The climb up to her bedroom window should have been a difficult one. Except that Autumn had been making it almost every week since she’d done her first job at thirteen.

At first, the jobs had been her falling in with the wrong crowd, but after that, it had been for the thrill. Though the money was good too, but she didn’t need that. Not when she lived with her parents still. She wished she didn’t, but every time she tried to bring it up, they made excellent points about why she shouldn’t leave. Even if she was twenty-three.

She hoisted herself over the sill, and over onto the desk she’d placed there purposefully for this reason. Her work was her passion. It was the only thing that drove her. Her purpose so to speak. Everyone thought she was just the spoiled daughter of rich parents. But she knew far better.

“Where have you been?”

Autumn jumped as her father’s voice boomed through the room. At least she didn’t have any of her spoils with her, she was smart enough not to bring those home with her. As much as they tried to control her, she didn’t want them getting into trouble on her account.

“Out,” she responded. He didn’t need to know, and she wasn’t about to tell him. He’d probably try and ground her for life.

“Where?”

“With friends,” she answered. Technically not a lie. If she counted her tools as friends. Most people probably wouldn’t. But still.

“Really, Autumn? Most of your friends were at the ball tonight. Like you should have been.”

Shit. That wasn’t a good sign. She’d not forgotten about the ball per say, more like just not gone. She found them deathly boring. All the forced politeness and uncomfortable clothing. Not to mention nothing to actually gain from it. She didn’t want to be in a position of power. And she certainly didn’t want to be considered for a position on the Council when the time came. Unlike most dryads her age.

“Your brother was there too. With his mate.”

Double shit. Ever since Felix had brought his mate home, their parents had been getting on about when Autumn would find her own, and settle down to have children. Basically, everything she didn’t want.

“I was busy,” she muttered, not looking her father in the eye. He could sense a lie from her, she was sure. Though that could just be a childhood memory still making her think that.

“You can’t just skip out on important functions. We have a reputation to uphold, and I won’t have Aaron Dentro thinking I can’t control my children. First Felix and going for a witch, and now you, doing whatever you are.”

“You love Mia,” she pointed out, hating the way he was talking about her sister-in-law. And it was true, they did love Mia, they had done from the moment Felix brought her home.

“Yes, but she’s not a dryad.”

“Neither is Xylia Dentro’s mate,” Autumn pointed out, proud of herself for actually remembering that, even if she couldn’t remember exactly what the man was. There’d been a certain amount of muttering when the two of them had gotten married though, which was always welcome for breaking up the monotony of life.

“That’s not the point, Autumn.” She could hear the shadow of anger in his voice, and if she’d been a weaker woman, she might have trembled. She was used to her father though, and he was all threat, with no actually bite. He wouldn’t do anything to her. She was his little girl after all.

“But Daddy...”

“Stop,” he commanded. Oh no, this wasn’t going to go as well as she hoped then. “I need to decide what to do with you.” He motioned for her to move away from the window, and she left reluctantly. She hated being made to feel like she was some snotty teenager again, and every now and again, he managed to do just that. She knew he loved her, and they had a good relationship, other than right this second, and the whole Autumn having to go to balls bits. But he didn’t see her as an actual woman. She was still a little girl. Which was all very well, but when she was a sort after...no, she wasn’t about to think about it here. She didn’t bring her work home with her.

He leaned forward and clicked the lock on the window, removing the key almost instantly and pocketing it. Autumn almost laughed. If he thought that was her only way out of the house, then he had another thing coming. Rule one of what she did: always have an alternative escape route, sometimes her life might depend on it. Maybe no her life, really. But her freedom certainly. That was definitely at risk most weeks. She’d stop, but the adrenaline was too much for that.

“Good night, Autumn, I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

Ominous, but she could go with it. The morning gave her plenty of time to prepare for what was to come. She might need to message saying she couldn’t do any jobs for a few days. But that was the way things had to fall. Even if she didn’t like it. Withdrawal was very, very real, and she was more than likely going to end up suffering badly.

“Good night, Dad,” she replied, smiling at him as sweetly as possible in an attempt to feign innocence. She might need to get one of her friends to text her and pretend they were at a midnight rave or something. Anything was better than him finding out the truth. At least at this stage.

The door clicked shut, and she sighed, flopping down on to her huge double bed. The soft mattress dipped beneath her and she stretched out. It was possibly too much for one person, but that was her family all over. Her father had made good money in the past few years, and he’d upgraded massively to show it off. Autumn wasn’t so sure about it herself, she’d rather have kept it all a little more private.

Reluctantly, she sat up again, knowing it was time to message the Boss and tell him her job was done, and that she was out of commission for a few days. Hopefully he’d understand. He knew who she was and what she had to deal with after all, so it wasn’t like he could say too much about it.

Complete. Dropped in normal place. Out of town for a few days. She hit send before really thinking about it. She knew how to write vague anyway, and understood why. What she was up to wasn’t exactly legal, she didn’t want to get caught out by something as simple as a text message.

Her phone chirped, and she glanced back down at her hand, only just realising she’d zoned out as she’d thought. Acknowledged.

She snorted. If it were up to her, the Boss would reply far less stiffly. Not because she wanted him to be friendly or anything, but more because it’d be less suspicious. Formal language was pretty much a way for anyone to recognise red flags for what they were. Idiots, the lot of them. They had no idea what was truly good for the business. Now if she were in charge...

She refused to go there. What she was doing was fun, there was no doubt of that, but it wasn’t what she wanted for her entire life. She didn’t want to be a thief really, she just wanted excitement. But up until now, none had really presented itself to her.