“I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said, my cold tone saying otherwise. “I was just looking forGreta. I promised her a ride home.”
“How odd —Greta usually drives herself home,” Andrew said, still panting slightly as he stared at me with a challenge in his eyes.
“Her car battery died,” I added, lying through my teeth with my furious eyes locked on the senator.
“Well, that’s very generous of you to offer, Lux, but I’m happy to drive Greta home. After all, she is mine.” He smiled at me and I thought I might be sick. “My employee, that is.”
“I insist,” I bit out between clenched teeth. I kept my eyes on the senator, but extended my hand into the open space and spoke to the frightened woman. “Come on,Greta. Let’s go.”
I waited until I heard her hesitant shuffle and felt her hand slip into mine.
“Goodnight, Senator.” I took a step backwards through the doorway, unwilling to turn my back on this man even for a moment. He was evil.
His grin never faltered, but his eyes had gone cold the moment he was forced to release his victim. “Goodnight, Lux. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again. Very soon.” His gaze moved to the woman at my side, and I felt fury boil in my veins as his eyes drooped down to half-mast and scanned her trembling body. “Greta. Always apleasure.”
I squeezed the maid’s hand and pulled her behind me, practically running for the patio door that would take us out of this house and away from these people. When we reached the side garage, I looked around for Sebastian, but he hadn’t arrived yet.
“Thank you,” Greta whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she stared at me. “Thank you so much.”
I took her by the shoulders and stared into her face. She was only a few years older than me — maybe in her mid-twenties — and I suddenly saw how fragile she was. “Listen to me,” I whispered fiercely. “You get in your car and you go. Don’t come back here.”
“But my job…the money…” Greta bit her lip and her anxious expression tugged on my heartstrings.
“There are other jobs,Greta,” I said, staring into her eyes. “There’s only one of you. This is your life. You can’t live it here — not under the same roof as that man.”
Her tears spilled over and she nodded weakly in agreement.
“Here,” I said, reaching into my small clutch bag and pulling out my tattered wallet. There wasn’t much — just what little grocery money I’d managed to save for next week — but I pulled the bills out anyway. Pressing them into her hand, I knew in this moment, she needed them more than I did. “Take this.”
“I can’t—” She began to protest, but I stopped her.
“It’s not much, trust me. I wish I could do more for you.” I used my hand to curl her fingers closed around the wad of money. “Just promise me you’ll get away from him.”
Gretaclung to the money like a lifeline, then wrapped thin arms around me in an unexpected embrace. Her wet, tear-stained cheek brushed mine as she hugged me. “Thank you.”
“Go,” I ordered, fighting off my own tears as I stepped away and pushed her lightly toward the small, beat-up Honda she’d parked next to the garage. She nodded and hurried for her car.
When her taillights disappeared down the long driveway, I brushed the dampness from my cheeks and turned away.
“Good luck,” I whispered into the night.
Sebastian emerged from the house a few minutes later. He draped my jacket over my shoulders and led me to the car, staring at me with worry in his eyes. Three times during our ride home, he asked why I’d gone so silent. I shrugged off his concern and stared out the passenger window, lost in my thoughts, until he dropped me off at home.
I couldn’t tell him.
Not tonight, anyway. This was his father, after all. Plus, it hadn’t escaped my notice that his father was an important political figure. If this got out, it wouldn’t only ruin the senator’s career and reputation, it would set off a media storm that would shatter Sebastian’s family — and, in all likelihood, his future.
But, at the same time, I couldn’tnottell him.
His father was the worst kind of man — one who abused his power to exploit the innocent, who used his strength to force others into submission. Bash had a right to know.
I’d tell him in a few days, I reasoned. I needed time to process and figure out the right way to break it to him. For now, as I remembered the crazed look in Andrew’s eyes when I’d led Greta away from him, all I could think about was the fact that I’d just made a very powerful enemy — one who’d stop at nothing to protect himself.
And destroy me.