Chapter 5
"Lacey, are you having a seizure or something?" Ashtyn snapped.
I shot back, "I'm not your mom."
Ashtyn froze.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
David shot me a look, his usual condescending tone in place.
"Lacey, watch your tone," he said.
I yanked off my apron and tossed it onto the couch.
"And I'm not your maid either," I snapped.
The room, which had been buzzing with noise moments ago, fell silent.
Under David's icy glare, I looked around at everyone.
"Settle up for my work for today," I said.
No one moved.
I grabbed Ashtyn's phone.
Because she often came over, I'd caught a glimpse of her lock screen password.
I used her phone to send myself 15 thousand dollars, then turned to Ashtyn.
"Pay up," I said.
"15 thousand dollars? Who do you think you are?" she snapped.
"What's wrong, Ashtyn? Can't cough it up? If you can't pay, why even bother hiring a maid?" I shot back.
Ashtyn's smugness disappeared. Scowling, she unlocked her phone with her fingerprint for everyone to see.
As soon as the 15 thousand dollars landed in my account, I left without a second glance.
As I drove away from the villa, tears started streaming down my face.
David would never spill about me memorizing the list.
The reason why those people knew about it was obvious.
But David didn't care.
He didn't give a damn about my dignity, my pride, or my reputation.
All he cared about was making Ashtyn happy.
*****
David came home two hours later.
By then, I was curled up on the couch, tears still fresh on my face.
But instead of comforting me, he tore into me the moment he walked in.
He said, "Ashtyn can't stop crying.
"She invited you tonight as a favor, not so you could put her on the spot in front of everyone.
"Lacey, go apologize to her."
I laughed, tears streaming down my face.
I shot back, "David, did you not see her bossing me around like I'm her maid?
"Did you not see her humiliating and belittling me in front of everyone?
"When did you start only caring about Ashtyn, like I don't even exist?"
His eyes darkened.
He said, "Why are you so hung up on these little things?
"You know Ashtyn's parents passed away, and yet you had to bring up her mom.
"Are you trying to make her relive all that misery and push her to hurt herself again?"
I stood up and met David's gaze.
"I didn't kill her parents," I said.
He tried to reason with me.
"But she tried to kill herself because of us," he said.
I shot back, "Did I hand her the knife? Did I tell her to do it?
"So because I owe Ashtyn, I have to put up with her always being more important than anything else in my life, forever?"
David gave me a cold look, like I was totally nuts.
"You're out of your mind," he said.
I really was losing it. I was driven mad by them.
All these years, everything revolved around Ashtyn.
I was always the lowest in the group.
I said, "When my gastritis flared up and I was lying in the hospital on an IV drip, Ashtyn called you, saying she'd had a nightmare. You dropped everything and ran to her.
"On my birthday, Ashtyn barged in uninvited, blew out my candles, ruined my cake, and kept bugging you to sing her the birthday song.
"Even on our engagement day, Ashtyn said she missed her parents, got totally wasted, and ended up crashing in your arms the whole night.
"David, who's really your fiancée? Who actually matters to you?"
I was hysterical, spilling all my frustrations, but David looked at me like I was being dramatic over nothing.
David said, "Ashtyn is my parents' adopted daughter. We can only be siblings.
"So what if we sleep in the same bed? We are just siblings.
"Lacey, can you stop throwing a fit all the time?
"Ashtyn already let you have me. Can't you be a little more generous and let her win on these small things?"
I gave a bitter laugh, my heart aching so much it felt like it might break.
I said, "But David, I've got nothing left to give.
"I'm so insignificant now. I am not even remotely as important as Ashtyn.
"What else do you want me to give up?"
*****
David and I couldn't get through to each other.
After all that fighting, David slammed the door and stormed out.
He said, "Lacey, I'm so disappointed in you.
"Let's spend some time apart and cool off."
In the empty room, the only sound was my own breathing.
I wondered if I needed to reflect on my actions.
I wondered if I had really done something wrong.
David was always calm and collected.
As one of the best young diplomats, he was flawless on the job, never slipped up, not even once.
People like him wouldn't make mistakes.