Chapter 3

It was six in the evening.

Alex came in with five men behind him.

Mike Johnson, Tom Olson, and Chris Donald came in, and they were all the usual crew.

"Hey, Lily, feeling any better?" Mike asked as he kicked off his shoes.

Tom strolled in, cigarette dangling from his lips, didn't even bother with his shoes, and walked right onto the carpet I'd scrubbed just last week.

I didn't say a word, just brought out a plate of washed grapes and set them on the coffee table.

Alex glanced over, raising an eyebrow.

"Didn't I tell you to pick up some seafood? Where's the crab?" he said, sounding annoyed.

"I got there too late. The seafood market was already closed," I replied.

The dishes on the table were seventeen dollars of takeout from the restaurant downstairs, and I had only moved them onto some nice plates.

Chris jumped in to lighten the mood.

"No worries, Lily's not feeling well. As long as we can grab a bite, that's good enough," he said.

Alex took the head of the table and brought out a case of liquor.

"Lily, go rinse the decanter with hot water," he said.

He gave me the order without turning his head.

Mike propped his feet up on the coffee table, his shoes scraping against the table leg.

"Lily, grab me a pillow, will you? My back's killing me," he said.

I walked over and handed him one.

"Thanks. You make a pretty decent maid," he snickered.

As I turned away, I caught Tom leaning in to whisper to Alex.

"You have real skills. You trained her so well that she's totally obedient," Tom said.

Alex leaned back in his chair and let out a couple of dry laughs.

He said, "Never let a woman get too comfortable. Give her an inch and she'll take a mile.

"Just left her hanging last night, and now she's behaving herself again. No matter what, she still has to do the chores."

I rinsed the decanter under the faucet.

Leaning against the counter, I pressed record on my phone, expressionless.

I caught their voices, clear as day.

Alex sneered, "Honestly, she's just a free maid. Why keep her around? I'm too lazy to do my own laundry or cook. That's all women are good for."

I tapped save.

I pulled up my phone's payment app.

On the family card screen, Alex's name sat right at the top with a seven thousand dollar limit.

He'd set it up himself, just to show off how generous he was.

Whenever he grabbed a cab, treated his buddies, or sent gifts to livestreamers, the money always came straight out of my account.

I tapped the top right corner and unlinked it without a second thought.

Then I opened the shared account on the payment app and cut him off there too.

Finally, I opened the bank app and deactivated the supplementary card.

Three minutes later, I came out with the hot cups and set them out on the table.

Alex gave me a quick nod, chin raised.

"Go slice up some fruit, and tell Mike's driver he can head out," he said, barely looking at me.

"Okay," I replied.

I went back to the bedroom and dragged my packed suitcase out from under the bed.

I opened the door and booked a courier service.

Fifteen minutes later, the courier showed up, took the suitcase, and shipped it straight to the airport luggage storage.

In the dining room, the guys were still feasting and knocking back drinks, their faces red from the alcohol.

Mike clapped Alex on the shoulder.

Mike teased, "Alex, now that your business is booming, when are you gonna marry Lily?

"She's stuck by you for five years, paid the mortgage, and handled all the chores. Come on, that's enough already."

Alex picked up a bite of food, waving it off like it was nothing.

"What's the hurry? Once I finish paying off that million dollar mortgage, then I'll consider marrying her," he said, totally unfazed.

He looked up at me with a smug, arrogant expression.

"You hear that, Lily? Just keep being obedient like this," he added, his voice full of smugness.

I looked at his face, red from drinking, and the wine stains on his collar.

Five years ago, on the first birthday we spent together, he had to borrow money just to buy me a twenty dollar cake.

Back then his eyes were full of guilt and gratitude, and now there was nothing in them but arrogance.

I nodded, keeping my cool.

"Sure," I replied.

By ten, the guys just took off, not even bothering to say goodbye.

Alex flopped onto the couch, burping from all the drinks.

"Go run me a bath," he slurred.

I ignored him completely and walked straight into the master bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it.

I heard him kicking the door.

"What the hell's wrong with you? Open up!" Alex yelled.

I put on my headphones, leaned against the door, and pulled up the calendar on my phone.

Midnight was almost here, and the 15th was about to start.

*****

It was 8 p.m. on the 15th.

I was sitting in the airport lounge.

Two hours left until my flight to Paris.

My phone screen flashed, and the calendar reminder popped up right on cue.

[Alex Carter's mortgage payment due on 15th.]

I swiped left to delete the reminder, then held down the power button and slid to shut it down.

The screen faded to black.

Meanwhile, twenty miles away at Nightfall Bar, Alex was sitting right in the middle of the booth.

It was Tom's birthday party.

This was exactly the kind of scene Alex lived for.

He was surrounded by his buddies, all calling him "Mr. Carter" and treating him like royalty.

The night was winding down.

The waiter came over, bent down, and handed Alex the bill.

"Mr. Carter, tonight's tab is twenty-six thousand eight hundred dollars. How would you like to pay?" the waiter asked.

Tom reached out to stop him.

"Come on, Alex, we agreed I'd cover tonight," Tom said.

Alex got up from his seat and brushed Tom's hand aside.

"Don't fight me on this. It's your party, and I insist on paying," Alex said.

He pulled out his phone, pulled up his payment QR code, and handed it to the waiter.

"Scan this," Alex said.

The scanner blinked red and let out an error beep.

The waiter gave him an awkward, apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Mr. Carter," the waiter apologized, "looks like your account doesn't have enough funds, or the payment's been blocked."

The booth went dead silent.

Tom's hand hung in the air, and the girls all paused, stunned.

Alex frowned, clearly irritated.

"Is this thing busted? No signal? Scan it again," he snapped.

He opened the payment app and pulled up a fresh code.

But the scanner still flashed red.

"Sorry, Mr. Carter, it's still not working," the waiter said, eyeing him with doubt.

Chris started egging him on.

He said, "Alex, what's wrong? Your personal ATM run out of cash today?

"What, did you make her mad yesterday and she froze your card?"

The whole group burst out laughing.

Alex's face turned beet red.

"No way. She wouldn't dare cut off my card!" he snapped.