Part 1: The Night the Perfect Marriage Cracked
I'm just a maid, but when my pregnant boss cried tears of shattered glass and her brutal bruises glowed, I uncovered her husband’s sick, glowing poison pill secret!
The thud of a body hitting the mahogany floor echoed through the mansion. I pressed my hands over my mouth, crouching behind the kitchen island.
"Look what you made me do, Clara!" Richard’s voice was a low, terrifying hiss.
I am Rosa. I came to America seven months ago. My English is broken, a scattered puzzle of words I learn from television. But terror is a universal language. I clean the sprawling glass-and-stone estate of the Sterling family in upstate New York. By day, they are the perfect couple. By night, the beast awakens. Clara is six months pregnant, her belly swelling with life, yet her eyes are increasingly hollow, bruised like spoiled fruit. I cannot call 911. What would I say? How would they understand my panicked, accented stutters before Richard found out? He is a powerful lawyer. He would deport me, or worse, make me disappear.
Another crash upstairs. A muffled sob. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I crept toward the grand staircase, gripping the polished banister. I needed to do something. I couldn’t just mop up her blood anymore.
I tiptoed up the carpeted steps, the silence of the massive house pressing down on me. The door to the master bedroom was slightly ajar, a sliver of golden light spilling into the dark hallway. I peeked through the crack. Richard was standing over her, his fists clenched, while Clara cradled her stomach on the floor, weeping silently.
"Tomorrow, you sign the papers," he whispered, turning toward the door.
Panic seized me. I scrambled back, but my shoe caught on the edge of the runner rug. A soft, betraying scrape. The heavy oak door swung open wide, casting Richard’s towering shadow over my trembling body.
[Option A]
"Rosa," Richard purred, his icy blue eyes locking onto mine. He stepped out of the room, slowly unbuttoning his cuffs. "What are you doing awake so late?" The smell of copper and expensive scotch rolled off him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out my passport. "Looking for this?"
[Option B]
Before Richard could step out, Clara suddenly cried out in agonizing pain, forcing him to turn back. In that split second, she met my eyes through the doorway and slid a crumpled piece of paper across the floorboards. It hit my shoe. I snatched it and ran to my basement room. I unfolded it under the dim lamp, staring at the English words I couldn't understand.
Some secrets are too dangerous to hold, especially when you don't even know what they mean. Rosa has a choice to make, and time is running out for Clara and her unborn child
