He Faked Poor, So I Walked Away

Chapter 2 The Job He Gave Me

When I got home, Elias was standing outside my door.

In his hand was a box of Maison Lune cake, the kind I had never dared to buy for myself.

"Maisie," he said, reaching for me. "You don't need to be angry with me. Everything I did was for your own good."

I pulled my arm out of his grasp and lowered my head.

Elias paused, then continued, "I know pretending to be deaf and unable to speak was wrong. I know I lied to you. You worked hard these past two years, and I know that too."

His voice softened, as if he were granting me some great mercy.

"But as long as you listen to me from now on, I'll get you a decent, clean, respectable job. You'll never have to clear plates again."

The past two years flashed through my mind like a slideshow.

I had stood for more than twelve hours a day. I had worked until my lower back was strained, until my neck ached, until my whole body gave out and collapsed onto the floor.

Even then, the only thing I could think was that nothing could happen to me. Because if I went down, Elias would be finished.

"Maisie, I love you," Elias said as he wrapped his arms around me. "Why else would I leave Daphne and come find you? Isn't that enough?"

I stood motionless in his arms.

"You should understand my position," he continued. "I didn't set out to deceive you. If you had my family name and my status, you would choose to hide it too."

He looked at me with utter sincerity.

"Think about it. If I had told you from the beginning that I was perfectly healthy and that my family was wealthy, would you have treated me the same way? No. You would have been after my money and status."

He said it so earnestly, as if he had lied to me for two years, yet somehow I was the one at fault.

Then he handed me a business card. A hotel address was printed on it. "Come find me here tomorrow."

Tears welled in my eyes. I bit down hard on my lip and refused to let them fall.

The next day, I went.

I knew he was awful. I knew he was cruel.

But I had borrowed fifty thousand dollars for his speech and hearing rehabilitation program. If he abandoned me, I would never be able to pay the money back.

Only now did I realize that every time Elias promised to go to treatment, he had never actually gone.

The Whitmore Grand was the famous hotel owned by the Whitmore family. The building was towering and opulent. Even the lobby chandeliers looked expensive enough to crush a person.

The hotel manager looked me up and down. "Maisie Vale?"

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, her voice full of undisguised contempt.

"Mr. Whitmore left instructions. You'll be assigned to housekeeping. Here are your uniform and supplies. Your shift starts tomorrow at six in the morning. You'll be responsible for floors eight through ten."

"Housekeeping?"

For a moment, I thought I had misheard. "He said housekeeping?"

"What's wrong? Is that not good enough for you?" The manager sneered. "You have no degree and no skills. You should be grateful we are giving you a job at all. Mr. Whitmore arranged this personally. Do you think we hire just anyone off the street?"

I gripped the housekeeping uniform in my hands. My nails dug into the fabric.

On my first day, I put on the uniform and pushed the housekeeping cart down the hallway, mopping the floor as I went.

As I passed the elevator, the doors opened.

Daphne stepped out with her arm threaded through Elias's. She was wearing a Maison Verelle dress. Jewelry glittered on her wrists and at her throat.

The moment she saw me, she stopped. "Wait. Maisie?"

She turned to Elias. "What are you doing here? Did you give her a job?"

Elias's expression did not change.

"Aren't you always so concerned about her?" he said lightly. "Housekeeping suits her. Her qualifications aren't good enough for anything else."

That afternoon, I was assigned to clean the room where Elias and Daphne were staying.

The penthouse suite on the top floor had floor-to-ceiling windows, and the entire city sprawled beneath them.

But the moment I pushed the door open, nausea surged in my throat.

Used condoms lay scattered across the floor. Torn lingerie was draped over a chair.

Daphne was curled up on the sofa, still looking lazy and pleased.

"Sorry about the mess, Maisie," she said with a smile. "Would you mind tidying up for us?"

Elias sat beside her and asked in a warm voice what she wanted for dinner that night. He never once looked at me.

I crouched down and wiped the floor with a rag. Those filthy things smeared against the cloth.

My eyes burned.

I was his girlfriend. How could he make me clean up the aftermath of him and another woman?

Daphne suddenly said, "Elias, why don't you give her a better position? Housekeeping is just so..."

"She has no degree," Elias said flatly. "What else can she do besides scrub floors? I gave her this job. She should be on her knees thanking me."

His words stabbed into my chest like a knife.

I kept my head down. I wiped the floor clean. I threw away the condoms. I changed the sheets. Then I pushed the housekeeping cart out of the room.

The moment I rounded the corner and no longer had to look at them, my tears finally broke free.