Lena! Lena!"
The voice tore through the silence like a whip, shattering the peace of the mansion. Lena dropped the tray of laundry she was folding and rushed out of the small back room, her heart thudding that she had not responded at the first call.
She knew what it meant.
"Mother, what is it?" she gasped as she pushed open the heavy door to Mrs. Eve Walker's room. Her frail hands felt weak against the door from doing the laundry with her hands instead of the washing machine but Mrs Eve had packed them in the store and Blair Walker, her step sister, had insisted that her clothes should be hand washed.
Mrs. Walker didn't look up from the mirror where she was adjusting her pearl necklace. She dabbed her lips with a burgundy gloss before turning slowly.
"Aside from being a slug, are you deaf now too?"
She said coldly, watching to see for a reaction from Lena.
Lena pressed her lips together, swallowing the quick retort that rose to her throat. Her lungs still burned from running. "You called me."
Mrs. Walker stood, her silk robe gliding against the thick carpet as she walked past Lena, her perfume trailing behind. "Yes, I called you. You know, you are better off in a zoo. At least the animals there have some usefulness."
Lena said nothing. This wasn't new.
Mrs Eve had always picked on her even while she was her father's secretary. No one knew they were having an affair until she showed up with two big bags and a little girl who was her age.
"Lena, this is your sister, Blair." Her father had introduced them not minding his legally married wife, Mrs Nora Walker who was pregnant at the time.
Today, she didn't have the strength to fight back with words. Not after her double shift at the bakery. Not after staying up late again tending to her mother's cough.
"I suppose you think this house is a charity," Mrs. Walker continued, now pacing the room slowly, her hands clasped behind her back like she was delivering a lecture.
"I help around the house," Lena said quietly.
She literally served as a maid in her father's house while Blair paraded as the legitimate daughter.
"Oh please," Mrs. Walker scoffed, turning sharply. "Wiping windows and folding towels doesn't pay the bills. And neither does sympathy."
Lena's hands curled into fists at her sides. Her voice came out softer than she intended. "Why did you call me, ma'am?"
Mrs. Walker smiled. It was the kind of smile that never reached her eyes. "Ah, yes. I called you."
She walked to her nightstand and picked up a crisp envelope. She waved it with her neatly painted nails on display.
"Do you know who the Blackchain holdings is?"
Lena frowned. The name was familiar. "One of the biggest tech firms in the country?"
"In this part of the world," Mrs. Walker corrected, with a glint of pride that didn't belong to her. "Well, the heir to Blackchain Holdings is coming to Astoria in three weeks."
Lena's brow furrowed. "Okay…"
"And he's coming to get married."
Silence stretched between them like a thin rope about to snap. Lena hoped she could end the conversation sooner.
"To my daughter." Mrs. Walker sniffed, then placed the envelope back down. "It's a business merger. A perfect union. His father and Mr. Walker had long planned this before his death. And now it's finally happening."
A tightness settled in Lena's chest. "So… why are you telling me this?"
Mrs Walker was not someone to let you in on any information if she had no use of you.
Mrs. Walker's smile returned with a smirk. "Because I need you out of this house before the month ends."
The words felt like a slap.
Lena stared at her, stunned. "You're kicking me out?"
"Oh, I wouldn't put it so harshly," Mrs. Walker said sweetly. "Let's just say… it's time you figured life out like every other adult. You're what? twenty-four now? Old enough to fend for yourself."
"I don't have anywhere to go," Lena said, voice hollow. "My mother is sick. Rachael still needs me."
Mrs. Walker rolled her eyes. "Your mother is your burden, not mine. She should've thought of that and signed the divorce papers. My husband was ready to give her some shares at the company."
Lena blinked hard, biting the inside of her cheek.
"Some shares? My mother and I own 50% of the company shares."
"You have until the end of the month," Mrs. Walker said, walking to her wardrobe but stopped in her track. "You know you only own 25% while your mother, where do you think money for her treatment has been coming from?"
Lena's head snapped up. "What?"
Mrs. Walker turned back around slowly, her eyes dancing with mischief. "Unless you get married before two weeks else, you also lose your 25% to Blair who has only 10%."
"What?"
"Yes, dear," she said, amused by the horror on Lena's face. "You want to stay here, enjoy the roof, the food, the luxury? Then prove you're not a liability. Get married. Before the month ends."
Lena felt like she was floating. Or drowning. Or both.
"Why?" she managed to whisper.
"Because I don't need some unmarried stray around when we're presenting our family to the Blackwoods. It's already bad enough you're Walker's legitimate daughter. I won't have you lurking around like a sad ghost while my daughter is sealing the future of this family. So… get married. Or get out."
Mrs. Walker turned away. The conversation was over.
Lena stood there a moment longer, every muscle stiff, heart pounding in her ears. Then she walked out.
She still had a shift at the bakery.
The scent of cinnamon rolls and fresh bread usually brought Lena comfort. Today, it made her stomach churn.
She wiped down the counter in slow circles, and hurried between taking orders and the whirring of the espresso machine behind her. Her shift was almost over, but the weight in her chest made the minutes feel like hours.
Her phone buzzed on the shelf beneath the counter.
"Cityview Civil Registry. Don't keep me waiting."
She had almost forgotten about the hospital incident with the cold man.
What was his name?
"Oh no. I hope I've not made a huge mistake." She cursed, with her face buried in her palms.
True to his words, he didn't only pay the advance, but moved her mother to a private ward.
No greeting. No questions. Just instructions.
What kind of a man was he?
"Lena, your break ; go take five," her coworker, Mira, called out from the kitchen.
She nodded absently and slipped into the backroom, tugging off her apron. She caught a glimpse of herself in the tiny wall mirror; tired eyes and cracked lips. She thought of applying a light lip gloss to brighten her lips but it was not in her purse. Then it occurred to her. She can't remember the last time she applied make-up.
Lena tucked her phone into her bag, took one deep breath, and stepped out into the afternoon sun.
This was for her mother. She also needed the marriage to avoid loosing her 25% of the company shares. He needed her and she needed him too. But she needed him more.