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“I’m not a stray,” I say, putting my hands on my hips. “I’m employed here.”
“Good,” she says, smiling. “Fitz, fetch my things from the car. I’m Bridget, the boys' aunt,” she says, offering me a hand. When I shake it, she nods again.
“Come,” she says. “Show me to my room. And tell me your name, sweet girl.”
As I lead her upstairs to one of the guest rooms, she explains that she’s been living overseas for the last few years but she’s moving back home for good now. She’s Marcus’s sister, the boys’ aunt, and she seems to take up every space she occupies like a whirlwind, ordering people about as if they all personally worked for her.
Even her nephews.
Once they come home, she orders them to greet her, then has them take care of getting her office in the city set up and arrange for her paintings to be delivered from overseas to her new penthouse.
Ryder seems pleased to see her, Oliver seems suspicious, and Theo seems relieved she’s back in town.
She stays in the manor for a few weeks, getting herself set up here. She’s a constant presence, seeming to lurk around every corner, gathering information through silent observation.
I keep my head down and work, but it’s hard to avoid running into her. And lately, every time one of her nephews so much as starts to approach me, she’s there.
Every time I turn around, she’s there, watching me. I wonder what has her so obsessed, but it becomes apparent soon enough when she catches Oliver sneaking out of my bedroom one morning.
“I knew it!” she declares, stepping forward from the shadows and entering my room. “I suspected it the second I saw you. You’re with them, aren’t you?”
“It’s not like that,” I stammer out. “I swear, I’m not trying to seduce them.”
“Oh, please,” Bridget says, waving a hand. “You’re too sweet and innocent to be some seductress. If anything, it’s the other way around, isn’t it?”
My arms wrap around myself unconsciously, and Bridget smirks, figuring out the truth without my saying a word.
She pulls me out of my room and into the hallway and hollers for her nephews.
They appear quickly. It would be almost comical if it weren’t for the fear I have that she’s going to expose me. The three of them share identical looks of confusion before Ryder steps forward to ask what she needs.
“This sweet girl has just let me know that my nephews are allowing her to be used like a little plaything,” Bridget says. My eyes widen, and before I can correct her, the three of them start protesting, but she cuts them off with a look.
“Don’t even deny it. I saw Oliver sneaking out of her room. How long has this been going on?”
No one answers, so she turns on Ryder. “How long?” she repeats.
“A… while,” he admits. “It’s complicated.”
“Is one of you three the father?” she asks.
“No,” I protest, maybe too quickly, because she turns on me and narrows her eyes. “I was pregnant before I started working here. I found out after I’d already been here for a few weeks.”
“I see,” she says, pursing her lips. “And you’ve been employed as a maid?”
“Yes.” I nod. “That’s all.”
“You cannot tell me that you’re letting this girl work for you while you sleep with her,” Bridget says, glaring at the boys. “That’s literal textbook sexual harassment, you idiots. That settles it. This girl is too smart and too sweet to stay here working for you three. She deserves better than whatever it is that’s going on here.”
Turning to me, she fixes me with her green eyes. “Starting now, you’re no longer a maid here. I’m making you my assistant. If you three want to be with this girl, someone has to level the playing field. No more of this boss-employee shit.”
“Where will I…”
“You can still live here,” Bridget offers. “I’ll stay too. I was planning on moving into a penthouse, but I think it would be better if someone kept an eye on my nephews.”
Everything suddenly decided, Bridget immediately whisks me away, taking me into the city to her office to show me what my new duties will entail.
She is going to have me work part-time at the office and part-time at the manor for her, helping her run her textiles empire. Everything happens so quickly that my head is still spinning by the end of the day.
