The Maid's Deception-Chapter 16 - 15: Lucy’ Advice

Aria stood frozen in Damien’s closet for a full minute after he left, trying to get her breathing under control.

What are you doing?

She’d almost kissed him. Would have kissed him. Had wanted to kiss him with an intensity that terrified her.

This wasn’t part of the plan. Wasn’t part of any plan. She was supposed to be invisible, unremarkable, focused solely on her mission.

Instead, she was standing in his closet with her lips still tingling from where his thumb had brushed them, her skin still warm from his touch, her body aching for something she’d never experienced before.

Stop lying to yourself.

His words echoed in her mind. Because he was right. She had been lying to him, to herself, pretending this pull between them was one-sided or manageable or something she could ignore.

But she couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Focus, she commanded herself. Mother. Mission. Plant. That’s what matters. Not gray eyes and dangerous smiles and the way he makes you feel like you’re the only person in his world.

She finished tidying his room with mechanical precision, then escaped to the relative safety of the staff areas.

Lucy found her in the supply closet, staring blankly at a shelf of cleaning products.

"Uh, Sarah? You’ve been holding that same bottle of glass cleaner for like five minutes. You okay?"

Aria startled, nearly dropping the bottle. "I’m fine. Just... making sure we have enough supplies."

"Right." Lucy’s expression was skeptical. "Because that requires intense staring? What’s really going on?"

"Nothing. I’m just tired."

"Is it Mr. Blackwood?" Lucy lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Did something happen? Because you’ve had that deer-in-headlights look since you came back from his quarters."

He almost kissed me. I almost let him. I wanted him to.

"He’s just very... particular about his preferences. I’m still learning."

Lucy studied her for a moment, then seemed to make a decision. "Okay, real talk. I like you, Sarah. You seem nice and you work hard and you haven’t been snobby or weird like some new people are. So I’m going to tell you something, friend to friend."

"Okay..."

"Mr. Blackwood is dangerous." Lucy’s tone was serious now, all traces of her usual cheerfulness gone.

"Not in a ’he’s going to hurt you’ way I don’t think he’d ever physically harm anyone. But emotionally? He could destroy you without even trying. He’s intense and obsessive and when he focuses that intensity on someone..." She shook her head.

"Just be careful. Whatever’s happening between you two and don’t bother denying it, I’ve seen how he looks at you just be really, really careful."

"Nothing’s happening.."

"Sarah." Lucy’s look was pointed. "I’ve worked here for two years. I’ve never seen Mr. Blackwood pay this much attention to any staff member. Ever. He requests you specifically. Has you in his private quarters. Apparently teaches you how to fold shirts personally." She raised an eyebrow. "That’s not nothing."

Aria wanted to deny it. Wanted to maintain the fiction that she was just doing her job, that Damien was just being thorough with a new employee.

But the lie wouldn’t come.

"I don’t know what’s happening," she admitted quietly. "And that terrifies me."

"Yeah." Lucy’s expression softened with sympathy. "I bet it does. Just... remember that guys like him? They’re used to getting what they want. And they don’t always think about the consequences for the people around them."

The warning was well-intentioned, but Lucy didn’t understand. Damien wasn’t the only one who didn’t think about consequences. Aria had walked into this house planning to deceive and steal from him. She was the one playing games.

Or at least, she’d thought she was.

Now she wasn’t sure who was playing whom.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of tasks. Aria threw herself into work with desperate focus, trying to exhaust her body enough that her mind would stop replaying that moment in the closet.

It didn’t work.

Every time she turned a corner, she half-expected to see him. Every time her phone buzzed, her heart jumped. She was hyperaware of his presence in the house even when she couldn’t see him like some part of her was constantly tracking him, always knowing where he was.

It was maddening.