Miss "Robin Hood"

3

Claire POV

I left the mansion through one of the back exits and nodded to Walter. I headed for the forest, passing through our backyard and exiting through the left door. I began to walk slowly, as if I were just walking around, but a I got deeper and deeper in the forest, till I reached the place where we usually met. Ten minutes later Walter appeared and we walked together through the trees until we reached the place where the horses were waiting for us. We got up on them and rode to Riddle Hall, Jackson's mansion.

When they bought the place two years ago, they found it a good joke to name it that way, given the mistery around the Owens family. The reason I had to go to them now made me feel uncomfortable, but I was glad to see him nonetheless. How nice it would be if we could show our feelings openly to people, but Jackson insisted that could not happen, because of the danger of being exposed and for their problems to affect me. A warm feeling flooded me at the thought of him, trying to protect me. It must not have been easy for him to hide, either. But I was happy anyway. I was able to be with him, even If It was secretly, without that to cause me any problems, and I was able to help them. I would do anything for him anyway.

I was proud to be able to play such an important role in my loved one's life. He trusted me so much that he made me his right hand. I was his eyes and ears and my job was to watch what was going on in our mansion and in Zander's mansion too.

Jackson wasn't a bad person, even though they thought for him as one. He just had a hard life, just like his father. Not everyone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, like Zander and I. Some people are forced to do the impossible in order to survive. In order to receive and maintain the standard to which we are accustomed, Jack and his father are forced to make difficult choices and take sacrifices.

Who could blame them for fighting off the difficulties in their lives with all methods possible? I certainly couldn't. At first, I felt bad when people blamed my sister for what I did to help Jack. I wanted to shout at the top of my voice that I was the one who stood next to my loved one and supported him, but Jack and his father explained that it would be more helpful for them if people thought Amelia was the one that helps them. Over time, I got used to it and even saw the truth in their words.

While people believed that Amelia was the one who helped Jackson and Richard, I managed to maintain a good relationship with them and even received more approval and respect than before. Everyone sympathized with me that I had to share a roof with Mia.

The truth is, I don't feel guilty about my sister because I knew she will always understand and love me. She annoys me terribly when she speaks against Jack and when she tries to separate us, but I still knew that she loved me and would always be on my side. This is the reason why she does not revealed the truth about us. No matter how disgusting people treated her, she never said a word against me. That's why I felt a little insecure when Jack wanted me to tell him what was going on with her. I suppressed my emotions and thought about how happy he would be when he found out I had new information. At this thought I got excited and spurred the horse, I could not wait to get to him.

When we finally reached his house, I waited for Walter to help me down and ran inside. "Jack, Jaaack" I turned left and hurried into their living room, but there was only Richard. He sat elegantly, reading a newspaper. When he saw my excited face, he raised his eyebrows and stood up. "Hello, Miss Anderson, what happened?"

I stood there, stepping from foot to foot. He always made me uncomfortable. "Is Jack here?" We heard some noise from the stairs to the second floor and I went to see if it was Jack. A woman was coming down, and without looking at me, she went straight out the exit. Seconds later, Jack also came down. "What's going on, why are you shouting so much, do you have something for me?"

I stood there without uttering a word.

He came in front of me and waited for an answer.

"Who was this woman?" He sighed irritably and ran a hand through his hair, looking angry. "No one, tell me what you know?" Hearing his harsh tone, I immediately turned to leave. I ran outside and told Walter to get me on the horse. He leaned to grab me, but looked behind my back and stopped. I turned and saw Jack coming towards us.

At such moments I always felt scared, because I realized that I was alone in their home and only one sign of them was needed and they would not allow me to leave their mansion. It wasn't the first time I'd seen a woman next to Jack, but there was always a reason. His reluctance to say who this woman was had provoked me to leave. "This is Beth, a woman who works for my father and we were discussing work upstairs. Now will you tell me why you're here?" Although his tone was still annoyed, I couldn't help but to feel relieved. I walked to him and hug him.

He didn't hugged me back, but I could understand. He was busy and probably tired and I just acted like a brat.

"Sorry, I was just jealous and ..." I kissed him and I was about to tell him why I came, when over his shoulder I saw Richard approaching. I waited for him to stand next to us. "Today was supposed to be the engagement, I left Amelia to get ready, and at exactly 6 o'clock Charles came alone and waited for her in the hall. All dressy, she came into the hall and saw that only me, Charles and Linda were waiting for her inside." Hearing my words, Jackson laughed, and a smile spread across Richard's face.

I felt both happy and bad. Happy, because I was the reason for the smile on Jackson's face and bad for Mia.

"And? Then what happened?" Jack was still grinning at me, waiting for me to continued.

"Then she asked why Zander didn't came. I told her he never agreed and she went crazy. She went up to her room and then she ran out. I guess she went to Zander." They kept looking at me expectantly and I said. "That's it."

My smile faded when I heard Jack, irritated again, to say. "Why didn't you wait for her to come back and find out what happened?" I looked at Richard nervously and saw that he was looking at Jack disapprovingly.

Jack looked at his father's face and said with a sigh. "Never mind. You did good. But you must find out If she really went to Zander and If yes, what happened. That b***h. That's what happens, when you think you're better than the others."

I looked at him uncertainly, if I didn't know how much he hated Amelia, I would have thought he liked her and was bitter, because of unrequited affection. But I know them both pretty well and that would be insane to think.

We all turned when we heard the sound of an approaching horse. A woman stopped in front of us, got off the animal, bowed slightly to Richard, and he slightly nodded for her to go inside. Jack grabbed my elbow and we followed them. We went down to the basement, and when we entered one of the rooms, the woman turned to Richard and told him. "We have a new successful catch, sir."