LILY'S POV

Later in the evening, as promised, Shayna showed up with herbal tea and some biscuits.

“I thought it'd be too late for coffee, so I came with some English breakfast tea and biscuits that I made.” She said, dropping all the contents on the table.

“That's fine. Thank you very much. I'll put some water in the kettle to heat.” I told her. She sat at the table in the kitchenette and began to put the bags into the mugs.

“So, where are you from?” She asked.

“I'm from Bradford originally, but I moved to London a few years back.” I told her, not wanting to go into too much detail about my past.

“Oh, where did you work before coming here?”

“I worked at a bar in Camden.” I told her, and I saw her wince. Yes, Camden was known to be very unsafe as a result of high crime rates, but I'd never really gotten into any trouble while I lived there.

“Oh, well. Is there any family there?”

“Nope, none at all.” I turned my back to her and pretended to check if the kettle was hot so she wouldn't see how uncomfortable I was with her line of questioning. They were normal questions, I knew she didn't mean any harm because she didn't know, but it was still hard not to get uncomfortable.

“Well, I'm from Wolverhampton, and I started working here three years ago. My parents and younger siblings live there, I left to look for greener pastures, and that's how I ended up here.” She told me. She was a really open person, I could tell, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

“Well, the pay here is pretty nice. Mr. Stone must be very generous.” I remarked, taking the kettle from the stove and pouring hot water into each of our cups. The sweet aroma of the tea filled the air.

“Oh, yes he is, just that he's a bit strange.” She muttered before taking a sip of her tea.

I wasn't one for gossip, but I had always wanted to know more about my boss. I only knew that he owned Stonewell—one of the biggest companies in the whole of London. I'd never even seen his face before.

“How so?” I asked.

“Mr. Stone is very handsome, drop-dead gorgeous. In fact, working here and being around him can really teach a girl discipline,” she said, causing me to laugh. “But he's very quiet and watchful. He doesn't say much, and he goes out at night a lot and comes back during the early hours of the morning. Nobody knows where he goes.”

“Does he work late a lot?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think he just goes to work. But that is a whole lot of working for someone who already has so much money, don't you think?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Does he have any family that comes by to visit?”

“No, only Mr. Crowley. His father died a long time ago, and rumour has it that he was abandoned by his mother as a child.”

“Oh, how sad.”

We continued talking till it was almost eleven. I discovered that Shayna was very easy to talk to, and that put me at ease that me and her got along very well. It would have been awful to work with someone with a nasty character. I know because I've experienced it before.

After Shayna left, I got in the shower. The water was hot and soothing on my body, causing me to relax. There was a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, it looked expensive as opposed to the cheap ones I usually buy to wash my hair. I worked some into my hair and rinsed it out.

When I came out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around my hair, but I was surprised to find a blow-dryer in one of the cabinets.

When I finally felt clean, I slipped into the very comfortable bed with a sigh. It didn't take long, and I was out like a light.

***

The next morning, I got ready for work. The uniform was black and white, the regular maid's uniform. I tied my hair in a high ponytail and put on my worn-out pair of black sneakers. When I got into the kitchen, Shayna was already there.

“Good morning.” She told me brightly. “How was your first night here?”

“It was lovely, thank you.”

“Okay, I'm technically not in charge of the kitchen today, but Duke asked me to show you how things are done before I go about my duties.” She said,

“Okay.”

“Now, the boss doesn't like sugar in his tea or coffee. He usually drinks coffee before he leaves for work in the morning, along with two boiled eggs and three slices of wheat bread. He doesn't drink milk in his coffee either.”

She brought out a black tray from the cabinet and placed a hot cup of coffee and the plate of boiled eggs and wheat bread. As I watched Bow, she arranged it. I thought it was a strange breakfast for anybody to have, but rich people eat a lot of weird things.

“He comes down from his room at exactly thirty minutes past seven, which is,” she glanced at her watch. “now.”

“Take this to him and be careful so the cup doesn't spill.”

“Okay.” I said, feeling very nervous about having to carry the tray out to the dining room.

Shayna must have noticed because she said, “Don't think too much about it. You can do this.”

“Yes, I can. Thank you.”

I breathed in and out deeply, and then I picked up the tray and began to walk carefully to the dining room. Mr. Stone was not yet in the room, and that put me at ease a bit as I placed the tray on the table.

I raised my head up, and that's when I saw him—a tall man dressed in a three-piece black suit. His jet black hair combed to perfection. He was lean, but he was muscular, evidence that he worked out a lot. He was staring at his phone, so he had not yet noticed my presence. I wanted to move, to go back into the kitchen before he noticed me, but I was frozen in place, almost as though subconsciously, I wanted him to notice me.

And then finally, he looked up from his phone and his cold, blue eyes landed on me.