/> “I was talking to your maid,” she said.
“My maid?” He echoed my lie with the same suspicious lilt Lottie had had. We hadn’t exactly gone over my cover story. “I hope she wasn’t bothering you.”
“Not at all.”
I was literally stuck between them, but again, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t step aside.
“I’d like to show you something,” Grayson said.
I watched them walk away, a tug in my gut. Grayson is meant for someone like Charlotte, someone with money, someone happy and light. Not someone darkened by the past, by baggage.
My stomach rumbled again, and I turned to finally go get a real meal when I was stopped by Ellie. She held a plate of food, and gestured for me to take it.
I stifled a laugh. “Ellie, have you lost your mind? I can’t eat up here.”
“This isn’t from me.” She looked around, looking more freaked out than me.
“What—”
“Just eat it.” She shoved the plate hard at me and I took the white and gold leaf porcelain just so it didn’t drop to the floor.
“You should leave,” she continued. “Don’t hang out around the servant areas for a while. Stop asking us questions. Everyone is starting to think you broke the code.”
The code, the us-versus-them mentality that made us more of a family than the actual family we serve. Protect each other at all costs, and never, ever abandon ship. Maids who came here looking to work for Grayson never lasted long. How could they? We worked for tyrants. You need a strong family to withstand torture.
I took a minute to pull myself out of the Grayson Crowne bubble that had consumed me and looked around. Several were watching me, eyes hard.
“I didn’t,” I said vehemently. “I—” What could I say to her?
Gray Crowne is a virgin who mistook me for someone else?
Yeah, that would go over well.
“I have no choice,” I finally said.
“I believe you. Most everyone believes you. But…some people are starting to listen to the rumors.”
I picked at the food. My first real meal…and it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t even servant food. It was the kind of stuff we made for the Crownes and their friends, meat with names I couldn’t pronounce and green beans you said in French.
Suddenly my appetite was gone.
I was so worried about whether I would have a job, I never considered whether my job would welcome me back.
I always assumed my family would be there, waiting for me.
I had about another half second to feel hurt and worry before I was shoved in the chest. The plate flew from my hands, shattering to the marble floor, and I fell with it.
I stared up at my assaulters.
Aundi and Pipa, dressed to the nines, folded their arms, looking at me like I was a bug.
Fifteen
GRAY
* * *
Lottie smiled at the orchid I’d finagled for her. “This is much better than lemon cakes. I, um, I got you something.”