Chapter 2 - The Handyman’s Secret
|
She crawled past polished leather shoes.
Past heavy, expensive perfume that made her stomach churn.
Past powerful people who laughed softly, as if a woman’s profound humiliation was just another course on the dinner menu.
When she finally reached Fallon’s chair at the head of the table, he stood up.
The whole room instantly went dead silent. The chuckling stopped. The breathing hitched. For one terrible, desperate second, Sloan thought he was going to reach down, offer his hand, and save her from his daughter’s cruelty.
Instead, he adjusted his cuffs, didn't even look at her, and walked out of the room.
Sloan pushed herself up, her knees bruised and her dignity shredded into pieces. She didn't look at Valentina’s triumphant smirk. She just turned and practically ran out the back kitchen doors, bursting into the freezing November night.
Outside in the dark garden, the air was sharp and biting. She leaned against the brick wall of the mansion, shaking violently, wrapping her arms around her thin uniform.
“Rough night in the lion’s den?” a voice asked.
Sloan jumped. Standing near the dead, thorny rose bushes was Leo, the estate’s new handyman. He was leaning against a stone pillar, wearing a worn canvas jacket, his face shadowed by the moonlight.
“Leave me alone, Leo,” Sloan choked out, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
He didn’t move away. Instead, he walked over and sat on the low stone bench beside her. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his smartphone, and placed it right between them on the bench.
“You should see this,” Leo said quietly.
Sloan looked down at the glowing screen. It was a video. From outside the dining room window, someone had recorded the entire dinner. The audio was muffled, but the visual was perfectly clear. It showed Sloan on her knees. It showed Valentina’s cruel smile. It showed the laughter of the East Coast’s most untouchable elite.
May you like
“You recorded this?” Sloan whispered, horrified. “Why? To mock me?”
“No,” Leo said, his eyes suddenly turning hard and calculating. “I recorded it because leverage is the only currency these people understand. And I think you and I are about to get very rich, Sloan.”
