Over the following days, Adrian paid closer attention.
Elena did far more than clean. She prepared breakfast for his eighty-year-old grandmother, Eleanor. She organized her medication. She knew when Eleanor’s knee hurt. She listened to the same childhood stories every afternoon.
Elena was also attending evening classes to become a nursing assistant while supporting her thirteen-year-old brother, Mateo.
Adrian quietly adjusted her schedule and raised her salary.
Natalie noticed. Around guests she called Elena “my dear.” When no one important was near, her voice went cold again.
