Chapter 5 - Maria Wasn’t Who I Thought She Was
I sent Noah to sit on the old reading chair by the window while I questioned Maria in front of the desk.
For the first time since I had kicked her into the divider, I really looked at her. She had a scrape along one arm from the broken screen. Her blond bob was partly loose around her face. She kept one hand pressed against her ribs, but she stayed standing.
I hated, in that moment, that I had been wrong about her.
“Start from the beginning,” I said.
Maria nodded.
“My name isn’t new to this house,” she said quietly. “I worked for Elena before Noah could walk.”
That hit me harder than I expected. “As what?”
“As her post-surgery aide first. Then as Noah’s caregiver during the months before she died. Elena trusted me. After she started feeling uneasy about the trust language, she showed me copies. She asked me to help her hide one set in case she needed proof later.”
I glanced at Elena’s letter again.
“Why leave?”
“Because after Elena died, Malcolm made it clear my contract wouldn’t be renewed. He said the family needed a fresh start.” Her mouth tightened. “I think he needed me gone.”
“And why come back now?”
“I saw your wedding announcement.” She turned slightly toward Alina but kept talking to me. “I recognized her face.”
Something cold moved through me.
“From where?”
“From one of Elena’s charity dinners. She was with Malcolm that night. Not as his date. More like… someone he was bringing into a room on purpose.”
Alina’s expression shifted for just a second.
Maria saw it too.
“I didn’t understand it then,” she continued. “But when I saw you had married her, I got worried. I applied to the agency that staffs private caregivers and asked for this household when I learned Noah’s previous aide had left.”
“Did you know about the transfer contract?”
“Only this morning. I found it in Alina’s dressing room when I was bringing Noah upstairs after lunch. I took it because I knew what it meant.”
I held up the paper. “Then why hesitate downstairs?”
Her eyes filled, but she didn’t look away.
“Because I knew if you saw Malcolm’s name immediately, you’d go straight for him. And if he was part of this, I was afraid he’d destroy everything else before we understood how far it went.”
That answer chilled me more than if she had simply lied.
Because it meant Maria didn’t think this was just cruelty.
She thought it was a structure.
A plan.
May you like
And plans that take this much preparation rarely begin with one signature.
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