Chapter 4

However, Wendy's use of "glorified maid" shattered everyone's assumptions about me.

Just when things were getting awkward, Alfie appeared. He took my hand, the matching diamond band on his ring finger sparkling brightly.

That one gesture was enough to make it clear whose side he was on.

Wendy's face went white. Just when everyone was about to start digging into my background, the notoriously tight-lipped Alfie finally spoke.

"She is… my… fiancee."

Not the most perfect delivery, but there was no hesitation in his tone.

The guests immediately turned their disdain toward Wendy.

"I know her. She's a mid-level manager at some company. Dated several guys, and none of them worked out. If you ask me, she's the one trying to become Mr. Lawson's maid."

"Seriously. His fiancee has been with him for ten years. How does she have the nerve to call her a maid? Talk about not knowing her place."

Wendy tried to argue, but her face had already gone red.

In the end, Alfie took me home. To reward him, I cooked an entire tableful of dishes myself.

He didn't touch his food. He kept staring at his phone. When I urged him to eat, he showed me some urgent documents from the company and then left.

Little did he know, he had left his laptop on. Right there on the screen was his latest notification.

"You and Wendy Brown are now friends."

He had just accepted Wendy's friend request.

…

That day, Alfie hadn't come home at all.

Normally, I wouldn't have cared, but today was our engagement anniversary. So, I called him. He didn't answer.

Just as the clock was about to strike midnight, a friend sent me a video.

In it, Wendy was clearly drunk, crying and screaming as she tried to throw herself into the raging river. Alfie was desperately holding her back.

Through the wind and rain, he never stopped talking. It was the first time in ten years that I had heard him speak so fluently.

I turned the volume all the way up and caught fragments of what he was saying.

"What do you mean I abandoned you? You were the one who dumped me back then! Wendy, please don't jump! If you need money, I'll give it to you. If you need connections, I'll give you connections!

"You don't have to throw your life away like this!"

Not a single pause, not a single stammer. He was back to his old debater self.

My future mother-in-law called me. "Pheeb, the arrangements for the business in Vespera are pretty much settled. You should come back home and start working here."

I didn't refuse. Her meaning couldn't be any more obvious.

She had agreed to let Alfie get engaged to me because he could only speak when I was around. Now that there was a woman who had managed to fully cure him, I was no longer useful.

The high-paying job back home was her way of compensating me.

My friend sent me the location of a hotel. She wanted me to get there immediately and stop them.

I thought about it for a moment, then grabbed the half-box of condoms we had left.

When I knocked on the hotel room door, Alfie hadn't even had time to change. His shirt was soaked through from the rain, clinging to his body and outlining his lean frame.

Water was still dripping from the ends of his hair. Meanwhile, Wendy was already sitting on the couch in a dry silk nightgown, her hair half-dried. The towel she had used was clenched in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Alfie asked me, his voice smooth.

I handed him the condoms. "They don't sell these at the hotel. I happened to be passing by."

Wendy turned her head toward me, her expression dimming instantly. "What, you think I'm like you, selling my body the moment I see money?"