He Treated Me as a Servant but Begged Me Not to Leave Chapter 01

He Treated Me as a Servant but Begged Me Not to Leave Chapter 01

I was Landon Hale’s shadow, and the only girl who stuck by his side.

Then the transfer student showed up.

The Hales forced us apart and shipped us both overseas together.

Far from home, things got messy between us.

When we woke up afterward, Landon stared silently at the ceiling for a long time, his face tight with regret, then said he’d do right by me.

That relationship lasted until we came back to the States.

When Landon ditched me again for that transfer girl, I actually felt relieved.

The Hales had paid for my schooling abroad and set me up with a job. I had no idea how to even bring up breaking up.

—

I was only in it for the fun anyway.

Landon had that kind of face—broad shoulders, a narrow waist, a firm ass, and he had all the right assets.

When he talked to me, those eyes that looked like he was head over heels for everything he stared at, and the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, made my heart race.

He was total eye candy.

I’d had my eye on him for a long time.

I was a poor student supported by the Hales.

After my mom gave birth to my younger brother, she basically packed me off to the Hale house to be a future bride.

Vivian Hale, Landon’s mother, had a kind heart, so she kept me.

But I knew my place.

I was never going to be anyone’s bride. At best, I was live-in help.

I glanced at the maid’s quarters in the Hale mansion. It was bigger than the master bedroom in my old house.

So I followed Landon, all the way from elementary school through high school.

When he skipped class, I covered for him.

When he slept, I did his homework.

I watched his desk drawer fill up with love letters.

Landon never seemed interested in any girl.

But one time, some guys teased him about me, “Hey, Landon, you keep swapping girlfriends… doesn’t your little ward get jealous?”

“Ward? She’s just the house girl, right? His side piece when he’s between girlfriends.”

Landon threw the first punch.

That was the first time I’d ever seen him hit anyone.

He’d been training in boxing. He went at them like he meant to kill.

Right then, I thought maybe I was special to him.

A stupid little part of me felt smug about it.

Until Chloe Rhodes transferred in.

A pretty, innocent girl stood at the front of the class giving her introduction.

Almost every guy’s head turned. Except Landon.

He was face-down on his desk. He barely lifted his lids, flicked a glance at her, and his expression didn’t shift an inch.

The teacher assigned Chloe a seat next to a heavy guy who kept leering at her.

Chloe hugged her backpack and walked toward the empty desk beside Landon.

“Excuse me,” she whispered. “Can I sit here?”

Someone drew in a sharp breath.

The last girl who’d tried to sit next to Landon had been chasing him.

He’d given a cold laugh and spat out two words,

“Get lost.”

But now, under Chloe’s pleading look, Landon’s throat moved, and he said lazily, “Whatever.”

Chloe let out a relieved breath and carefully sat down.

I was sitting right in front of them.

All day long, I heard Chloe try to win him over—showing him her notes, sharing her snacks.

He went from annoyed rejection to gradually stopping pushing her away.

A bad feeling twisted in my gut.

Day after day, I tuned in to every sound from the desk behind me. I couldn’t focus in class to save my life.

Chloe said to him, “This chapter’s super important. Don’t fall asleep!”

I braced for him to brush her off.

But a few seconds later, I heard him say, “If it’s that important, you teach me.”

My hand jerked so hard my pen dragged a deep gash across the page, ruining an entire day’s notes.

When Landon started asking me to pick up two breakfasts instead of one, I didn’t even feel surprised. I’d seen this coming from a mile away.

He made his first serious confession to a girl.

Someone laughed, “Why all the fuss? Who’s going to turn down Landon? All Landon has to do is snap his fingers, and she’ll throw herself at him.”

Landon kicked him and said, in a serious tone, “She’s different.”

She was different.

Because she turned him down.