Chapter 5
Three days later, Vanessa fired Clara.
It happened in the main hallway, in front of half the staff. I was in my wheelchair, on my way to physical therapy, when I heard the shouting.
“You stole from me!” Vanessa screamed, holding up a diamond bracelet. “This was in your room! Admit it!”
Clara stood straight, her head held high. “I didn’t take it, ma’am. I’ve never even seen it before.”
“Liar!” Vanessa slapped her. The sound echoed off the marble walls, sharp and cruel. Clara’s head snapped to the side, a red mark blooming on her cheek. “You’re nothing but a thief and a liar. Get out of my house. Now.”
The staff stood around, watching, no one daring to say a word. Just like the ball.
I wheeled myself forward.
“Stop,” I said.
Vanessa turned to me, her face red with anger. “Stay out of this, Ethan. This is household business. She stole from me, and she’s fired.”
“Let me see the bracelet,” I said.
She handed it to me. I turned it over in my hand. It was her mother’s, the one she’d lost three months ago, the one she’d accused three other maids of stealing before she’d found it in her own jewelry box, tucked behind a pair of earrings.
“This was found in your mother’s room last week,” I said. “I remember. You told me yourself.”
Vanessa’s face went white. “That’s… that’s different. She must have stolen it again.”
“Did you search her room yourself?” I asked. “Or did Liam do it? Because he’s been in the staff wing three times this week, looking for God knows what.”
The murmurs started then, soft at first, then louder. The staff knew Liam. They knew he was trouble.
Vanessa realized she was losing. She leaned down, hissing in my ear so only I could hear.
“Keep protecting the little whore, and I’ll make sure you regret it. You think you’re clever, sitting in that chair? I know you’re faking it.”
My blood turned to ice.
She knew.
Or she suspected. Enough to be dangerous.
She turned back to the staff, her voice loud and cold. “She’s still fired. I don’t want her in this house. If any of you help her, you’re gone too.”
She stormed off, her mother trailing behind her. The staff scattered, no one daring to look at Clara.
I wheeled over to her. Her cheek was still red, her eyes glistening, but she didn’t cry.
“Come with me,” I said.
I took her to my suite, locking the door behind us. I stood up, walking to the bathroom and getting an ice pack. I handed it to her, and she pressed it to her cheek, hissing a little at the cold.
“She knows I’m faking,” I said, pacing the room. “Or she suspects. She’s dangerous now, Clara. If she thinks you’re helping me, she’ll hurt you. Bad.”
Clara set the ice pack down. “I don’t care. I’m not leaving you alone with them.”
“You have to,” I said. “For now. But it won’t be real. James will put you on the company payroll, under a different name. You’ll stay in the guest cottage at the edge of the property. No one goes there. You can come and go through the back tunnel. We’ll keep working together, but no one can know.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. But if they hurt you—”
“They won’t,” I said. “I’m not the helpless man they think I am. And soon, they’re going to find that out.”
Marcus came by an hour later with a bag of Clara’s things, sneaking her out to the cottage through the tunnel. Before she left, she turned to me, her hand on the door.
May you like
“Be careful, Ethan,” she said. “Vanessa is capable of anything.”
I nodded. “So am I.”
