate them and make their lives miserable even trying to kill them. She also read of those who were unfortunately violated so when she first saw this man, she had expected that he would be that kind of a Master because of how harshly he treated her. She assumed he was trying to intimidate her so when the time came he would have his way with her. She was wrong, very wrong.

Master Voltz had no sexual interest in her, he was not that kind of a man, fairly speaking he wasn't too horrible a person. At least he has never touched her.

"What do you want?" Edward asked angrily when he noticed she was still standing there.

"The laundry Sir" Stephanie replied, she was not longer as nervous in his presence since she knew he wouldn't hurt her, she was still cautious though just in case he was playing the long game.

"Take it and get out!" Edward spat unwilling to endure even another second of her.

"Edward, you best watch your tongue!" a cold voice came from behind Stephanie startling her as she hurried out of the way.

A blonde haired middle aged woman entered, her expression cold and reflecting her anger. Edward was startled by her arrival and he quickly looked away, of course he didn't forget to give Stephanie one last glare.

"It's okay Steph, go have your breakfast I'll do the laundry" Miss Voltz smiled kindly at the twelve year old girl who had her head still lowered. Her heart hurt to see this girl like this, she had thought that with time she and Stephanie would become friends but that didn't happen, Stephanie was not cautious with her like she was with her husband but she kept her distance. She had long come to love the little girl as a daughter, and seeing her continue to consider herself a maid hurt her more than her ex-husband ever did.

"Thank you Miss Donna" Stephanie replied and left the room after.

Donna's expression became cold and she looked up at Edward with an irritated expression.

"Donna" Edward called in a low emotional voice, he knew he had angered his wife.

"Because of you! It's because of you!" Donna started in an angry tone but by the second sentence she had begun to cry.

Edward got up from the bed and hurried to her but as he reached out she pushed him away before covering her face with her palms.

"Don't touch me, go… go away" she cried pusbing him back as he reached out but Edward was patient, he continued reaching for her shoulders until her held her firmly and brought her head to his chest. His actions made her cry even more, tears soaking his shirt as her body trembled in his arms.

Edward looked up trying hard to hold back his tears as he felt his strong wife tremble weakly.

"I'm sorry" he muttered continuously, he didn't know how many times he had apologized but every time he saw Stephanie he felt hatred rushing back into his heart and he could not control it.

Meanwhile, Stephanie reached the kitchen unaware that she had just made her Mistress cry, if only she knew how many times she had made that woman cry maybe she would change the way she handled things.

The first thing she noticed was a young boy sitting on the counter and eating chicken from a plate. As soon as he felt a presence enter the kitchen, he froze and nervously turned. On seeing that it was just Stephanie, he relaxed and smiles at her.

"If she catches you a second time I won't help you" Stephanie said to him a small smile appearing on her face.

"Why would I need your help, I'll just tell her it's yours" Adrian replied with a nonchalant shrug. His mother would never blame Stephanie no matter what she did, even when she made mistakes. Maybe she would say, "It's okay, everyone makes mistakes, just do it better next time". But if it was him, there was no mercy.

Stephanie had a high EQ so he could never be jealous, everytime he got caught doing something bad, she would take it upon herself since she wouldn't get punished anyways. And because of that, he could never bear to get jealous of her or his mother's love for her.

What neither of them knew was that Donna was well aware of their antics and she only let them be because she was happy that they were getting along just fine. She saw them both as her children so she didn't feel any odd that Stephanie was her favorite and not her biological son, because it never really came to mind that they were any different.

"Do I smell jealousy?" Stephanie joked as she took a jug of milk out of the fridge.

Adrian jumped down from the counter and collected the milk from the kitchen island where she put it and returned it to the fridge.

"Why would I be jealous? You won't even call her mother" he replied as he climbed back up. Noticing Stephanie's glare he pointed at the oven with his oily hand.

Stephanie opened the oven to see a covered plastic plate and a smile graced her face, she knew Donna would never make such a silly mistake.

"I can't" she replied as she took the plate out.

"Why not?" Adrian asked casually taking another bite, his eyes fixed on the girl curiously.

"Because of the curse" Stephanie replied subconsciously. As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze for a few seconds before trembling.

<How could I?> She wondered in her mind. Taking a fork, she hurried out of the kitchen as if running away.

"Wait, Steph, what curse? Steph?" she heard Adrain behind her fall from the counter as he tried to follow. Stopping for a moment with a worried expression, she looked back only to hear him curse at the chicken. Not daring to stay any longer, she rushed to her room and shut the door.

Adrain was Donna and her ex-husbands son, she gained custody of him during the divorce and brought him into the marriage. Edward had a daughter with his late wife too but she was kidnapped and they hadn't heard from her since after paying the ransom money, this was why he hated Stephanie so much because she reminded him of his daughter.

Stephanie was ten when she first, joined this family and she had been with them for two years now and yet it seemed like she had always been here. Adrian was older than her by three years, he was fifteen this year and he was the one she was closest with. In school, he was always there to defend her and yet he would run to her when he was getting bullied so she would defend him even when he was capable of taking care of himself. He claimed it was a full circle.

They had no school today because of the snow storm outside so it was one of the days when they would have to all spend time in the house together. However, she knew that as usual Mrs Donna would probably get a call in a few minutes asking her to come into the office.

The family wasn't very wealthy but they lived an above average life. Donna heard from Adrian that his mother had a lot of money before marrying Edward but after the marriage, they lost the money to kidnappers. She never asked about Edward's missing daughter so that was all she knew.

Climbing onto her window frame, she stared at the world outside in curiosity trying to find a pattern in the blizzard. The cold was biting and snow made it's way into her room but before it could settle to the floor, it was sucked into the vents on the wall. Opening the plate in her hand, she readied her fork to eat only to see a big piece of chicken resting on the salad Donna had prepared for her. She smiled knowing very well how chicken got in there. Picking it up, she looked down for the wolf cubs that would usually play on the snow but the storm obscured her vision, even if it didn't she knew there was nothing there, they would be hiding in their den by now.

<I'll save it for you then>, she thought to herself and set the chicken on the cover of her plate.

Halfway into her breakfast, her door opened and Adrian rushed in.