Mrs. Riscoff’s face paled before she made a choking sound and groaned. She stumbled two steps backward before clutching her arm and then her chest.
“Help,” she mumbled before she fell against the wall and slid down until she hit the floor.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
Lincoln levered off me and whipped on his pants before rushing to his mother’s side.
“Mother. Mother. Hang on.” He turned back to me. “Call 911.”
22
Whitney
Present day
Sweet Jesus.Not again.
Gabi’s eye-shadow palette clatters to the floor as I jump out of the chair and rush to the hallway, my robe flapping open. I yank it shut as I slide to a stop next to McKinley Riscoff, who is on her knees beside her mother.
“Call 911!” She says it again, this time to a passing worker who pulls out her cell phone to dial. “Mother, please stay with me.”
“Oh God. This is bad,” Gabi whispers from behind me, and she’s absolutely right.
I have to get the hell out of here. Last time, I was certain Mrs. Riscoff was faking it, and I was wrong.
“Get her out of here.”
Mrs. Riscoff’s raspy voice sends shivers down my spine. As much as I don’t like this woman, I wouldn’t wish death on anyone. All I can do is comply with her wishes and disappear.
I turn and run for the locker room to grab my clothes and find my aunt. I don’t want to be on Riscoff property for one second longer than I have to be.
I knew coming here was a terrible idea.
Aunt Jackie finds me in the locker room before I can go looking for her.
“What’s going on? We got the alert for a medical emergency, and one of my housekeepers saw you running in here.”
“Mrs. Riscoff. She saw me. She collapsed.”
My aunt’s face blanches, and I know exactly what she’s thinking before she says it.
“Good Lord. Not again.”
That day at the Riscoff estate, Jackie, her two other employees, and I were escorted to the gate and kicked off the property without being paid.
It didn’t take long for everyone in town to find out what happened. Jackie’s cleaning business slowed to almost nothing when word got around about what I’d done. At least, her normal business slowed down. All of a sudden, she was inundated with requests by men to clean houses when their wives were out of town.Because they all thought her niece wasn’t picky about sleeping with clients.
“Sylvia hardly ever comes here. Ms. Riscoff made that clear, and she hired me anyway. I never thought—”
With shaking hands, I pull on my shorts and slip my shirt over my head. “I shouldn’t have come home. This is just another disaster in the making.”
“At least she didn’t catch you in bed with her son. Seeing that a second time might’ve actually killed her.”
I cringe as I shove my feet into sandals. “Please, don’t remind me. I need to get out of here. I ... I can’t stick around to see what happens.”
Jackie nods and pulls her car keys out of her pocket. “Go. I’ll catch a ride home with someone. You don’t need to come back to pick me up.”
I can read between the lines. Jackie doesn’t want me coming back here while she’s responsible for me. I can’t blame her. I never want to come back.