"Surprise!"
"Aww, my girl." Chef Francois sniffed appreciatively as the aroma of crispy-fried bacon and freshly-baked croissants swirled around the kitchen. "You shouldn't have—-"
She gestured to the kitchen island with flourish, saying, "I also have egg white omelettes with your favorite baby spinach prepared."
"—-but I'm glad you did, mademoiselle."
"I thought you'd say that," Juliette said with a grin as she took her apron off. "And now, I just need help with serving—-"
"We will take care of everything," one of the sous chefs, Claude, assured her. "It is the least we can do, when the lady of the house herself has cooked our breakfast."
Juliette's cheeks turned red. "I'm no lady of the house—-"
Claude immediately covered his ears. "Sorry, I am not hearing anything." He turned to his boss. "Do you hear anything, Chef Francois?"
"Not a single thing either."
Juliette was still torn between feeling amusement and further embarrassment as Claude shooed her out of the kitchen. It was nice of them to always treat her like she was the lady of the house, but she had never thought of herself that way. She might be one of the Bellecourts' wards, but the world-famous brood of siblings was just completely out of her league.
After changing into her uniform, which students of UdLA were required to wear in their freshmen year, Juliette went back down and found the dining room still empty.
Mmm.
Juliette succumbed to temptation and took a peek at the newspapers that Jean Luc liked to read with a steaming hot cup of blood-laced coffee.
Gaël Bellecourt has successfully taken over another human-owned pharmaceutical business.
Diomeds Incorporated was established in the late 1800s and considered one of the global pioneers for the development of vaccines.
It is also the fifth Fortune 500 medical enterprise that the Vice President of House Bellecourt has acquired in a span of eighteen months.
Similar to Bellecourt's previous acquisitions, this latest corporate maneuver is not without controversy. Several economists and business associations have publicly criticized the Caro entrepreneur of not even bothering to disguise his intention to monopolize the market for vaccines for vampire bites.
'Human governments must do something about this,' says Jeff Hamilton, President of the Human Rights Watch on Preternatural Abuses. 'If Mr. Bellecourt is allowed to do as he wills without punishment, then this will set a very bad precedent, and other preternatural CEOs may follow suit.'
Juliette shook her dark head disapprovingly upon reaching the end of the article.
Grr!
Mainstream media was being biased as always, and while Juliette was obviously human herself, she couldn't help feeling embarrassed and furious at the way some members of her own race were acting.
These bozos had to know that Diomeds Incorporated, just like all the other companies that Gaël previously acquired, had already been infiltrated by the enemy. But instead of letting the public know the truth, those so-called professionals still insisted on portraying Gaël as the bad guy.
Hmph!
Juliette angrily flipped to the next page to see if there was anything else written about Gaël or the Bellecourts in general. Thank God there was social media to counter all of the lies being spouted by the press, and it was why, in spite of all the negative write-ups about him, Gaël's name still ranked consistently among the Top 10 of lists that ranged from People's Hottest Preter Bad Boys to Wall Street Journal's Top 50 Preter CEOs.
Juliette reached for The Caro Examiner next, which was a bi-weekly magazine sharing the latest about the Bellecourts' race. The first few pages consisted mostly of the usual statistics for vampires that had been caught, Caros that had gone rogue, and humans that had signed exclusive blood contracts with this and that famous Caro personality. After that were articles about trending faux-blood recipes on Tiktok, an essay about an upcoming drug using Caro blood to cure human cancer, and when Juliette finally reached the magazine's section for social events and blind-item gossip, it was then she saw a colored photo of Gaël leaving a trendy restaurant with a woman in his arms.
Ouch!
Juliette knew it was pointless for her to feel hurt, but—-
Uh-oh!
The sound of the door opening had Juliette rushing back to her seat, and she already had a smile pinned on her lips as the eldest of the Bellecourt brothers walked into the dining room.
"Good morning, Jean Luc."
"Good morning, Juliette."
Jean Luc returned her greeting with a brief smile, and she knew by now that this was Jean Luc already at his most affectionate. Thirty-seven-year-old Jean Luc had a reputation of being intimidatingly aloof, and it was only for members of his family that the Caro billionaire allowed himself to loosen up with a rare smile or two.
Juliette crossed her fingers behind her back as she watched Jean Luc take his seat at the head of the table.
Dear God, I hope I've put everything back in proper order.
Everyone in this house knew she was no bookworm, and if Jean Luc were to ever figure out the truth, he would want to know why she had cared to read today's papers, and that would be the end of her.