Chapter 1: THE JOB

The bus dropped me off two streets away from the Romano Estate and my shoes hurt immediately because they were the only black pair I owned, second hand, and the sole on the left side was coming loose and flapping every time I took a step.  

I pressed my hand to my side, right under my ribs, because it was hurting again and I really needed it to not hurt right now.  

Not now. Please not now.  

I pulled the small bottle from my pocket with two white pills inside and swallowed them dry because there was no water and no time, it was just kidney medication and if I didn’t take it I’d be on the ground in an hour.  

The Romano Estate was a gate and then another gate and then trees for forever and then a house so big it didn’t look real, white walls and black iron and cameras on every single corner, and two men stood at the gate with guns like this was a prison not a job interview.  

My stomach turned.  

"Name," one of them said without looking up.  

"Maya Carter," I said and my voice came out small and stupid. "I’m here for the maid job."  

He looked at a clipboard and then at me, up and down, and I knew what he saw. The only black dress I owned that was too big so I’d pinned it in the back, hair in a bun, no makeup, nothing pretty because pretty girls got noticed and I needed to be invisible more than I needed to eat.  

"Wait here," he said.  

So I waited in the sun and my side hurt worse with every minute and if I lost this job I didn’t know what I was going to do because dialysis was 4 times a week and the pills were every day and my brother was 14 and needed school fees and I had to be strong even though I wasn’t.  

The gate buzzed and inside the driveway was longer than my whole street back home and a woman was waiting at the door, maybe 50, hair in a tight bun, face like stone.  

"Mrs Delaney," she said. "Housekeeper."  

"Maya," I said.  

She didn’t smile. "Come You’re late."  

"I’m sorry The bus"  

"Don’t talk back."  

I shut my mouth and followed her inside where the house smelled like lemon and money and the floors were marble and the stairs curved and there were paintings that probably cost more than my entire life.  

My shoes squeaked and she turned around. "Quiet feet."  

"Yes maam."  

She led me to a small room off the kitchen with a bed and a sink and said "This is for you You live here You work 6 days One day off You don’t leave the property without permission You don’t speak to Mr Romano unless he speaks to you You don’t go to the west wing You don’t ask questions Do you understand"  

I nodded.  

"Say it."  

"Yes maam I understand."  

"Good Uniform is in there Be downstairs in 10 minutes We have cleaning before lunch."  

She left and I sat on the bed because it was soft and I put my head in my hands and breathed. One. Two. Three.  

Don’t cry because crying made the pain worse and the pills were starting to dull the sharp feeling but I only had maybe 6 months before I needed a transplant, maybe less, and I couldn’t think about that right now.  

I changed into the uniform, black dress, white apron, black shoes, and I looked like every other maid in every other movie which meant I was invisible and that was good.  

Downstairs three other maids were already working and they didn’t look at me once and Mrs Delaney handed me a cloth and a spray bottle. "Dust Every surface Don’t miss anything Mr Romano notices."  

"Yes maam."  

I started in the living room which was huge with a sofa big enough for 10 people and a TV bigger than my bedroom wall and I dusted slowly because my hands were shaking a little, not from fear but from the medicine because sometimes it made me tired.  

Then footsteps. Heavy.  

Everyone froze and Mrs Delaney dipped her head. "Sir."  

The other maids did the same so I did too, head down, eyes on the table.  

"Report," a voice said and it was low and cold like winter.  

"House is clean sir Staff is ready for lunch at 1 No incidents."  

"Good."  

The footsteps came closer and I could see black shoes, expensive, and they stopped right in front of me.  

"Who’s this"  

My heart dropped to my feet. "New maid sir Maya Carter Started today."  

A pause. "Look at me."  

I didn’t want to but I did and he was tall in a black suit with a white shirt open at the collar and dark hair messy like he’d been running his hands through it and gray eyes that weren’t kind, they were eyes that had seen bad things and decided to become worse.  

Salvatore Romano. The Don.  

He looked at me for 3 seconds and then looked away. "Don’t get in my way."  

"Yes sir."  

He walked out and the whole room could breathe again and Mrs Delaney pinched my arm hard. "What did I say about looking at him"  

"I’m sorry He told me to."  

"Don’t talk back."  

"Yes maam."  

My face burned and my side throbbed and lunch was bread and soup in the kitchen that I ate fast while the other maids ignored me which was fine because I wasn’t here to make friends.  

Afternoon was laundry, sheets and towels and shirts that smelled like cologne I couldn’t pronounce, and my back hurt and my side hurt but I kept working because I had to.  

At 5pm Mrs Delaney said "West wing Dust it He’s in meetings Don’t make noise" so I went to the west wing which was dark with big doors and everything covered in white sheets and it felt empty like nobody lived here.  

I started in the study with books everywhere and a desk bigger than my bed and I was dusting the frames when I saw one photo of a little girl, maybe 8, smiling, and Sal was in it too, younger, smiling too, before whatever made him cold.  

My chest hurt and not my kidney, something else, and then there was a noise and I turned.  

He was standing in the doorway. Sal. Tie loosened, jacket gone, and he looked tired and for a second he looked human.  

Neither of us moved and then his face went hard again. "What are you doing here"  

"Dusting sir Mrs Delaney said"  

"I said don’t get in my way."  

"I’m sorry" and I dipped my head and tried to walk past him but pain shot through my side sharp like a knife and I gasped and my hand went to my ribs and the spray bottle fell.  

He caught my arm before I hit the floor and his grip was strong. "Hey."  

I couldn’t answer because it hurt too much and my vision was going white at the edges. "Talk to me," he said and his voice wasn’t cold anymore it was sharp and angry. "Are you sick"  

"No," I lied in a whisper.  

"Liar."  

He lifted me like I weighed nothing and I was too dizzy to fight and he carried me out of the west wing and down the hall yelling "Delaney" until she came running. "What happened"  

"She collapsed Get the doctor Now."  

"I’m fine," I tried to say.  

"You’re not fine," he snapped and put me on a couch in the kitchen with his hand on my forehead and it was warm. "Look at me Maya."  

I did and his gray eyes were close and worried and that was worse than the cold.  

The doctor came, old man, checked my pulse and my eyes. "Dehydration And she’s in pain What’s wrong with her"  

I shook my head because don’t tell, if they knew I was sick they’d fire me.  

Sal looked at me then at the doctor. "Out Both of you."  

Mrs Delaney and the doctor left and it was just us and he crouched in front of me. "Tell me the truth."  

I stared at the floor. "I can’t lose this job," I whispered.  

"Is that why you’re hiding it"  

I nodded and a tear fell and I hated it.  

He was quiet for a long time then sighed and said "Open your bag."  

I didn’t move. "Maya Open it."  

I did and he took out the pill bottle and read the label and his jaw tightened. "Kidney How bad"  

"Bad enough."  

"How long"  

"A year Maybe more."  

"And you came here to work"  

"I need the money."  

He stood up and walked to the window with his back to me and for a minute I thought that was it, I was fired, no job, no medicine.  

"I’m not firing you," he said like he read my mind.  

I blinked. "What"  

"You heard me."  

He turned around. "New rules You don’t lift anything heavy You take breaks You see my doctor once a week And you don’t lie to me again."  

"Why" and it came out before I could stop it.  

He looked at me, really looked. "Because you didn’t scream You didn’t beg You just tried to keep working And because this house is too quiet without people in it."  

My throat closed. "Thank you sir."  

"Don’t call me sir when it’s just us."  

"What should I call you"  

"Sal."  

The name felt wrong and too familiar and too dangerous. "Try it," he said.  

"Sal," I whispered.  

He nodded once. "Eat something Then go to bed That’s an order."  

He left and I sat there for a long time and my side still hurt but not as much.  

That night I lay in my small bed staring at the ceiling because I was supposed to be invisible, that was rule 3, don’t ever make me notice you, but he noticed and I didn’t know if that was the best thing that ever happened to me or the worst because men like Sal Romano don’t notice people like me for no reason and people like me don’t survive being noticed by men like him.  

But for the first time in a year someone saw me and didn’t look away.  

I closed my eyes. Tomorrow I would clean again and pretend to be fine and try not to need him.  

But tonight I let myself breathe.