Maid For Daddies.

Chapter 14

Billie.

I dropped the last bottle of bleach into the laundry basket. The handle dug into my palm, heavy with supplies. I glanced at my phone: 7:02 p.m. I had until 8:40 to be back at the estate. Plenty of time.

“Temperatures dropping tonight, folks, dipping into the low forties. Bundle up, stay warm, but no rain in the forecast. Just don't jump in the lake haha.”The radio crackled from the speaker near the registers.

I paid, thanked the cashier, and headed toward the exit, basket swinging against my hip. My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Unknown number.

I hesitated, then answered.

“Hello?”

“Billie? Oh my god, it’s Mills!”A familiar voice came through.

Mills, my colleague from Judy’s Fast Food. We hadn’t spoken in a while.

“Mills? Wow. It’s been forever.”

“Too long! You okay?”She asked.

I shifted the bags to my other arm. “Yeah. I’m… fine.”

“So where are you?” She asked.

“ Just in town.” I said.

She was briefly whispering something.

“ Like where exactly, I am wrapping up early so we could catch up.” She asked.

I let out a sigh.

“ Just finished shopping. I'm at Clean Me.” I said.

A long pause.

“I’m actually in the area,” she said. “Like, really close. Can I swing by? Just to say hi? I miss your face.”

I glanced at the clock on my phone. Twenty minutes until I needed to leave.

“Sure,” I said. “But I’ve got to be somewhere in twenty. Hurry.”

“On my way!”

I hung up, paid for a mango juice at the fresh juice shop counter, and sat on a bench outside the store. I sipped slowly, watching cars pull in and out of the lot.

Twenty minutes later…

“Billie?”

I turned.

And my stomach dropped.

Brian stood a few feet away with the same messy brown hair, sheepish smile, and hoodie he’d worn the night he’d gambled away everything.

I stood up fast, juice forgotten on the bench.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

I started walking toward the parking lot.

“Wait—Billie, please. Just a few minutes. Please.”His voice was softer.

I stopped and turned. “Ten minutes. That’s it.”

He exhaled. “Let me drop you off. Wherever you’re going. My car’s right there.”

I glanced at the lot. I hadn’t taken the BMW today. Law’s little “encouragement” last time still burned too fresh. No way I was risking a breakdown and another punishment or worse revenge for the punch.

“Fine,” I said. “But only to drop me off. And keep your mouth shut until we’re moving.”

He nodded fast.

We loaded the bags in the back seat. I buckled in, he started the engine.

“It’s fixed,” he said, patting the dash like it was a pet. “A year ago. Runs like new.”

“Just drive,” I said. “And get to the point.”

He pulled out of the lot, merging onto the dark road. Streetlights flickered past us.

“I love you,” he started. “I never stopped. I didn’t mean to use you like that. The debt… it was supposed to be for us. For the wedding.”

I let out a laugh. “You used me as collateral. You sold me to cover your gambling. Don’t rewrite history.”

“I took the debt to pay for the wedding,” he insisted. “Everything was falling apart. I was trying to fix it. For us.”

“You said you were robbed the week before we met the event organizer. I paid for that wedding from my savings. While you were blowing it on cards and slots.”

He gripped the wheel tighter. “I was scared. I fu.cked up. But I loved you. I was the best husband I knew how to be.”

“You weren’t a husband at all,” I spat. “You were a liar. And when it got hard, you left me to be used.”

He glanced at me briefly. “You look… radiant now. Better than before. Whatever you’re doing, wherever you are… More than okay. I’ve changed. I’m clean. We could start over. This time I’ll be different. I swear.”

I stared out the window. Trees blurred past us. The road was getting darker and the lights fewer.

“No,” I said. “We’re done.”

He accelerated.

“You don’t mean that. We were good together. We had plans and a future. Remember, IVF and babies. We can still be that.”

“We had lies,” I snapped. “You allowed your friends to take me. You didn't bother fighting them to keep me safe. You sold me like I was nothing.”

“I didn’t know—”

“You knew exactly what you were doing.”

The car jerked slightly as he gestured. “I was desperate! I thought—”

“Stop the car.”I said firmly.

“No. I will not stop until you give me a second chance—”

My hand went to my phone. I dialed Leon fast my thumb shaking.

Brian’s eyes flicked over. He reached across, snatched the phone from my hand while steering with the other so fast.

“Who the hell are you calling?” His voice cracked higher. “Some guy? You’re cheating on me already? After everything?”

“Give it back.”

He threw it into the back seat hard. It clattered somewhere behind us.

“You’re mine, Billie. You always were.”

The speedometer climbed.

Night pressed against the windows.

I gripped the door handle my heart was slamming.

This wasn’t a ride home anymore, this was something else.

And I was trapped in the car with the man who’d already sold me once.

~~~~~~

Leon

The boardroom was quiet except for Lionel’s low, measured voice laying out the new shipping corridors we’d secured. Silas leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, already running mental math on fuel burn. Law tapped a pen against his tablet, half listening, half watching the door like he always did.

Suddenly, three identical chimes sliced the air like a starter pistol. I looked down to see an incoming call from Billie.

I hit accept, the others did the same. Placing on our ears as Lionel continued talking about drug routes.

Fabric rustled hard then a muffled thud.

“Is that him? That the man you’re f*****g right now, Billie?” Came a man's voice.

I sat up straighter.

“There is no man, Brian. I’ve never stepped outside our marriage because there’s never been a real marriage to step out of. You’ve been screwing Grace from church so many times I lost count years ago. Mills too, how else would she have set me up.” She retorted.

Brian barked a laugh.“Don’t you dare put that on me. You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing? Parading around like some liberated w***e—”

I snapped my fingers at Baron. He opened his laptop, fingers dancing across keys to pull her location.

“I don’t want to be married to you anymore. I’m filing for divorce. Stick around for a few days so my lawyers can serve you. ”Billie cut in again.

“You ungrateful b***h. You think you can just walk away? After everything I’ve done for you? You’re pathetic, Billie. Always have been. You killed your own parents, don't pretend your hands are clean. If you hadn’t been so selfish that night—” Brian detonated.

“Shut up!”She said, voice shaking now. “That’s not true and you know it.”

“You’re nothing without me. Look at you. You really think you are attractive. You are bloated and least interesting to look at. You have Jags on your chest, balloons on your lower back like a poorly moulded ass No wonder I had to look elsewhere. You’re lucky I stayed this long. Billie men, don't like women that look like you. Blond, slim with blue eyes is every man's desire.”

She was crying openly. “You’re evil. I hate you!”

Baron gave a single nod. We all glanced at the tablets. Red dot streaking northeast, accelerating hard toward…

Lake Mary.

I was already on my feet.

“ Brian… Why won’t my seatbelt come loose?”Billie’s voice was shaking.

“I fixed the car you stup.id bi.tch. Knew you’d let those demonic feminist thoughts poison your mind one day. Had the belt taken care of a year ago. I made it special for an occasion like this.”

“ You planned this?” She asked.

“It's now dawning in that tiny brain of yours.” He said with a laugh.

Ice poured down my spine.

Law was at the door in two strides. Silas snatched his keys off the table. I followed without a word, phone still live, blaring every word.

We piled into the Ferrari. Silas floored it the second the doors slammed. The black SUV full of our guys fell in behind us.

The dot kept racing toward the Lake now a few seconds closer.

“Brian, stop. Please stop the car. I’m scared.”Billie begged.

“If I can’t have you… no one will.”His voice came back soft, that was the chilling part knowing their next destination.

Her blood curdling scream ripped through the speaker.

Then a loud splash. After that, nothing. Just water

lapping against the microphone and silence.

Silas pushed the car past the redline. I braced one hand on the dash, eyes locked on the horizon where the lake would appear any second.