I Was His Wife for 8 Years, He Paid Me Like a Maid Chapter 07
The first day at the Hayes residence, Stella locked her bedroom door.
“I don’t want a new mom.”
The housekeeper stood outside, helpless.
I just set dinner by the door. “Good thing I’m not trying to be your mom.”
Silence from inside. “Then why are you here?”
“Work.”
“Tell me what you don’t like. If it’s reasonable, I’ll change it. If it’s not, we’ll negotiate.”
The door cracked open.
A small hand pulled the plate inside.
Evan stood at the top of the stairs.
He didn’t comment on my approach.
He just handed me two cards.
“Black is for household expenses. White is your salary.”
I asked without thinking, “Does Lily’s food and clothing come out of my salary too?”
Evan frowned. “Why would it come out of your salary? Managing this household is your labor. The family
expenses are my responsibility.”
I slid the two cards into separate compartments of my wallet.
I did it slowly, almost carefully. For the first time in eight years, something clicked.
Caring for others could be priced fairly. And it didn’t have to come with contempt.
When my first paycheck arrived, I counted the zeros three times.
Fifty thousand. Not a dollar short.
I texted Evan. [Did you overpay?]
He replied, [The contract says what it says. So I pay what it says.]
I stared at the message for a long time.
Then I recorded the income in my ledger.
On the third day, Stella’s school hosted a family event.
She refused to go, afraid classmates would ask about her mother.
Lily didn’t push. She just placed her yellow field trip cap on Stella’s head. “Then neither of us brings a mom.
We’ll let her be a classroom helper.”
The two girls negotiated for a while and finally agreed to go.
On the way home, Stella shared the white strawberries her teacher had given her with Lily.
Lily saved the biggest one and pressed it into my hand.
“Mommy first.”
I froze.
For the first time, I didn’t say it was for Grandma.
I didn’t put it back in her daughter’s bowl.
I ate it.
It was sweet.
That afternoon, Damon’s car pulled up outside the Hayes residence.
His driver delivered new shoes, toys, and six crates of white strawberries.
Lily didn’t accept any of it. “When I wanted them before, Daddy didn’t know. I already have them now.”
Damon sat in the car, watching through the window as his daughter ran back inside.
He wasn’t ready to give up. He went to her school.
The teacher stopped him at the door. “I’m sorry, but you’re not on Lily’s approved pickup list.”
Damon looked at the emergency contact form.
For years, the only name in that column had been mine.
Vivian sat in the passenger seat and murmured, “Sloane’s turning her against you.”
“A kid that young doesn’t think like that.”
“She doesn’t. But you do?”
It was the first time he hadn’t followed her lead.
He returned to the office and pulled three years of household spending records himself.
The CFO dug through the files.
His expression grew more troubled by the minute.
“Mr. Ashford, these luxury purchases are recorded under your wife’s name. But every single delivery signature belongs to Vivian Price.”
Outside the office, Vivian gripped her phone.
And quietly deleted a transfer record.
