Chapter 2 - “I DON’T CARE WHO SHE LOVES”Robert waited forty minutes before speaking to Maria.
Those forty minutes told Maria more than any conversation could have.
Claire and Natalie remained upstairs.
Robert went into his study.
Nobody called the police.
Nobody screamed.
Nobody packed a suitcase.
The mansion simply returned to its expensive silence.
Maria kept working.
She polished the dining table.
Straightened the formal sitting room.
Replaced flowers in the entryway.
Her hands worked automatically while her mind replayed Claire’s gesture.
The fingers toward the throat.
The cold stare.
The words unfinished because they did not need finishing.
At four-thirty, Robert appeared in the kitchen.
“Maria.”
She turned.
“Yes, sir?”
“Come with me.”
He led her into the breakfast room and closed the door.
Robert did not sit behind anything.
He chose a chair at the small round table.
“Please.”
Maria sat opposite him.
He looked older than he had an hour earlier.
“What happened upstairs?”
Maria answered carefully.
“I entered Miss Bennett’s bedroom to put down the linen.”
“And?”
“I saw Miss Bennett and Miss Brooks together.”
Robert’s face did not move.
Maria continued.
“I apologized and left.”
“Then Claire followed you.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Maria repeated it exactly.
“If you tell anyone about this…”
“And then?”
“She made the gesture you saw.”
Robert looked down at the table for several seconds.
“Did she touch you?”
“No.”
“Did Natalie?”
“No.”
“Did either of them prevent you from leaving?”
“Miss Bennett stood in front of me twice.”
Robert nodded.
“Were you planning to tell me what you saw?”
Maria looked genuinely confused.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it is none of my business.”
Robert studied her.
Maria felt heat rising into her face.
She understood the question now.
He thought she might have exposed Claire’s relationship.
“I do not care who your daughter loves, Mr. Bennett.”
Robert looked up.
“I care that she threatened me because she assumed I would use it against her.”
A flicker of something crossed his face.
Shame, perhaps.
Or relief.
Maria continued.
“I have worked in your home for nine years.”
“I know.”
“I knew when you were fighting with your ex-wife.”
Robert stiffened.
“I knew when Claire was seeing someone you didn’t approve of before.”
He said nothing.
“I knew when your brother stayed here for three weeks after rehab.”
Robert’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Maria leaned back.
“I never told anyone those things.”
“I know.”
“Then you know I don’t gossip.”
Robert nodded.
“I do.”
Maria relaxed for the first time.
Then the door opened.
Claire stood there.
Natalie was gone.
“Can I speak to my father?”
Maria stood.
Robert raised a hand.
“Stay.”
Claire’s face changed.
“Dad.”
“I said stay.”
Claire looked at Maria.
The coldness returned.
Robert saw it.
“Sit down, Claire.”
She did.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Robert turned to his daughter.
“Did you threaten Maria?”
“No.”
Maria stared at her.
Robert remained calm.
“I saw you.”
“You saw the end of a conversation.”
“What was the conversation?”
Claire folded her arms.
“She walked in on Natalie and me.”
“I know.”
“And then she implied she could tell people.”
Maria’s mouth fell open.
“No.”
Claire ignored her.
“She said she knew people would pay for that kind of information.”
Maria stood.
“That is a lie.”
Robert looked sharply at her.
“Maria.”
“I am sorry, sir, but that is a lie.”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
It happened so quickly Maria almost admired it.
“She scared Natalie.”
Maria stared.
“You followed me.”
“Because you walked out acting like you had leverage.”
“I walked out because I was embarrassed for entering without permission.”
“You knew exactly what you saw.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew what it could do.”
Maria looked at Robert.
“Mr. Bennett, I would never—”
Claire interrupted.
“She asked me whether I understood how much tabloids pay house staff.”
The room went silent.
Maria’s chest tightened.
She had never said anything remotely like that.
Robert looked between them.
“Claire.”
“It happened.”
“No.”
Maria’s voice shook now, not from fear but anger.
“Why are you doing this?”
Claire turned toward her.
“You know why.”
Maria did not.
That was the frightening part.
Robert stood.
“This stops now.”
Claire immediately softened.
“Dad, I’m telling you what happened.”
“And Maria is telling me something completely different.”
“Then who do you believe?”
The question landed exactly where Claire wanted it.
Not:
What happened?
Not:
What can we prove?
Who do you believe?
Your daughter—
or the housekeeper?
Maria watched Robert.
He did not answer immediately.
And in that pause, something inside her sank.
Claire saw it too.
She leaned forward.
“Dad, Natalie heard it.”
Robert’s expression changed.
“Where is Natalie?”
“She went home.”
“Call her.”
Claire hesitated.
“Now.”
Claire took out her phone.
Maria looked toward the window.
For the first time, she understood that Robert accidentally seeing the hallway confrontation might not save her.
Because he had seen only ten seconds.
And Claire had an entire lifetime of being his daughter.
Natalie answered.
Robert placed the phone on speaker.
“Natalie,” he said.
“I need you to tell me exactly what Maria said in the hallway.”
A long silence followed.
Maria held her breath.
Natalie finally spoke.
“She… said she knew this could become a problem for Claire.”
Maria closed her eyes.
Robert looked at her.
Claire did not smile.
She did not need to.
Natalie had just chosen a side.
May you like
And Maria suddenly realized that what she had accidentally seen in the bedroom was not the thing she needed to fear.
It was what Claire was willing to do afterward.
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