
I kept scrubbing the marble counters long after they shined. Three years of Cherie’s perfume on silk sheets, three years of watching her sway through the foyer in heels worth more than my rent, and I was still just the girl who changed the linens. Today the agency shut her accounts. She stood in the doorway, blouse half-open, admitting the Feds had taken everything. No paycheck. No severance. Nothing. Anger hit first, hot and sudden, then she stepped closer and let the silk slip off one shoulder. A single pink nipple pushed against red lace, already stiff. She said her husband would make it right, but first she wanted to settle the debt herself. Her fingers found the top button of my uniform, slow, certain. The kitchen suddenly felt small, the air thick with the promise that I wouldn’t leave this house empty-handed.
I kept scrubbing the marble counters long after they shined. Three years of Cherie’s perfume on silk sheets, three years of watching her sway through the foyer in heels worth more than my rent, and I was still just the girl who changed the linens. Today the agency shut her accounts. She stood in the doorway, blouse half-open, admitting the Feds had taken everything. No paycheck. No severance. Nothing. Anger hit first, hot and sudden, then she stepped closer and let the silk slip off one shoulder. A single pink nipple pushed against red lace, already stiff. She said her husband would make it right, but first she wanted to settle the debt herself. Her fingers found the top button of my uniform, slow, certain. The kitchen suddenly felt small, the air thick with the promise that I wouldn’t leave this house empty-handed.