"My darling, I expected a phone call."
Yully drew a deep breath and leaned over the railing to see him. He looked small in the middle of the foyer, and he wore an insincere smile like he might any other piece of easily removable clothing.
"I'm sorry, Father. Last night upset me," she said truthfully.
"I imagine so. That man will never bother you again," he said. "Remember I'm dining with the McDonalds tonight."
"Father, may I go with you someday?" she asked. She willed herself not to think of the man named Jule trapped somewhere in the house. His nearness would drive her crazy if she were forced to be alone with him.
"We've discussed this. No one wants anything to do with something like you," he reminded her. Her face turned hot. "You forget yourself, Yully. There's one creature who can tolerate you, and that's me. Go rest for a bit. If you've forgotten this, you're tired."
She nodded and fled to her room. Despite his cold words, he'd left a present for her on the nightstand near her bed. Sometimes he did this after he'd hit her or screamed at her worse than usual. She dropped her things by the wardrobe and crossed to it, softening. Her father was hard to read and often unapproachable, but he cared for her in his own special way.
In the box was a small, simple necklace of a bronze chain and faded bronze coin. She gasped, recognizing it as the one he wore often, the heirloom passed down through his ancestors. It was better than any jewels he could buy her, because it meant something to him! Allowing a smile to escape, Yully pulled the necklace free.
He cared enough to give her his most prized possession, and he'd protected her last night against someone who meant to kill her. Maybe her fear of her father was wrong.
She placed the medallion around her neck and admired it in the mirror, vowing not to think of the man whose presence plagued her.
Her resolve lasted until her father left for dinner with their wealthy neighbors. She fingered the coin around her neck as she lay before the fire. The sense that Jule was in the house hadn't left her. If anything, the nagging feeling was growing stronger.
Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, she waited until certain her father had left then rose. The stone floors were drafty, so she put on slippers and padded into the bright hallway of her wing of the manor. Yully concentrated on the small itch in her mind that told her Jule was near. It gave her no real direction as to where to go. She walked the length of the wing and felt the feeling fade a little. Back toward the middle of the house she went and down into the foyer. She roamed the bottom floor until she reached the door off one of the kitchens.