The Plan

Chapter 3:

Aria's POV

I woke up staring at the ceiling of my dorm room.

Elena was asleep in the other bed, snoring softly. The clock on my nightstand said 5:47 AM. Way too early for a Sunday, but I couldn't sleep anymore.

My mind wouldn't stop.

Every time I closed my eyes I saw the crash. My mother's neck bent wrong. My father slumped over the wheel. Blood everywhere.

I sat up and pressed my palms against my eyes.

I needed to do something. Hiding didn't work the last time so I needed to be smarter. I needed a plan that would actually protect my family.

I got out of bed quietly and grabbed my laptop from my desk. The screen was bright in the dark room. I squinted and pulled up a search engine.

Matthias Ashford.

Caden's father.

Results flooded the screen. Photos from business conferences. Articles about the Ashford Security Empire. A Wikipedia page with his basic information.

I clicked on the Wikipedia entry first.

Matthias Ashford. Age 40. Lycan Alpha of the Ashford territory. CEO of Ashford Security, one of the largest private security firms in the region. Net worth estimated at over ten billion dollars.

I scrolled down.

There was a section about his personal life. Married young to Elena Ashford, weird that she had the same name as my roommate, who died ten years ago in a car accident. One son, Caden Ashford, age 19.

Since his wife's death, Matthias had been linked to dozens of women. Models, actresses, businesswomen. But never the same woman twice. The articles called him a playboy. Said he was cold, ruthless, and impossible to pin down.

I opened another tab and searched for images.

The photos showed a man who looked far too handsome to be on the same planet as me. Long, perfect hair left in messy waves. Cold blue eyes that looked right through the camera. And a body that screamed I worked out. He didn't look like a 40-year old man, if anything he looked young.

In every photo he looked untouchable.

I sat back and stared at the screen.

An idea was forming slowly, but it made a sick kind of sense.

If I could get close to Matthias, if I could make him interested in me, Caden couldn't touch me. What kind of psycho goes after his own father's girlfriend? And even if Caden was that kind of psycho, Matthias had the power to shut him down.

It was protection.

And it was revenge.

Making my bully call me stepmother? There was something perfect about that. Plus it didn't help that his father was a walking thirst trap. If Matthias did end up being just like his son though, then I'd just back off.

I opened a new tab and pulled up the Ashford Estate website. It showed off the massive property. There was an employment section.

I clicked through.

The estate employed hundreds of people. Security personnel, groundskeepers, housekeepers, kitchen staff, maintenance workers. My parents were listed under maintenance, David and Susan Lennox. Seeing their names there made my chest tight.

I scrolled through the job openings.

Part-time household staff. Flexible hours. Competitive pay.

That was it, my way in.

I clicked the application link and started filling out the form. Name. Age. Contact information. Availability, I put down evenings and weekends since I had classes during the day.

Previous experience, I stretched the truth a bit. Made my summer job at a café sound more impressive than it was.

Why do you want to work for the Ashford Estate?

I thought about what to write. Couldn't say "because I need to seduce your boss to stop his son from destroying my family." That probably wouldn't go over well.

I typed: I'm looking for part-time work to support myself through college. I'm detail-oriented, hardworking, and eager to learn in a professional environment.

Basic and boring enough to be believable.

I didn't mention that my parents worked there. That felt like it might complicate things.

I read over the application three times, checking for mistakes. Then I took a breath and hit submit.

The confirmation screen popped up. Thank you for your application. We will contact you if we wish to schedule an interview.

I closed my laptop and sat in the dark.

Now I just had to wait.

"Aria?"

I jumped. Elena was awake, propped up on one elbow, squinting at me through the darkness.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

"What time is it?" She asked.

"Like six."

"Ugh." She flopped back down. "Why are you awake?"

"Couldn't sleep."

Elena was quiet for a second. "You okay? You've been acting weird since the party."

I pulled my knees up to my chest. "I'm fine."

"You sure? Because rejecting Caden Ashford in front of everyone and then kissing a random guy is pretty not-fine behavior."

I almost laughed. If she only knew.

"He was being pushy. I needed to make a point."

"Yeah, you made a point alright. Everyone's talking about it." Elena rolled onto her side to face me. "Who was the guy you kissed?"

"Just some random guy at the bar."

"Hot random guy. I saw him. Older, right? Like way older."

I shrugged in the darkness. "I wasn't really paying attention. I just needed someone to kiss."

Elena laughed. "That's so badass. Caden looked like he was going to lose his shit."

My stomach tightened. "Yeah."

"You're not worried he'll retaliate or anything?"

I thought about the text. You just made a big mistake.

"I can handle Caden," I lied.

Elena didn't look convinced but she let it go. "Well, if he gives you trouble, tell me. I'll kick his ass."

I smiled despite everything. "What can you do? You're like five-foot-two."

"I'm scrappy."

We were both quiet for a minute. Then Elena continued, "You should try to sleep more. You look exhausted."

"Yeah. I will."

But I didn't.

I lay in bed until my alarm went off at eight, my mind spinning through scenarios. How to get hired. How to get close to Matthias. How to make him interested without being obvious about it.

I went through my Sunday in a daze.

Showered. Made coffee. I tried to study but the words on the page wouldn't stick. Elena went to brunch with some friends and invited me but I said I had homework.

I checked my email every fifteen minutes.

Nothing.

By Monday morning I was walking on needles. What if I wasn't accepted? Would I really have to be Caden's side piece?

I went to my classes but I couldn't focus. In biology I took notes on autopilot, writing down whatever the professor said without processing any of it. In English I zoned out completely until the professor called on me and I had to admit I didn't know what we were discussing.

At lunch I sat with Elena in the cafeteria.

The whispers started almost immediately.

"that's her..."

"kissed some guy right in front of Caden..."

"total slut move if you ask me..."

I kept my head down and ate my sandwich. Elena was talking about something but I wasn't particularly listening and just nodded along.

At that moment Caden's friends showed up.

There were three of them. Tyler, Marcus, and some guy whose name I didn't know. They walked past our table and Tyler made a point of bumping into me hard.

My drink spilled everywhere, soaking my sandwich, splashing onto my jeans and dripping onto the floor.

"Oops," Tyler said, his friends laughing.

They kept walking like nothing happened.

Elena shot to her feet. "Are you fucking kidding me? Hey!"

I grabbed her wrist before she could go after them. "Don't."

"They can't just..."

"Elena. Let it go."

"Why? They're being assholes."

"Because I don't want to make it worse."

Elena sat back down but she was fuming. "This is bullshit. You rejected him. They should get over it."

I cleaned up the mess with napkins.

"It's fine."

"It's not fine."

But there was nothing I could do about it right now. Getting into a fight with Caden's friends wouldn't help. I just had to survive until I had real protection.

I checked my phone under the desk during economics.

Still nothing.

The professor was droning on about supply curves and market equilibrium and I couldn't make myself care. I watched the clock. 2:47. 2:51. 2:55.

My phone buzzed.

I almost dropped it, pulling it out of my pocket.

Email from Ashford Estate.

My heart started pounding so hard I thought people around me could hear it.

I opened the email with shaking hands.

*Dear Ms. Lennox,*

*Your application has been reviewed. We would like to schedule an interview for tomorrow, Tuesday, at 4 PM. Please arrive promptly at the main house. Ask for Mr. Ashford.*

*—M. Ashford*

Yes!!

Finally.

But wait. M. Ashford? As in Matthias Ashford?

Matthias Ashford was conducting the interview himself.

That was unusual, wasn't it? The CEO of a billion-dollar company didn't normally interview part-time housekeeping staff.

Did he?