I Thought Love Had to Be Earned Through Chores, They Hugged Me Chapter 04

I Thought Love Had to Be Earned Through Chores, They Hugged Me Chapter 04

On the day of the anniversary dinner, I hit the kitchen at three in the morning. Gutted fish, simmered stock, sliced duck, plated appetizers. Between tasks, I fixed two freezers and sealed a drafty window.

Butler Henderson kept telling me to rest. I refused. “A person can stop living. But she can’t stop working.”

The look he gave me was impossible to read.

By six in the evening, the guests had arrived. All twelve courses hit the tables on time. Edward actually praised me in front of everyone. “Marnie, you’ve worked hard.”

I nearly opened another twelve tables on the spot out of sheer adrenaline.

Then Annabel clutched her stomach and collapsed, her face drained of color.

“Annabel!”

The family rushed to her. The doctor said food poisoning. A moment later, several more guests started vomiting. The banquet hall erupted into chaos.

Annabel looked at me, her voice weak. “Marnie, you cooked everything tonight. Did you… did you maybe add something by mistake?”

Cole’s face went hard. “Pull the kitchen purchase orders.”

Someone found the invoice. One line jumped out: Industrial-grade sodium nitrite. Signed at the bottom: Marnie Grant.

Every pair of eyes in the room turned on me.

Edward’s hands shook with fury. “Marnie, do you have any idea this stuff can kill people?!”

I stared at the signature. It looked like mine. But when I write my name, the last stroke of “Marnie” always loops upward at the end. This one didn’t.

Before I could explain, a faint, rotten smell hit my nose. Not food. Gas.

I whipped my head toward the kitchen. Annabel’s eyes flickered—then she convulsed into Catherine’s arms. “Get her to the hospital, now!”

The crowd scattered.

I sprinted to the kitchen. The gas alarm was silent. Not because there was no leak—the wires had been cut. Behind the stove, the flex hose had been sliced open, gas pouring out in waves.

I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Everyone out! No lights! No phones!”

The guests stampeded. Catherine passed me, half-carrying Annabel, and reached for my arm—but Annabel suddenly couldn’t breathe, her whole body going limp. Catherine had to catch her.

Cole grabbed me. “You’re coming with me!”

“The main valve—”

“Let the fire department handle it!”

“There’s no time.”

I shook him off and shoved him through the fire door. He pounded on it from the other side. “Marnie Grant, get out of there!”

I didn’t look back.

The underground gas valve was ancient—I’d flagged it last week, but the replacement part hadn’t arrived. Now it was completely seized. I grabbed a wrench and ran for the basement stairs. Behind me, I could hear him still screaming my name.

“Cole, relax. I’m certified in emergency gas repair too.”

The basement was thick with gas. I pressed a wet towel over my mouth and nose, hooked my whole body weight onto the wrench, and threw everything I had against the valve. Once. Twice. It wouldn’t move.

Up on the lawn, the family had just caught their breath. Annabel—who’d been half-dead moments ago—was visibly recovering in the fresh air.

The attending doctor frowned. “She wasn’t poisoned. She took an emetic beforehand.”

Cole spun around.

At the same moment, Henderson burst out of the villa, clutching a memory card. “The kitchen footage was deleted, but the cloud backup’s intact.”

The video played. Annabel, wearing gloves, slicing open the gas line. Then slipping the nitrite invoice into the pocket of my apron.

Catherine’s face went white.

Annabel tried to run—Edward seized her by the wrist.

Cole didn’t even glance at her. He was staring at the villa, his voice shaking. “Where’s Marnie?”

Henderson’s face went pale. “The eldest miss is still down in the basement. Shutting off the main valve.”

A muffled boom shook the building. Fire blew out the kitchen windows. Heat rolled across the lawn in a wave. Catherine screamed and collapsed to her knees. Cole lunged toward the flames—

And then his walkie-talkie crackled. Through the static, my voice came through.

“Cole… valve’s closed. But the basement door’s locked from the outside.”