Chapter 7: The $500 Trap
Two days after the gala, Victoria Sterling sat behind her mahogany desk, executing what she believed was her most brilliant, venomous plan yet.
She had spent years analyzing Alexander, memorizing his weaknesses, and now she had finally found his Achilles heel: his fierce, protective loyalty over that defiant little cleaning lady.
Victoria picked up her private phone and dialed Marcus Webb. Marcus was a sleazy real estate developer known for his shady reputation and his willingness to do highly unethical favors in exchange for corporate leverage.
“Marcus, darling, it’s Victoria,” she purred into the receiver. “I need a favor. One that could be incredibly profitable for both of us.”
Two hours later, Mia’s cheap flip phone buzzed in her pocket while she was dusting the mansion’s library. It was an unknown number.
“Hello?” Mia answered.
“Is this Mia Gonzalez?” a smooth male voice asked. “My name is Marcus Webb. I manage several boutique hotels in the city. I heard through the grapevine about your incredible organization skills. I have an emergency.”
Mia frowned. “What kind of emergency?”
“My assistant quit, and I have a crucial audit tomorrow. I need someone to urgently organize a stack of financial documents in my private office at the Grand Chicago Hotel. It’s two hours of work, and I will pay you $500 in cash.”
Mia’s heart leaped. Five hundred dollars. That was exactly what she needed to cover the final copay for Nico’s heart medication this month. It felt like an absolute blessing.
“I can be there at 3:00 PM,” Mia agreed without hesitation.
“Perfect. Room 204. Don’t be late.”
What Mia absolutely didn’t know was that Victoria had hired a sleazy private investigator with a telephoto lens to stand at the end of the hotel hallway at the exact moment she arrived. And Marcus had been explicitly instructed to open the door wearing nothing but a plush white bathrobe.
At 3:15 PM, a heavy manila envelope was delivered directly to Alexander’s desk at Montgomery Tech.
Alexander tore it open. Inside were three high-resolution photographs.
The first showed Mia walking into Room 204. The second showed Mia standing close to Marcus Webb at the door, while Marcus was wearing only a bathrobe, his chest exposed. The third photo was taken from a deceptive angle, making it look as though Mia was leaning in to kiss the married, notorious playboy.
A small, typed note was clipped to the photos: Thought you should know the kind of woman you’ve been protecting. — A Concerned Friend.
Alexander stared at the photographs, feeling violently sick to his stomach. The air rushed out of his lungs. First came absolute disbelief. Then came a hot, searing wave of betrayal. And finally, a devastating, hollow pain he had never expected to feel for a fake girlfriend.
When Mia walked through the front doors of the mansion at 5:00 PM, she was exhausted but smiling, the $500 safely tucked in her pocket.
She walked into the living room and stopped dead.
Alexander was standing by the fireplace, gripping a stack of photos, his face twisted into a mask of pure, terrifying rage.
“Where were you this afternoon?” he demanded, his voice dangerously low and controlled.
“Working,” Mia said, confused. “Why do you ask?”
Alexander threw the photos aggressively onto the glass coffee table. They slid across the surface, stopping right at Mia’s feet. “Working where, exactly, Mia?”
Mia looked down at the photos. All the blood instantly drained from her face. Her stomach plummeted. “Alexander, I… I can explain.”
“Can you?” he barked, taking a menacing step forward. “Great! Then explain to me why you were secretly sneaking into Marcus Webb’s hotel room this afternoon! A man known for paying off young women!”
“He hired me to organize his financial documents!” Mia pleaded, her voice trembling. “That’s all it was!”
Alexander let out a harsh, cruel laugh. “Documents?! In his private hotel room? While he was wearing a bathrobe?!”
“He said he had just come back from the gym! I didn’t know he’d be dressed like that! Alexander, I didn’t even go inside properly! I saw the bathrobe, felt uncomfortable, grabbed the files, and left!”
“Mia, please, do not treat me like an absolute idiot!” Alexander yelled, running a hand through his hair in distress. “I am not blind!”
“I am telling you the truth!”
Alexander turned his back to her, unable to look at her face. “You know what’s truly pathetic? For a second, I actually believed you were different. I actually believed there was something real between us.”
The words hit Mia like a physical punch to the chest. The air was knocked out of her lungs.
“Alexander,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “You can’t be serious. You really think I would sleep with some sleazy married man for money?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore! These pictures speak for themselves!”
“These pictures don’t show anything!” Mia screamed, tears finally spilling over her eyelashes. “I was there for five minutes!”
“Five minutes you conveniently forgot to mention when you walked through the door!”
Mia took a deep, shuddering breath, violently wiping the tears from her cheeks. The shock was fading, quickly replaced by a fierce, protective anger.
“You know what hurts the most, Alexander?” she asked, her voice shaking with rage. “It’s not that you didn’t believe me. It’s that you didn’t even bother to ask! You already judged me, convicted me, and sentenced me before hearing a single word of my side of the story!”
“The evidence is right there on the table, Mia!”
“Evidence?!” Mia stepped forward, jabbing a finger in his direction. “Or were you just desperately looking for a convenient reason to end this before it got too real for you? Because God forbid the great Alexander Montgomery actually catches feelings for the maid!”
Alexander spun around to face her, his mouth opening to yell back, but for a split second, he saw the profound, shattered devastation in her dark eyes. Doubt flickered in his chest, but his bruised ego suffocated it.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said coldly. “Maybe this never should have started.”
Mia nodded slowly, her heart breaking into a thousand jagged pieces. She reached into her jeans pocket, pulled out the heavy brass key to the mansion, and slammed it down onto the glass table next to the photos.
“Fine. If that’s what you think of me, then there’s absolutely nothing more to say.”
She turned and marched toward the grand double doors.
“Mia, wait!” Alexander called out, instinct fighting his pride.
“No!” she yelled, spinning around at the doorway. “You made it very clear exactly what you think of me. I may just be a poor housekeeper, Mr. Montgomery, but I have dignity, and I will not stay in a house where I am treated like a cheap liar.”
She grabbed the door handle, pausing for one final, devastating second.
“Just one thing, Alexander. When you inevitably find out the truth—and you will—I want you to remember that when it mattered the most, you chose not to trust me.”
The massive oak door slammed shut behind her, the boom echoing through the empty, silent mansion. Alexander was left completely alone with the photographs, the house key, and a sudden, terrifying realization that he had just made a catastrophic mistake.
