Chapter 3 Everything Has a Price

Arthur came downstairs with dark circles under his eyes. He looked completely drained, and his tie hung crooked around his neck.

"Enough," he grumbled, rubbing his temples.

"Arthur, how did the international meeting go last night?" Bianca hurried over. "Did your AI earbuds steal the show?"

Arthur had a complicated look on his face as he looked at her. "That stupid thing translated core technology as the core of an apple. The clients thought we were joking and ended the video call on the spot."

Bianca's smile froze. "How could that happen? I paid $20,000 for the newest model."

She refused to admit she was wrong.

"The AI is probably still learning. You need to feed it more training data. Besides, those clients probably had heavy accents. That threw off the algorithm."

Arthur waved her off impatiently. "Forget it. If the project's dead, it's dead. This loss doesn't matter as long as we still hold the exclusive license for Astraea Tech's core algorithm."

Audrey walked out with her hair a mess. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and bloodshot veins covered the whites of her eyes.

She had obviously not slept at all without receiving my aromatherapy the night before.

"Sophia, go light my calming incense," she ordered out of habit.

I picked up the mop and started mopping the floor. "Mrs. Shaw, lighting incense is part of the butler's job. I'm a janitor now. I only clean floors."

Audrey flew into a rage. "You've got some nerve. I pay your salary, yet you dare talk back to me?"

Bianca quickly grabbed Audrey's arm.

"Mrs. Shaw, don't beg her. All that mystical aromatherapy stuff of hers is just snake oil. I brought you some extra-strength melatonin from overseas. It's a lot more scientific than her stuff."

Audrey hesitated. "Will it really work? My head's been killing me."

"Absolutely. It acts directly on your central nervous system and helps regulate your sleep cycle."

Bianca stuffed a bottle of pills into Audrey's hand.

…

I had finished mopping the entire first floor by noon. Once I washed the mop, I checked the time.

"It's 12 p.m. I'm on my lunch break."

So, I untied my apron and got ready to leave.

Arthur stepped in front of the door.

"Sophia, stop making a scene," he said, lowering his voice.

"We're hosting an important dinner in a few days. Bianca's parents are coming to discuss the wedding arrangements and an investment. It affects the Shaw family's business for the next year. You'll be the head chef. Just follow the same menu standards as before."

I looked at the matter-of-fact look on his face and replied blandly, "Mr. Shaw, that costs extra."

"Is money all you ever think about?" Arthur roared. "You've been living off this family for 10 years. And now cooking one meal is too much to ask?"

I ignored him, walked around him, and pushed the door open.

Bianca sneered and pulled out a stack of account statements. "Arthur, don't waste your breath. I went through the household accounts today and found a major problem with it."

She slammed the statements onto the coffee table. "Sophia, you're going to clear up these accounts even if you're planning to clock out today!"