Alaric's fork paused briefly.
"It's not entirely a lie."
"She said Elena's trying very hard to maintain the image of this relationship," Daniel replied carefully. "Too hard infact."
Alaric leaned back slightly in his chair, suddenly losing some of his appetite.
"I noticed."
Daniel observed him closely before continuing, "I feel like she's desperate to stay away from her own house. Don't you think that's strange?"
That question lingered heavily between them because unfortunately… Alaric had already started thinking the same thing himself.
"I don't understand something," he muttered after a while. "If she hates her situation with her parents so much, then why doesn't she just leave?"
Daniel gave him a tired look. "Because life doesn't work that easily for families like theirs."
Alaric frowned.
Daniel continued quietly, "What if she's simply following Victor Vaughn's orders? After all… she did tell you she wants this marriage to happen even if everyone is against it."
