My Housekeeper Tried to Replace Me with Her Daughter Chapter 08

My Housekeeper Tried to Replace Me with Her Daughter Chapter 08

“Oh my God, she got the wrong guy!”

“I can’t. The two of them tried to trap the maintenance guy!”

“She said she was pregnant with Mr. Ashford’s baby. Girl, that baby’s Nolan’s!”

The laughter and commentary kept coming from every direction.

Tessa shrank under the weight of all those eyes. She looked like she wanted the floor to swallow

her.

Whatever swagger Marlene had walked in with was gone.

She jabbed a finger at us, but her hand was shaking.

“Don’t think you’ve won. You doctored that video!”

“We’re leaving. For now. But don’t think this is over. We’ll be back!”

“My daughter’s reputation is ruined because of you, and someone’s going to pay for it!”

She took two steps, then smacked Tessa’s arm.

“You stupid girl! I showed you his picture! How did you get the wrong man?”

Tessa immediately burst into tears.

Marlene yanked her by the arm. “Cry, cry, cry. That’s all you’re good for.”

“Haven’t you embarrassed us enough?”

“Get up. We’re going home!”

Tessa covered her face, stumbled to her feet, and tried to follow Marlene out.

“Stop.”

Marlene spun around. “What now? You got your big moment. Can’t we just go?”

I looked at her and felt absolutely nothing.

“If that were all you’d done, sure. Go.”

“But you’re not done yet.”

I held up the iPad and opened another video file.

This recording was from the following morning.

Early morning light. Tessa strolled out of the bedroom wearing a dress that wasn’t hers, one of mine, pulled straight from my closet.

She stuffed her own wrinkled dress into a bag. At the front door, she stopped in front of the full-length mirror, admiring the gold necklace around her neck.

I paused the recording. “That necklace is mine. She took it from my jewelry box.”

The whole hallway turned to Tessa.

She was wearing the same necklace right now.

“Oh my God, she’s a thief too.”

“That looks expensive. That’s straight-up grand larceny.”

Tessa’s mouth opened and closed. “I thought… I thought…”

I knew what she wanted to say.

She’d been so sure she’d marry Everett that she figured everything of mine was already hers.

Marlene was seething.

She grabbed the necklace around Tessa’s neck and yanked it off.

The chain dragged across Tessa’s skin, leaving a thin red scratch that beaded with blood. She

winced but didn’t dare make a sound.

Marlene threw the necklace at my feet.

“Here! Take it back! Take all of it back!”

“Can we leave now?”

“You’re a monster, Vivienne.”

“I worked for you for three years! Maybe I wasn’t perfect, but I gave you everything I had, and this is the thanks I get!”

I didn’t blink.

“Marlene, you know exactly how I treated you those three years.”

“I can look myself in the mirror. Can you?”

“Things kept disappearing over those three years. Dishes, skincare, cashmere scarves, even a gift set a friend gave me. You think I didn’t notice?”

Add it all up, and it’s more than enough for a felony charge.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed 911.

“I let all of it slide because I felt sorry for you. But since you decided to come after me, we can settle

this properly.”

Every last drop of fight drained from Marlene’s face.