The Mayor’s daughter

No Mercy

CHAPTER FOUR

FRIDA

“Get up, you lazy horse. Aren’t you here to work?”

I heard Selene screaming those words while pouring water on my head.

I had dozed off for just a few minutes with my daughter in my arms.

Then here she was, waking me up in a way I wouldn’t forget.

Water.

Cold water running through my head, down to my sweat-soaked dress.

Not minding if the cold water touched my sick daughter.

I gritted my teeth.

“Get up,” she shouted at me with fury in her eyes.

“Don’t you want to work like you said? Drop that sick child of yours somewhere and find something to do. You are here to work, and you will work for your money.”

She reminded me with a strict, disgusted look.

“In what ways have I offended Selene?” I muttered these words to myself.

Why choose to punish me for doing nothing to her?

She stole from me.

All I did was love her as a friend.

She was a snake, and I wished I had seen through her.

I could see nothing but pure rage in her eyes.

I gathered the little courage left in me to ask her.

“Selene, in what ways have I done you wrong? Why choose to be so cruel to me and my daughter? You took it all from me. You framed me for what I didn’t do. I had no evidence. No one listened to me. And I never bothered to fight you. Why repay me this way?”

Tears dropped down my face.

I gently turned around and placed Avia on the bed.

I turned towards her.

Then it went blank.

Selene slapped me very hard in the face.

“How dare you! Talk to me like we are of the same class. Look here. You are just a maid in this house.”

She widened her eyes right in my face.

Painful tears rolled down my cheeks.

As I buried my face in my palms.

How could she?

Even after five years?

She was the reason I couldn’t tell the Mayor about Avia.

I was afraid he still hated me, and with Selene with him, she could persuade him to take her from me.

The only person I had left was Avia.

I wanted her alive.

But I didn’t want her taken from me.

“You think coming here after all these years will make the Mayor love you again?” she finally asked me.

“You are so desperate. After everything he did to you? Can you remember the humiliation? Hurtful words? Thrown out like trash. All to return here and want to work as a maid? You sincerely have no dignity.”

Those words pushed right through my heart.

My big brown eyes widened.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and remembered why I was there.

I was only there for Avia.

I got up quietly.

“What do you want me to do, Selene?”

I asked calmly.

She hit me again on the face.

“Don’t you dare! We aren’t friends, and I am engaged to be married to the Mayor. Call me ma’am.”

She said, leaning forward in my face.

My heart was heavy.

I felt the tightness.

“What do you want me to do, ma’am?”

I asked politely.

“Get a bucket and scrub the mansion floors. I don’t need you sitting around my house.”

She said disgustedly.

I could hear my stomach rumble.

I had been so concerned about Avia’s health that I forgot to eat for days.

Today was the fourth day.

I held my belly with both hands.

“Please, can I have a little food? I am starving.”

I pleaded.

“Hell no! You can only eat after work.”

Selene dragged me out by my hair.

Soon, I was on my knees.

Weak.

Tired.

And hungry.

But I had a reason why I came.

If I couldn’t tell Baron about his daughter, I should be able to save up some money for her treatment.

I scrubbed the floors with tired hands.

Soon, I could hear footsteps approaching me.

“Oh dear, what are you doing? The house is cleaned already.”

I looked up.

It was Ms. Lydia.

She was the chief housekeeper. She had been here since five years ago.

She knew me.

“Get up. You just got here. You should be resting.”

Lydia immediately helped me up.

“I should bring food for you and your daughter.”

Lydia said, smiling calmly at me.

“Thank you, Lydia. I appreciate you.”

I said with tears rolling down my cheeks.

Soon, Lydia was back with a bowl of soup and salad.

“Here, feed your daughter, and I pray she gets well soon.”

Lydia smiled at me.

“Thank you.”

I responded.

I calmly placed the two bowls on a center table in front of me.

I carefully carried Avia up from the bed.

I slowly woke her up.

“Food is here, sweetie.”

I released a smile of hope while trying to put my daughter in a balanced position.

I tried to feed Avia, but she was in severe pain.

She started crying again.

I tried to hum a lullaby to her, but Avia wouldn’t stop.

I fed her the hot soup.

She hadn’t eaten anything except the milk I bought from the store three days ago.

“Stay calm, sweetie. You haven’t had a meal this delicious in a long while.”

I fed myself and my daughter.

For a short moment, I found myself smiling and lost in thoughts.

Then I heard a loud shout.

The shout brought me back to reality immediately.

I turned to the door, and she was standing there.

Selene.

“What! You stole food?” she asked angrily.

“How dare you steal from us when all we did was try to help?” she said.

“No, ma’am. I was served this meal by the chief housekeeper. I didn’t steal it.”

I replied with trembling hands.

She rushed in and slapped my face very hard.

Avia cried louder.

I held Avia tighter to my chest.

She grabbed me by the hair.

“Drop that sickly child of yours.”

She ordered me.

She held my long black hair as I carefully dropped Avia on the bed.

She pulled me to my knees.

Then she began slapping me hard in the face.

She hit me so hard I collapsed to the floor.

“Please, ma’am Selene. I’m sorry.”

I wept while explaining myself.

Avia kept crying loudly.

But that was the least of her problems.

The torture continued.

She dragged me by the hair as she carried me out.

I pleaded and explained to Selene how I was served by Ms. Lydia, hoping that would save me.

She dragged me to the living room and made me kneel before her.

Then she slapped me again while calling out to Lydia.

“Lydia, Lydia... where is that old hag?” She shouted out.

Soon, Lydia came running out.

“You served her food?” Selene asked furiously.

“Yes, I did. She was hungry and needed to ea—”

She landed a heavy slap on her face.

Lydia was 55 years old.

She was like a mother to Baron.

But that didn’t matter right now.

She broke her rule, and she would have to pay.

Lydia stood there frozen.

“Come forward, Lydia,” she ordered her.

She gently moved forward without a word.

Then she made her watch.

She slapped me hard across the face until my face turned bright red.

My weak body couldn’t take it anymore.

I collapsed.

Ms. Lydia stood there crying.

She came behind me.

She grabbed me by the hair.

She kept my face in a steady position.

Just when she was about to land another heavier slap on my red face, I heard a scream.

“Stop it right there.”

I turned around.

It was Baron.