The Housemaid(72)

“What am I going to do?” I say again.

“Is simple,” he says. “We go to plan B.”

I lift my tear-streaked face. “What’s Plan B?”

“I kill the bastard.”

I shiver because I can see in his dark eyes that he means it. “Enzo…”

“I will do it.” He pulls away from me and his jaw is rigid. “He deserves to die. This is not right. I’ll do for you what I should have done for Antonia.”

“And we both go to jail?”

“You won’t go to jail.”

I smack him in the arm. “I’m not okay with you going to jail either.”

“So then what do you suggest?”

And then the idea hits me. It’s so beautifully simple. And even though I hate Andy, I know him very well. This will work.





FORTY-NINE





Step Eight: Find a Replacement





I can’t pick just anyone.

First of all, she has to be beautiful. More beautiful than I am, which shouldn’t be hard since I’ve deliberately let myself go the last few years. She has to be younger than me—young enough to give Andy the children he so badly wants. She has to look good in white. He loves that color.

And most of all, she has to be desperate.

Then I meet Wilhelmina Calloway. She’s everything I wanted. The dowdy clothing she wears to her interview can’t conceal how young and pretty she is. She’s desperate to please me. And then when the simple background check I run reveals a criminal record, I know I’ve hit paydirt. This is a girl who will be desperate for a decent, high-paying job.

“I am not on board with this,” Enzo tells me when I come out to my backyard to ask for the name of the private detective he knows. “This is not right.”

When I told him my plan a few weeks ago, he was not happy. You would sacrifice somebody else? But he didn’t understand.

“Andy controls me because of Cece,” I say. “This girl has no children. No attachments. Nothing he can hold over her. She can leave.”

“You know it doesn’t work that way,” he grumbles.

“Will you help me or not?”

His shoulders sag. “Yes. You know I will help.”

So I hire the private investigator Enzo recommended to me using some of the remaining money I had squirreled away. And the detective tells me everything I need to know about Wilhelmina Calloway. He tells me that she got fired from her last job—and they were close to calling the police on her. He tells me she’s living in her car. And he tells me one other tidbit that changes everything. Right after I hang up with the detective, I call Millie and offer her the job.

The only problem is Andy.

He won’t want a stranger living in our house. He has reluctantly allowed people to come in for a few hours to clean, but that’s it. He never even allows anyone to babysit for Cecelia except for his mother. But the timing works out very well. Andy’s father recently retired and after taking a bad fall on a patch of ice, they decided to move down to Florida. I could tell Evelyn was not enthusiastic about the idea and they decided to retain their old house for the summer, but most of their friends had relocated to southern Florida by now. And Andy’s father was looking forward to spending his retirement playing golf every day with his buddies.

What it comes down to is that we need help.

The trickiest part is that Millie’s new bedroom will be in the attic. He won’t like that at all. But it has to be that way. He has to see her up there if I want him to think of her as my replacement. I have to entice him.

I set the stage before I spring her on him. I wake up every morning complaining of migraines that make it impossible for me to cook or clean. I work hard to leave the house a complete mess. Another few days and our house would be ready to be condemned. We need help. Desperately.

Still, right after Andy discovers I’ve hired Millie, he corners me outside my car. His fingers bite into my biceps as he gives me a good hard yank. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Nina?”

“We need help.” I lift my chin defiantly. “Your mother isn’t around. We need someone to watch Cece and to help clean.”

“You put her in the attic,” he growls. “That’s your room. You should put her in the guest room.”

“And where will your parents stay when they come to visit us? The attic? The living room sofa?”

I see his jaw working as he considers this. Evelyn Winchester would never sleep on the living room sofa.

“Just let her stay for two months,” I say. “Until the school year is over and I have more free time to clean, and your mother will come back up from Florida.”

“Forget it.”

“So fire her if you want.” I blink at him. “I can’t stop you.”

“Believe me, I will.”

Except he doesn’t fire her. Because when he comes home that night, for the first time, the house is clean. And she serves him a dinner that isn’t burned. And she is young and beautiful.

So Millie stays in the attic.



This will only work if three things happen:

Millie and Andy have a mutual attraction.

Millie hates me enough to sleep with my husband.