“Maybe he just wants to complain,” Lucas said with a half-shrug.
Emily let out a quiet breath.
“Maybe,” she replied.
But something about it didn’t feel that simple.
The next morning, after far too much hesitation, she made the call.
And was invited in.
The building alone felt intimidating—glass, steel, and silence, a world far removed from the noise and chaos she was used to. When she stepped inside, she felt out of place in a way she couldn’t quite explain.
Richard didn’t waste time.
“You made my mother smile,” he said, as if that alone justified everything that followed.
Then came the offer.
Clear. Structured. Unexpected.
He wanted her to become his mother’s full-time companion.
The salary was more than she had ever imagined earning. Enough to erase debt. Enough to change everything for her and Lucas.
But there was one condition.
Discretion.
Silence.
Emily understood what that meant without needing it explained.
And she accepted.
Because sometimes survival doesn’t leave space for questions.
Life inside the Bennett home was… different.
Everything was precise, controlled, almost too perfect. The kind of perfection that felt distant rather than comforting.
Except for Mrs. Bennett.