Chapter 6 - THE MAID THEY TRIED TO HUMILIATE
"You should have told me."
Emma's voice broke the silence outside her apartment.
Luke stood beside the SUV, unable to meet her eyes.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She held her mother's blue coat tightly.
"You knew I needed that job. You knew I had nowhere else to go."
Daniel watched as Luke struggled to answer.
Emma continued.
"You could have asked me about my mother. You could have treated us like people."
Luke lowered his head.
"You're right."
There was no defense.
Only the uncomfortable truth that he'd made a desperate young woman's life part of an investigation without her permission.
Daniel spoke quietly.
"Emma, you don't have to help us anymore."
She looked at him.
"Would you stop looking for the truth?"
"No."
"Then neither will I."
She wiped her cheeks.
"But from now on, nobody makes decisions about my life without asking me."
Daniel nodded.
"Agreed."
The next evening, Vivian Moretti arrived at the mansion wearing a cream-colored silk dress and an expression of practiced concern.
She was forty-eight, elegant, and accustomed to being obeyed.
For years, she had managed the Moretti family's charitable foundation while Daniel handled the family's dangerous business interests.
Since his injury, she had increasingly presented herself as the responsible one.
Daniel was unpredictable.
Daniel was difficult.
Daniel needed protection from himself.
Those were phrases she repeated whenever his name came up.
Tonight, she had arranged a small fundraising dinner at the mansion.
Eighty wealthy guests filled the ballroom beneath golden chandeliers.
Emma hadn't wanted to work the event.
But Mrs. Price had begged her to cover the evening shift.
Two employees had called in sick.
Emma agreed.
By eight o'clock, she was carrying fresh linen napkins toward the dining room when Vivian stopped her.
"Miss Carter."
Emma turned.
"Yes, ma'am?"
Vivian looked at the tray.
"Put those down."
Emma obeyed.
Vivian raised her voice.
"I understand you've been spending time in my brother's private bedroom."
Several guests turned.
Emma felt heat rise into her cheeks.
"Mrs. Moretti, I was responding to an emergency alarm."
"At two in the morning?"
"Yes."
Vivian smiled without warmth.
"And somehow you ended up in his bed."
A wealthy woman near the champagne table gasped.
Someone whispered.
Emma stood frozen.
She hadn't expected a private incident to become public entertainment.
Vivian stepped closer.
"My brother has suffered terribly. He's vulnerable, whether he wishes to admit it or not."
Emma's hands trembled.
"I never tried to take advantage of him."
"Then perhaps you can explain why a valuable family heirloom disappeared into your possession."
Vivian held up a printed photograph of Daniel's silver watch.
The room fell quiet.
Emma's stomach dropped.
"My mother gave me that watch."
"Your mother?" Vivian repeated.
"The same woman who was questioned after my brother's shooting?"
Emma couldn't speak.
Vivian looked around the ballroom.
"Sometimes people see a wealthy family and imagine they deserve a piece of it."
"That's enough."
Daniel's voice cut across the room.
Every guest turned.
He had entered through the wide doorway, Luke walking beside his wheelchair.
Vivian's expression shifted.
"Daniel, I was simply—"
"Humiliating an employee in front of eighty guests."
"She was found in your bedroom."
"Because someone activated my emergency alarm."
Vivian blinked.
Daniel continued.
"She stayed because I asked her to. And she didn't take my watch. Her mother recovered it after the shooting."
The ballroom became silent.
Vivian's smile disappeared.
Daniel looked at Emma.
"You have nothing to apologize for."
Emma swallowed hard.
For years, she'd been told that people with money could destroy her life with a sentence.
Nobody had ever stood before a room full of wealthy strangers and defended her dignity so plainly.
Vivian stepped closer to her brother.
"Daniel, you're not thinking clearly."
He looked up.
"That's becoming your favorite explanation whenever I disagree with you."
A few guests shifted uncomfortably.
Vivian lowered her voice.
"You're embarrassing yourself."
"No," Daniel replied. "I'm finally paying attention."
He turned toward the guests.
"Miss Carter has worked harder in one month than most of us have worked in a week. Anyone who believes she deserves less respect because she cleans this house is welcome to leave."
Nobody moved.
Vivian's face hardened.
Then she excused herself.
Later that night, Emma found Daniel in the study.
"Thank you," she said.
"You shouldn't have needed me to do that."
She smiled faintly.
"Maybe. But I'm glad you did."
Daniel looked at her.
"Emma, about your mother's care—"
"Please don't offer to pay for everything."
He stopped.
She continued gently.
"I need work. I need help sometimes. But I don't want to become another person who owes the Moretti family her silence."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"Then I won't make you an offer you can't comfortably refuse."
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Mrs. Price appeared in the doorway.
She looked frightened.
"Mr. Moretti, I need to tell you something."
Daniel turned.
"What is it?"
"The emergency alarm that brought Miss Carter into your bedroom."
Emma straightened.
Mrs. Price twisted her hands.
"It wasn't activated from your bedside."
Daniel's expression changed.
"Then where?"
"Someone asked me to trigger it from the service control panel."
"Who?"
Mrs. Price reached into her apron.
She unfolded a small handwritten instruction.
"I thought your sister was worried you might be having a medical emergency."
Daniel took the paper.
Beneath the instruction was Vivian's signature.
But the second sentence was what made his blood run cold.
If Miss Carter enters his room, notify me before speaking to Daniel.
Emma stared at the handwriting.
Daniel read the instruction twice.
His sister hadn't merely discovered Emma in his bedroom.
May you like
She had arranged for Emma to go there.
And then she'd tried to destroy her reputation for doing exactly what she was told.
