Semua Bab The Devil's Maid: Bab 1 - Bab 10

**ARIA**I packed up my stuff in the dark.There was no need to turn on the lights. Everything I owned fit into one bag anyway. Five years of clawing my way through community college and dead end jobs and this was all I had to show for it: three pairs of jeans, some sweaters, underwear that had seen better days, and a photograph of my mother I couldn't leave behind.The photograph went in first. Mom smiling, healthy, before the cancer ate her alive and Dad gambled away her treatment money. I sat on the edge of my bed holding that picture, throat tight, wondering what she'd think if she could see me now. Would she tell me to run? To let Dad face the consequences of his own fucking mistakes?Or would she understand why I couldn't?My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number, ‘Car arrives at 11:45 PM. Be ready. One bag only. Leave all communication devices.’Fifteen minutes left.I shoved the rest of my clothes into the bag, zipped it shut, and stood in the center of my apartment on

**ARIA**I walked back to my room, mind foggy.My legs moved on autopilot, carrying me down that long hallway while my brain tried to process what had just happened. What I'd just agreed to without reading a single goddamn word.‘Private maid’.The words kept replaying in my head, each repetition sending fresh waves of terror through my body.I reached the door to my room and practically fell inside, closing it behind me and leaning against the solid wood like it could protect me from whatever came next.It couldn't.Nothing could.The room was exactly as I'd left it, absurdly luxurious and completely surreal. King size bed with silk sheets that seemed to sparkle. Floor to ceiling windows showing the glittering city below. Art on the walls. Thick carpet under my feet.A prison that looked like paradise.I walked to the bed and sank down, then immediately fell back because holy fuck, the mattress was softer than anything I'd ever touched. It literally felt like sleeping on a cloud. Fo

**ARIA** I'd barely had time to process what I'd overheard when my door flew open without warning. Lydia stood in the doorway, dark hair pulled back so tight it looked painful. Her eyes swept over me, still in the towel I'd grabbed after my shower, hair dripping wet. "You have fifteen minutes to make yourself presentable," she said, tone clipped and professional. "Mr. Black has assignments for you today." I clutched the towel tighter. "I was just—" "Fifteen minutes, Miss Finner. Uniform on. Hair pulled back. Meet me in the East Wing hallway." She turned to leave, then paused. "And this time, follow the dress code completely. Mr. Black was quite clear about your noncompliance this morning." Heat flooded my face. Of course he'd told her. She left without waiting for a response, the door clicking shut with that same final sound everything in this house seemed to make. I stood there for a moment, anger and shame warring in my chest, before forcing myself to move. Fifteen minutes

**ARIA** The car ride home was the longest of my life. Jade didn't speak. Didn't look at me. I kept my eyes forward and my mouth shut. *Still learning her place.* His voice in my head, smooth and cold and completely indifferent, like I was furniture he'd had to apologize for. Like I was an embarrassing piece of décor. I pressed my nails into my palms and breathed through my nose. The car pulled through the gate, up the private road, and stopped in front of the penthouse doors. I reached for the handle. "My office." Jade's voice cut through the silence without preamble. "Now." He didn't wait for a response. He was already out of the car. I followed. --- The penthouse was quiet and dark except for the soft ambient lighting that came on automatically when we entered. Jade walked ahead without looking back, expecting me to keep up, and I hated that I did. His office was at the end of the east corridor, different from the study I'd cleaned today. Bigger. More intimidating.

**ARIA**PERIMETER BREACH DETECTED.I stared at those three words for a full second before my brain caught up with what they meant.Then the alarms went off.My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it'd break through.I scrambled out of bed, hands shaking by my sides, and that was when I heard it. Somewhere in the penthouse, not far, the explosion of glass shattering.A window.My room went dark except for the red emergency light that flickered on above the door.I stood in the middle of the room trying to remember how to breathe.Then my door flew open.It was the security man from yesterday, and he was not the unhurried person of yesterday. He was in panic.It made my blood run cold His eyes moved around my room in one sweep before landing on me."Stay behind me," he said. "Don't speak. Don't stop moving.""What is happ—"He shot me a glance that was enough to make me shut up.He pulled me into the corridor.Every shadow was wrong, the alarms were so loud I could feel th