Chapter 4

4

ANGELA’S POV

I slipped quietly through the heavy oak door of Carmela’s bedroom on the first floor. She was busy screaming her head off at the kitchen staff downstairs, so I knew the coast was totally clear.

"Alright, Carmela," I whispered to the empty room, trailing my fingers over the edge of her perfectly made bed. "Let's see what dirty little secrets you're hiding under here."

I dropped to my knees on the cold floor and pulled out a heavy cardboard box from under the wooden bed frame. Inside the dusty box was a stack of boring cooking magazines and a thick, cheesy romance novel with a shirtless, muscular pirate painted on the cover.

"A romance novel? Seriously?" I laughed softly, tracing the pirate's painted chest with my fingernail. "Carmela, you dirty dog. I thought you only loved making my life a living hell. Turns out you like a bad boy with a sword, too. Who would have guessed?"

I flipped the thick book open. The middle pages were completely hollowed out, cut into a neat little square with a sharp knife. Inside the secret hole was a fat, beautiful stack of crisp, green hundred-dollar bills.

"Hello, gorgeous," I purred softly, picking up the stack of cash and fanning it out against my cheek. The smell of old paper and dirty money was the absolute best perfume in the world.

I counted the bills quickly. Over three thousand dollars. I stood there, staring at the money, thinking about the past ten years of my life. Ten years of this bitter woman stealing from the rich family and blaming me for it. Ten years of Mrs. Bellini docking my tiny, pathetic paycheck because Carmela pointed her fat finger at the easiest target in the room.

"Consider this my back pay, sweetie," I smiled, sliding the entire stack of bills right down the front of my shirt. I patted my chest. "Thanks for doing the heavy saving for me. I'll put it to much better use."

I slipped out of the bedroom, completely undetected, and grabbed my wooden mop bucket to start my morning cleaning duties. The whole house was buzzing with crazy, nervous energy for the massive welcome banquet tonight.

As I dragged my bucket down the long marble hallway, I spotted Rosa. She was another young maid, scrubbing the baseboards on her hands and knees.

I still felt unsure if the system's visions were truly reliable. Carmela’s hollowed-out book was a very good start, but I wanted hard, undeniable proof before I risked my life on a blue screen.

"System," I whispered, leaning my chin against my mop handle. "Use the Eye of Destiny on Rosa."

[TARGET: ROSA PEREZ.] [HIDDEN TRUTH: ACCIDENTALLY SPILLED BLEACH ON THE BLUE SILK CURTAINS IN THE GUEST ROOM AND HID THE STAIN BEHIND A CHAIR.] [NEAR FUTURE: SHE WILL RECEIVE A PHONE CALL IN EXACTLY TWO MINUTES CONFIRMING HER BOUNCED RENT CHECK HAS FINALLY CLEARED.]

I smirked, licking my lips. "Well then, let's play a little game and find out."

I walked over to Rosa, swaying my hips slowly, and nudged her shoe gently with the toe of my boot. "Hey there, beautiful. You're scrubbing so hard, you're going to put a permanent hole in the expensive floor."

Rosa looked up, wiping a line of dirty sweat from her forehead. "Angela, leave me alone, please. I'm so stressed out. If Mrs. Bellini sees a single spot of dust today, she'll fire us all. You know how she gets."

"Oh, relax," I teased, squatting down right next to her. I lowered my voice to a playful, husky whisper. "Besides, aren't you more worried she's going to find those expensive blue silk curtains in the guest room first? You know, the ones with the giant bleach stain you are hiding behind the armchair?"

Rosa’s face turned the color of white chalk. Her dark eyes bugged out of her head. "How... how do you know about that? Angela, I swear to God, it was an accident! Please don't tell the head housekeeper! I'll do your laundry for a whole month! Please!"

"Calm down, honey," I laughed softly, patting her shaking shoulder. "Your dirty little secret is perfectly safe with me. I'm not a snitch. But you really might want to stop stressing so much. Good things are coming your way today."

"Good things? Like what?" she sniffled, looking like she was about to cry.

"Like that rent check," I purred, giving her a slow wink. "I have a very strong feeling it's going to clear today."

Rosa frowned, looking totally confused and lost. "My rent? What are you talking about? The bank called and said it bounced yesterday..."

Ring. Ring.

The cheap cell phone in Rosa's apron pocket suddenly buzzed loudly. She pulled it out with trembling hands. Her eyes widened as she read the caller ID on the cracked screen.

"Hello?" she answered, her voice shaky. She listened closely for a few seconds. "It did? The check actually cleared? Oh, thank God! Thank you so much!"

She hung up the phone and looked up at me like I was a magical witch. "Angela... how did you do that?"

"Just a lucky guess, gorgeous," I smiled, standing back up and grabbing my mop. "Have a great day scrubbing."

As I walked away, a cold, sharp chill of pure certainty ran right down my spine. The money in my shirt was real. The bleach stain was real. The phone call happened exactly on schedule. When Rosa sighed with relief, I finally believed it. This is real. I have the ultimate cheat code to survive the end of the world.

Just as I turned the corner, I spotted another young maid carrying a basket of fresh laundry. I almost opened the system to read her, just to test it again for fun.

But I stopped myself. I only get three readings a day. I couldn't waste my very last insight on a random maid. I needed to save it for someone who might actually matter to my grand survival plans tonight. I needed to read someone with money, power, or weapons.

Instead, I decided to wait and see if the second part of Carmela's fortune played out exactly the way I expected it to.

It does.

Before I could walk back to the kitchen, a loud, piercing scream echoed through the massive front hall.

"Carmela! Bring the tea set right now! The guests will be arriving soon!" Mrs. Bellini shrieked from the grand living room.

I walked over and leaned against the curved wooden banister of the main staircase, getting a perfect front-row seat to the upcoming show.

Carmela came rushing out of the dining room. She was sweating heavily, holding a massive, heavy silver tray. Sitting right on top of it was Mrs. Bellini’s most prized possession: a fragile, hand-painted antique tea set worth more than my whole life.

"I'm coming, Madam! I have it right here!" Carmela yelled back, walking as fast as her short, fat legs could carry her.

I watched her shiny black shoes. Three... two... one...

Carmela's shoe caught the thick, raised edge of the expensive Persian rug.

"Oh!" she gasped loudly.

She flew straight forward. The silver tray flipped high into the air. Time seemed to slow down completely as the beautiful antique teapots and delicate little cups rained down onto the hard, unforgiving marble floor.

CRASH! SMASH! SHATTER!

The noise was deafening. White porcelain exploded into a million tiny, sharp pieces, sliding all the way across the floor to the front door.

Mrs. Bellini stormed out of the living room like a furious, raging hurricane. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring down at the ruined, shattered mess. Her face turned bright purple.

"Madam... I... I tripped!" Carmela cried, dropping down onto her hands and knees right in the middle of the broken glass. She started grabbing the sharp pieces with her bare hands, completely panicked. "It was an accident! I swear on my life!"

"You clumsy, stupid, useless pig!" Mrs. Bellini screamed at the top of her lungs, tearing into her. Her voice was so loud it hurt my ears. "Do you have any idea how much that set costs? It is irreplaceable! It belonged to my wealthy grandmother!"

"I'm sorry! Please, I'll clean it up!" Carmela wept, heavy tears streaming down her red cheeks.

"You will do no such thing!" Mrs. Bellini shrieked, pointing a long, manicured finger right at Carmela's face. "You are stripped of your pay! Three entire months! You will not see a single penny for three months, you clumsy fool! If you say one word, you are fired!"

"Three months?" Carmela sobbed loudly, holding a piece of a broken cup against her chest while she wept on her knees.

"Shut your mouth and get out of my sight!" Mrs. Bellini yelled.

Angela watches from the stairs, feeling something like pure satisfaction blooming in her chest after years of taking that exact same brutal treatment herself. Seeing her bully crying on her knees was the best show I had ever seen.

But as I watched Carmela crawl away to clean her bleeding hands, I noticed something incredibly important. My playful smile slowly faded.

This tea set incident never happened in my first life.

I remembered this morning perfectly. Carmela never tripped on the rug ten years ago. The tea set never broke. Things are already changing because of my presence. Taking Carmela's hidden cash must have made her anxious and distracted, leading to the mistake.

I crossed my arms, t

hinking hard. Did I care that the timeline was breaking?