CHAPTER 5

I followed blindly behind another maid who’d been instructed to teach me everything I needed to know. She led me through a kitchen that looked like it was larger than my entire house.

“Whoa,” I stopped and opened my mouth in awe.

“Keep walking.” The maid in front of me snapped.

I turned around so fast that I almost tripped and fell over.

The kitchen had two other doors. One that looked like it led to the back of the house. The second door opened to reveal a guard standing at the top of the stairs that must lead to a basement area. I watched in confusion as he quickly patted the maid up and down before doing the same to me.

“Why did he search us?” I asked, deciding that I was tired of her silence.

“Mrs Caldwell is very particular about the searches. It’s to make sure we’re not taking anything into the quarters that shouldn’t be there.”

“Hmm,” I mused.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. My name is Hannah by the way, but we mostly go by last names, so call me Morgan.”

Hannah Morgan. The name sounded familiar. Paired with her faded blonde hair that was almost white and her tanned skin, it could only mean one thing. “You’re from…?”

“Sleepy Hollow. Same as you. I know your sister. It’s sad what happened to her. I believe it must’ve been a big misunderstanding. Aria would never steal.”

The mention of my sister’s name brought back the feeling of guilt that I had temporarily forgotten since being in this house. “Yeah…” I agreed quietly. “Aria would never do something like that. I’m Lani. Lani Grey.”

“I don’t know you though,” Hannah said as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “But I certainly will.”

I couldn’t help but be alert. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I just mean that you’re going to be working long hours here, hence the sleeping quarters. You won’t always be able to go home at the end of the day. I don’t know who hired you, or what they told you about the job, but it starts to wear on you.”

I frowned.

“It’s not all changing sheets and serving or cleaning dishes. In this house, you have to look without seeing and hear without listening. We’re like objects here. Just living statues meant to serve.”

She stepped further into the dark basement and flicked on a light bulb. “You’ll understand better when you have to sign the NDA. Especially now, with the shooting that happened at the gala. The Caldwells are being very watchful.”

The basement had been transformed into a room for the maids. It had a row of thin beds and what looked like a bathroom off to the side. It wasn’t much, but I guess servants didn’t need much. Hannah said some of the maids lived here permanently and only went to visit their families occasionally.

She handed me a uniform that was the same shade of gray as hers. “Change into this, quickly.”

“Oh.” I quickly took off the jeans and black top that I had on and slipped into the scrubs I’d been given.

“Quick. We’re meeting the rest in the kitchen.”

“The rest of who?” I asked as I started slipping my shoes back on.

Hannah was already going back up the stairs. “Keep up, Grey. I don’t want to have to hold your hand.”

___

The head housekeeper was the same tight-lipped woman I’d met at the party. She looked like a war general disguised as head housekeeper. Her hair was in a tight bun and her spine was straight as a rod. Her uniform was crisp, sleeves rolled to the elbow, clipboard in hand.

“You’re the new girl,” she said, not asking.

“Yes.”

“Name?”

“Lani Grey.”

She looked at me like she could already tell that I wasn’t going to make her life easier. I silently prayed that she wouldn’t recognize me from the night before.

“I’m Ms. Blue. You’ll be working under me.”

That sounded less like a welcome and more like a sentence.

“I run the domestic staff. That means if the Caldwells want fresh towels, you bring them. If they want goldfish with their sushi, you find a pond.”

My eyebrows almost rose, but I swallowed the reaction.

“I do not want you to be clever. I do not want attitude. I want quiet, fast and invisible.” She paused. “Can you manage that, Ms. Grey?”

“Of course,” I lied.

“Good. You’ll shadow Letty today. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Don’t touch anything unless told. If you break something, you pay for it.”

The uniform scratched at my skin. The new shoes I was given were too tight. I looked at myself in the mirror and barely recognized the girl staring back.

I’d worn disguises before. Masks. Hoodies. Broken smiles.

But this felt different.

This wasn’t a disguise I put on. It was one they gave me.

Everything in the house was polished and deliberate, just like the people who lived in it.

Letty was short, with wiry brown hair and a face that had probably only smiled once in 2003. She didn’t introduce herself, she just handed me a duster and a warning glance.

“Don’t touch the piano. The youngest Caldwell flipped when someone moved the bench last time.”

I nodded, biting my tongue.

The hours that followed were quiet, exhausting, and tense. My arms ached from scrubbing. My legs hurt from climbing stairs. Every time I passed a Caldwell, I flinched instinctively.

And every time I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the shiny surfaces, I saw it in my own eyes:

I don’t belong here.

I thought about leaving. It was America. Surely I was free to leave if I didn’t want the job. Right?

But something told me I would regret it if I did. It didn’t look like Dean had told his family what happened at the party. And if he was being merciful, then I would take it. The last thing I wanted was to get my family in more trouble than I already had.

I was nearly done wiping the mirrors in the hallway outside the east gallery when I heard laughter.

Light, flirtatious, and clearly coming from someone who’d never had to scrub blood out of a secondhand carpet.

I paused, peering around the edge of the marble column.

Mason Caldwell stood near the double doors, grinning like sin, talking to a girl dressed in the same uniform as me. She was twirling her hair, and biting her lip like she was trying not to giggle. I almost rolled my eyes.

His tie was half-loosened, his jacket thrown casually over one shoulder like he’d walked out of a fashion ad. I watched him lean in, say something low, and she laughed again— this high, breathy thing that made my skin crawl.

Not because I cared, but because it was unexpected. I may have just met Evelyn Caldwell this morning, but something told me she wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of her son frolicking with a maid. And something told me that Mason knew that. He knew how bad his actions could be for the poor girl, but still, he didn’t care.

Of course he was charming. Of course he was careless with people.

I stepped back before they could see me, the rag in my hand clenched tight. But it was too late.

“You!” He bellowed out just before I could round the corner again.

“Shit.” I muttered under my breath and meekly showed my face.

The maid was gone.

“You think you can sneak around and eavesdrop on me?” Mason asked condescendingly.

“I wasn’t doing that. I didn’t see anything.”

He marched over to me, and the sound of his shoes against the polished floors sounded like the threat that it was. He only came to a stop when he was at eye level with me.

“I don’t know where my brother found you or what you think you’re doing, but if I ever catch you spying on me again…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t have to.

I nodded quietly, expecting him to just walk off now that he had made his point. But he was a Caldwell after all, and one thing they knew how to do well was put people in their place.

Mason took a swig out of the wine glass in his hand, lifted his hand and twirled the glass expertly with his fingers, and then… he let it go.

I gasped as the wineglass shattered, sending shards and dark red liquid everywhere.

Mason had a smirk on his face when I looked up in surprise.

“It’s a good thing you’re here,” he said cockily. “Get on your knees and clean that up.”