All Chapters of The Maid's Deception: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

ARIA'S POVThe taxi ride to Mount Sinai Hospital felt endless. Aria sat in the back seat, her hands trembling in her lap, staring out the window without seeing anything.Patient moved to ICU. Condition critical. Family should come immediately.The text from the hospital had been clinical, professional, but Aria knew what it really meant: Come say goodbye.Her phone buzzed again. Marcus.Just visited your mom. She's asking for you. Aria, it's bad. Really bad.She typed back with shaking fingers: I'm on my way.The guilt was suffocating. While she'd been hiking with Damien, while she'd been standing in that greenhouse staring at the plants that could save her mother's life, while she'd been falling deeper in love with a man she was planning to betray. her mother had been dying alone in a hospital bed.What kind of daughter was she?The taxi pulled up to the hospital entrance at 2:47 PM. Aria paid quickly and rushed inside, her heart hammering so hard she thought it might break through h

DAMIEN'S POVDamien had received the text from James at 5:32 PM.She was at Mount Sinai Hospital. ICU floor. Stayed approximately 90 minutes. Left extremely distressed. Currently returning to estate. ETA 45 minutes.He'd stared at the message for a long time, his chest tight with conflicting emotions.Mount Sinai. ICU. Her mother.He'd known, of course. Had known since the day Aria Chen walked through his door with her forged references and desperate lies. Had known her mother Mei Chen was dying of Wasting Syndrome. Had known that was why she was here, why she'd infiltrated his home, why she was planning to steal from him.But knowing it intellectually was different from the reality of her spending ninety minutes in an ICU, watching her mother die, breaking apart in a hospital parking lot.The rational part of him the part that had constructed this elaborate game, that was waiting for her to confess, that needed her to choose honesty over deception said to wait. Let her come to him. D

DAMIEN'S POVDamien hadn't slept after leaving Aria in his bed the night before. Instead, he'd spent hours in his study, making plans, pulling strings, arranging what would either be the most romantic gesture of his life or the biggest risk he'd ever taken.By 6 AM, he had confirmations:Reservation at Alinea, impossible to get, but his name opened doors Private viewing at the Morrison Gallery....they were featuring emerging artists And most importantly: confirmation that one "A. Ren" original was part of the collectionHe'd bought that painting six months ago at an underground art auction, drawn to the raw emotion in the brushstrokes, the way pain and hope tangled together on canvas. He'd had no idea at the time that the mysterious artist A.Ren was the same woman who would later infiltrate his home.But he knew now. And tonight, he was going to watch her face when she saw her own work displayed in a prestigious gallery, bought and cherished by someone who'd recognized its value befo

Damien had been planning this since they'd left the restaurant. Had been thinking about it all through dinner, all through the gallery, every moment he'd been sitting beside her looking composed and controlled while hismind had been full of images of her falling apart.Now, watching her squirm in the passenger seat, her breath coming faster, her hands gripping the edge of her seat....it was everything he'd fantasized about.He adjusted the vibrator to a pulsing pattern....three short bursts, one long...and watched her reaction.Her back arched slightly, her thighs clenching together instinctively. "Oh god....""Spread your legs," he commanded. "I want you open. No trying to ease the pressure."She obeyed with a whimper, her legs falling apart, the silk dress riding up slightly."That's better. Now tell me.....did you enjoy tonight?""Yes," she managed. "It was....oh....it was perfect.""What was your favorite part?" He increased the intensity, watching her face in the dim light from

ARIA'S POVThe drive back to the estate was quiet, both of them lost in thought.Aria's mind was spinning from everything that had happened tonight. The gallery. Her painting.When they pulled up to the estate, Aria expected him to let her go. To send her back to her room with a chaste goodnight kiss after such a perfect, romantic evening.Instead, he turned to her with dark, hungry eyes that made her breath catch."Follow me Serah," he said, his voice dropping to that commanding register that made her melt."And despite everything...despite the confusion and fear and overwhelming emotion....she nodded.Because she wasn't done with him either.He walked her through the private corridors to his quarters, his hand at the small of her back....possessive, claiming, a promise of what was to come.Inside his rooms, he turned to face her. "I want to show you something. Something very few people know about.""What?""A place I go when I need to think. To be alone. To....." He paused, seeming