Chapter 2 - The Lie on the Counter
"I never signed that," I said.
Nathan held the paper away from Victoria. "Then who did?"
"She did," Victoria answered quickly. "She's confused. I've been warning you about her behavior since she started here."
Two days. I had worked in Nathan's house as a temporary housekeeper for two days, long enough to learn where the family kept its secrets and short enough to be dismissed as a stranger. Nathan had been away on business until that afternoon. Lily was there only because her sitter canceled and Mrs. Alvarez had offered her a place to wait near the kitchen.
Nathan crouched beside Lily. "Hey. I'm Nathan. Can I see your mom's shoulder?"
Lily pressed her face into me. "She hit Mommy."
"I know." His voice shook. "I'm calling for help."
Victoria caught his sleeve. "Our wedding is in thirteen days. Think about what a police report will do to us."
He shook her off and called 911. I stared at his hands. Once those hands had built a bookcase with me in a rented apartment while we joked about having a family someday. Then his father made me believe the dream would cost me my child.
Mrs. Alvarez, the cook, appeared behind him. She saw the stick lying by Victoria's shoes and the bruise darkening under my collar.
"I heard the scream," she said. "I heard Miss Hale threaten them."
"You heard an argument," Victoria snapped.
"I heard enough."
Nathan told the dispatcher our address. He didn't describe an accident. He said someone had struck an employee in front of a child.
Victoria's face tightened.
"You'll regret humiliating me," she told him.
"You raised a weapon at a little girl. I'm done protecting your feelings."
The front doorbell rang. A minute later, a man in a gray suit entered through the service hall, carrying a leather briefcase. Edward Pierce, the Cole family's attorney, hadn't waited for the police.
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"Mr. Cole," he said, "please don't discuss paternity until I've explained what Grace Bennett is planning."
I knew his voice. He was the man who had once told me that mothers without money could lose everything.
