The Deception Uncovered

Chapter 3: The Deception Uncovered

The maid tapped Noah gently on the shoulder. "Mr. Bennett, you need to wake up right now. Young master wants you out of bed."

Noah opened his eyes, wincing at the sharp soreness in his hips. 

He pulled out the white duvet over his bare chest and sat up slowly. "Where is Gabriel?"

"He is down the hall in his private study, sir," the maid said, handing him a black robe. "I brought you some warm tea to help with your pain."

"Thank you," Noah shylishly whispered, slipping his arms into the wide sleeves of the robe.

I quickly picked up the porcelain tea cup and left the maid in the room, he walked down the hallway towards the directed study.

As he approached the entrance, Gabriel’s deep voice echoed clearly from inside the room.

"The final payment has been sent to your account, Arthur," Gabriel said into his phone. "The entire deal is completely settled."

Noah stopped dead in his tracks outside the door, utterly confused about what he just heard.

"Everything worked out exactly as we discussed," Gabriel continued over the line. "And Noah is also very fragile, that's a gain for you. I will be sending some contractors your way too."

Noah's mind went completely blank as the tea cup slipped from his fingers, crashing against the floor and shattering into tiny pieces.

Gabriel snapped his head toward the doorway, instantly ending the phone call. "Who's there?"

Noah kicked the door wide open, his voice shaking with pure fury. "You did what?!"

Gabriel stood up calmly from his armchair, his face showing no emotion. "Go back to the bedroom, Noah. I only told the maid to wake you, I didn't order them to send you here."

"You paid my uncle!" Noah screamed, stepping right into the middle of the room. "The whole thing was a setup between you and Arthur!" He ignored what Gabriel just said.

"Watch your tone with me," Gabriel warned, stepping around his desk. "You signed a binding contract. You belong to me now."

"I signed a lie!" Noah yelled, tears streaming down his face. "My own uncle sold me to you!"

"Your uncle never cared about you," Gabriel said. "Arthur brought me the idea himself. He took fourteen million dollars to hand you over on a silver platter."

"You are a monster!" Noah spat, his hands trembling with rage.

"I am a businessman who got what he wanted," Gabriel replied, walking closer. "And what I wanted was you."

Gabriel reached out to grab his wrist, but Noah spun around and sprinted down the long hallway. 

He ran back into the master bedroom, and slammed the door shut, then turned the lock into place.

He dragged a chair across the floor and jammed it right under the door handle, his chest heaving as he wiped his wet face with his robe.

A loud knock rattled the door frame a second later. "Noah, open this door immediately."

"No!" Noah screamed back at the closed panel. 

"Leave me alone! I am never opening this door for you!"

"I am giving you three seconds," Gabriel said coldly from the other side. "Or I call the estate workers up here to break the lock, and that will make me punish you."

Noah stayed right where he was near the door, pressing his back against the door, refusing to move a single step.

Gabriel pulled out his phone and made a call. "Send two maintenance men up to my private bedroom with lock breaking tools right now."

Five minutes later, footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. "Young master, we are here."

"Break the latch," Gabriel ordered. And without any conversation one of the workers jammed a long metal pry bar into the seam of the door frame, applying heavy pressure right where the lock is. 

Noah shoved his whole weight against the door from the inside, crying out as he tried to keep the door from giving way.

"Push harder," Gabriel commanded from the hall.

With a loud crunch, the lock snapped cleanly off the door. 

Gabriel pushed the door open with force, knocking the chair aside and sending Noah tumbling backward on the floor.

Gabriel walked inside, stepping over the broken lock pieces on the floor. He waved his hand at the two workers. "Clear out."

The men bowed quickly and hurried back down the hall, closing the damaged door behind them as if it would stay. It did stay by the way.

Gabriel walked directly up to Noah, standing right over his shaking body on the floor. He leaned down, grabbed Noah by his robe, and hauled him up to his feet.

"Do not ever walk out on me again," Gabriel warned. "And do not ever lock a door against me in this house."

Noah glared up at him, tears rolling down his eyes. "I hate you. I will never obey you."

"You will learn your place very quickly," Gabriel said, gripping his robe neck tighter. "Since you have so much energy to run around, yell, and break my property, you will spend the rest of the day cleaning this mansion."

Noah stared at him in utter disbelief. "What?"

"You heard me," Gabriel said, his eyes narrowing. "You will scrub every floor, every hallway, and every room in this compound from top to bottom."

"I am not your maid!" Noah yelled, trying to twist out of his grip.

"You are whatever I tell you to be," Gabriel stated coldly. "You do not get a single bite of food or a drop of rest until this entire place is spotless. If I find one speck of dirt, you start all over again."

Gabriel shoved Noah toward the hallway, and outside the room. "Butler, bring the cleaning supplies up now."

Minutes later, the elderly butler walked into the room, holding a plastic bucket, a bottle of floor cleaner, a scrub brush, and a stack of yellow rags. He set them down right at Noah's feet.

Gabriel looked down at Noah one last time, adjusting the cuffs of his suit. "Start with the main foyer downstairs. I want it glowing before brunch is ready."

Gabriel turned and walked back towards his study, after telling the butler to tell the maintenance crew to come repair the door.

Noah stood alone in the hallway, staring down at the bucket and the scrub brush on the floor. 

His body was aching from last night s*x, his knees were weak from this little back and front, and his heart was completely broken from his family's betrayal.

He slowly reached down, picked up the bucket handle, and dragged the cleaning supplies towards the foyer to begin his punishment.