Chapter 3

Lena's mouth was partly agape at Tessa's disheveled appearance. Her usual poise and glamour were replaced by a worn-out and exhausted look, which made Lena wonder what was going on with her.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tessa's voice rang again, laced with irritation, snapping Lena out of her shock.

"I...I work here." Lena managed to say, her voice barely above a whisper as she stared into Tessa's icy blue eyes, which were now more dull than it usually was on TV.

Lena couldn't help but notice that the designer she was wearing was stained and roughened, like she'd had a fight with someone.

'A fellow model, maybe?' Lena thought. But Tessa didn't look like a troublemaker.

Tessa's gaze lingered on Lena, and she took a step forward. "I've never seen you here before." Lena took a step back as something terrifying flashed in Tessa's eyes as she spoke. "Who let you in here?"

"I...I'm new. I was sent to clean up the mess here." She took another step back as Tessa came closer. "I didn't know i-"

"Lena?" The familiar male voice echoed in the room and Tessa swung around to view Thane, who they hadn't heard walk in, standing at the door.

The way Tessa and Thane stared at each other made Lena feel like a child caught in between her parents' argument, as tension engulfed the room.

"I knew it." Tessa finally said after what seemed like a staring competition, with Lena trembling in the corner.

Thane rolled his eyes. "You knew what, Tessa."

"You now employ your whores." Tessa spat.

Instead, Thane turned to Lena, and after taking in her features in his maids' outfit, his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. "Get out." He ordered

Lena didn't hesitate. She was almost done with the cleaning anyway, so she picked up the equipment and fled the room then she heard the door lock behind her.

On her way down the dimly lit hallway, she bumped face first into someone and almost spilled the bucket of water in her hand.

"I am so sorry." She apologised in a small voice and was about to keep moving but was pulled back by a brawny arm.

"Be careful next time." Dante's low but deep voice echoed in her ears. "You don't hurry around the boss's halls, alright?"

Lena nodded quickly, hoping he saw her as her words were dried up in her throat.

He finally let her go and, ignoring what he'd said, she hurried towards the stairs which led to her room on the first floor.

"And Lena," Dante called, stopping her in her tracks. "You heard and saw nothing."

*****

Lena made her way down the hall, wondering why the floor's hallway was a little darker than the rest of the house. She clutched the feathery duster in one hand and a cleaning rag in the other, remembering what she'd seen in just a few days since she'd arrived there.

From Tessa's constant nagging at Thane to the way she glared at her each time she came to clean up their room. Even at that, Lena felt no atom of dislike for Tessa. Instead, she felt sorry for her as she strongly felt something was wrong somewhere.

As she approached the door of Thane's study, which was the last door in the hallway, she brushed away her thoughts and tried to focus on why she'd agreed to be a maid.

For the money.

She got to the thick black door and raised her fist to knock in case anyone was within. But before she could do that, the door gave way, and she was faced with Bridget, who shot her an unreadable look.

But that wasn't what bothered her, as just before Bridget passed by her, she noticed her eyes. They were well,...different. Or maybe it was the poor lighting in the hallway.

Lena brushed it off and proceeded into the study, where she was greeted with a cloud of smoke.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't know you were here." Lena apologized, recognizing Thane's face in the table lamp. "I'll come back later since you're busy." She turned to go.

"Get back here." He ordered in a relaxed voice and took another puff.

Lena kept her head down and complied, suddenly realising that she hadn't had a conversation with him since he allowed her into his home as they'd acted like they'd never met before.

He suddenly rose from his sitting position, quenched his cigarette, and walked towards a shelf of books and picked one up, which he placed on the table and opened.

"Before you begin your work, I'd like to know something, Lena." He began, as flipping pages filled the silence. "Have you noticed any strange things around the house?"

Lena's heart skipped a beat. 'Lots!' but why was he asking? Was she now his surveillance camera? Or was it a trick question? Her mind raced.

She inspected her feet and summoned all the courage. "I...I haven't been here so long. I-"

"Look at me." His calmness was terrifying. It was like he was trying to coerce her into something.

Slowly, Lena rose her eyes to meet his piercing gaze. The abused, bully ex-convict face he used to have was now replaced by a cold, terrifying but hot billionaire.

"You were saying?" Thane asked.

"Your fiance, sir." She replied, before she could stop herself, then bit her inner cheek as if to punish herself.

Thane abruptly shut the book, sending a sharp echo across the room and straight into Lena's chest. His expression darkened and his gaze intensified. "What about her?"

"N...nothing." She stammered, her breathing getting a bit disturbed, but she just couldn't bring herself to stop talking. "It's just that, she doesn't...well, she doesn't seem okay."

Thane lifted his chin, his jaw clenching a little. "How so?"

"Don't you see what I'm talking about?" Lena asked, trying to not make it obvious that he was starting to sound dumb to her.

Thane circled around the table and stood a couple of feet from her without breaking their eye contact. He held his hands behind his back. "No Lena. Enlighten me because she seems perfectly fine to me."

Lena almost scoffed. "You call her looking like a ghost around the house, fine?"

"You seem to feel you know her so well."

Lena should have taken to the hint that this was a trap. Instead, she continued. "What I know is, as the woman you're planning to spend the rest of your life with. You should care about Miss Maddox's health a little more."

"Are you trying to educate me on how to run my household?" Anger was now visible in his voice and Lena, without hesitation, withdrew into her shell.

"No sir, I-"

"The fact that you're my personal maid does not give you the right to speak about shit you know nothing about."

"I was just-"

"Who do you work for, Lena?" He asked and Lena's eyes strayed to her feet again.

Suddenly, she felt his finger tuck loose strands of her black hair behind her ear, raising her face so that her eyes met his.

"Who do you work for?" He asked again, his voice a bit lower but still struck fear into her.

Lena shuddered at his touch but didn't dare to show that her boss's touch had just sent warm liquid into her panties. "You, sir."

"Good. And that means you'll do everything I tell you, alright?"

"Yes." she replied, barely above a whisper.

He suddenly let go of her and turned away. "Now leave my presence."