LOGINMargaretI had not slept in the hotel bed, and I had not slept any better since coming back to the house. Adrian was upstairs with the door shut. Better that way. If I saw him before I had decided what to do with him, I was going to say the thing that would make him lock it for a month, and I was not ready to be the woman shouting at a shut door in her own hall. The lawyer’s copy of Evelyn’s release sat in my bag. I had signed it to be done with the scene, not because I believed the scene was done. He had caught my wrist. In front of Doris. In front of that girl in a grey dress. I kept feeling the print of his fingers when I poured coffee I did not drink.Doris arrived before nine, which I had not invited. The man at the door let her through because she had been let through for months, and she came into the morning room with her face already ruined. No coat buttoned straight. No folder. She stood on the rug and cried the way she had cried on the phone from the
TheoFor three months, the Marcello legal team had worked quietly after the Parker family won the earlier dispute. The loss had forced us to step back, review the old agreement and determine exactly how much of the original arrangement still held any value.And it was all happening quietly.It was not enough to know that Margaret had used the agreement against Evelyn. I wanted to know what she had changed, what she had moved and which obligations she had treated as though they belonged entirely to the Parker family.By the time Evelyn's six-month service order was finally challenged, I already had most of the answers.The problem had always been Bruce.He had refused to move against the Parkers while the marriage was still carrying legal consequences. His position had been simple: protect the family structure first, deal with personal matters later.That position had kept me from doing what I believed needed to be done. Now the marriage was legally over, and the service order was bein
EvelynAfter Margaret and Doris left, I remained in the sitting room for several minutes without moving. The house had gone quiet again. My hands were still trembling, and I kept folding the apron and placing it on the arm of the chair before picking it up again. Adrian watched me from his wheelchair, his face tired from the effort of standing and from everything that had happened in the last hour.“She is going to come back,” I said. “She won't let this go.”“Whatever.”I turned toward him. At this point, I was becoming poked by his sheer non-chalance. “You know what she is like.”“I know.”He shifted in the chair and winced when his injured leg moved. “The lawyer will be here tomorrow morning. You will sign the release, and the service order will end. I will also have him remove the amount they attached to it. You won't owe this family anything for those six months.”I stared at him.“You can really do that?”“Yes.”“The lawyers may say otherwise.”“Then they can explain their posit
AdrianI came downstairs the following morning in the wheelchair because I had no intention of risking the staircase. My right leg had held me the previous day, but it was still weak, and the nurse had already told me not to push beyond what my body could manage.When I entered the sitting room, Evelyn was already there.She stood near the window wearing the black dress and apron she had been required to wear since the court order took effect. I had asked her not to put it on that morning, but she had insisted that until the paperwork was changed, she would continue following the terms of the order.Margaret was sitting on the sofa.Doris stood behind her.The moment I entered, my mother looked at me with an expression that told me she had spent the night preparing for this conversation.“You have been refusing to speak to me,” Margaret said.“I did not want an argument.”She ignored that. “Doris tells me you said several things that I assume you regret.”“I don't.”Margaret looked at
DorisI did not go back to the house after I drove away. My hands were still unsteady on the steering wheel, and I knew that if I went back upstairs, I would either say something worse to Adrian or give him another opportunity to repeat what he had just told me. I drove until the Parker gates disappeared from view, then pulled into a quiet space near a petrol station and called Margaret. She answered after a few rings, and I could hear wind, music and people talking in the background. She was clearly nowhere near a boardroom or an office.“Doris, it is evening here. What happened?”“It was a sham. It was all a sham. Bringing Evelyn into the house was Adrian’s plot to bring her close!”Margaret was silent for some time, and I could just picture what she was thinking. “You should remain calm.”I tried to speak calmly, but my voice broke before I could control it. “He told me I was worthless. He said he loves Evelyn. He said she is not a maid to him and that I have no right to use the c
EvelynThe next day, I returned to work despite myself.I spent the morning doing the usual work. Adrian had breakfast in the window chair, and apart from asking whether I had slept properly, neither of us mentioned what had happened the previous day. I was relieved by that.Around eleven, I took the rubbish out through the side path and called Kendall. I had been thinking about calling her all morning, mostly because I needed to hear someone else's voice before I started confusing what I felt with what I should do. She answered on the second ring, sounding slightly breathless.“Evie, are you all right?”“I’m fine. I just had a break and wanted to hear your voice.”“You sound strange.”I looked back toward the kitchen before lowering my voice. I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her all of it, but Damien was still in prison, and Kendall was already spending most of her time trying to help with his case. I didn't want to hand her another complicated problem.“Doris is in







