Betrayed by My Trash Husband, Surrender Myself to the Devil-Chapter 42: Wedding Rings (II)

Claudia POV

The atmosphere inside the penthouse couldn’t get much worse than this. Jane had gone radio silent after she told me a little about her past and her intention of paying back what Ray did to save her family.

I was still a curious cat that wanted to know more. Unfortunately, no matter what I did, she wouldn’t budge or open her mouth.

Thus, I gave up and returned to my room, only going out to have a little talk with the daily housekeeper, who only said a few words before doing her job diligently.

For some reason, the housekeeper differed each day. It was probably intentional, because with a different person each day, I couldn’t really form a bond with any of them. I was forced to talk with Jane or keep myself busy doing something else.

He really wants to keep me lonely, huh?

That thought crossed my mind as I watched the housekeeper cleaning the table. I tried to help, but the housekeeper looked terrified and snatched the small vacuum from my hand.

"You shouldn’t do this!"

"Why not? I also live here. Wouldn’t it be better for me to contribute somehow?" I challenged her, but the housekeeper shook her head vehemently.

She glanced at Jane Jiang, whose eyes were glued to the laptop screen, and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Girl, if that woman sees you helping me, she’d report it to Mr. Gatlin, and I would be fired."

Okay, that was pretty unreasonable. Why would you fire someone over my help?

I also glanced at Jane and whispered back, "Why’d you be scared of getting fired? You’re only working here once, right? You’re not the one from yesterday."

"No, no, there are seven of us. We’re working once per week, and the pay is very good. The catch is: we’re not allowed to talk to you, nor let you do the cleaning."

"Why’s that?"

"I—I don’t know either. But please don’t help me. I don’t want to be fired," the woman said.

I took a good look at the woman in front of me. She was probably in her late teens or early twenties, and her cut looked like a college kid.

This was probably a part-time job for her, since the pay was amazing and she only needed to work once a week, she wanted to keep this job no matter what.

I remembered my time as a student in university as well. Since I cut contact with my entire family after I got a scholarship, I had to work many part-time jobs to survive.

I too was once a desperate college kid who needed nothing except money to eat.

Thus, I nodded. "Alright, I won’t help you. But tell me your name at least."

The girl considered it for a while before she muttered, "My name’s Emily. I’m a college student. I uh... my shift is on Tuesday."

"I can tell," I grinned mischievously. "I was once in your position too. It’s okay, Emily. You’re safe with me, and I’ll make sure that you won’t get fired over talking with me a bit."

Emily looked relieved and then resumed her job immediately once she sensed Jane looking at us.

I rolled my eyes toward Jane and grinned at her, and Jane quickly shifted her focus back onto her laptop screen.

I didn’t know what Jane Jiang was thinking or whether she would report this to Ray. But I’d remember that Emily’s shift is on Tuesday, and if I didn’t see her next Tuesday, I’d make it a problem for Ray.

"Hmph," I scoffed audibly before going back to my room, waiting for the day to pass so I could talk with Ray in the evening.

Though I didn’t like him, at least I could find a way to reason with him regarding Aurora and my case. After all, the main objective was to survive this ordeal and escape everyone with Aurora by my side.

**

I stared at the sunset from the large window while waiting for Ray to return. It had been three days since I was trapped inside this penthouse, and though I still longed for freedom, I had come to terms with the fact that I needed to play by his rules if I wanted to get anything from Ray.

That man was truly unhinged, which was a waste, because with his wealth, influence, and good looks, he could have done so much more than imprisoning a broken woman whose only motivation to live was to gain her freedom once more.

The door opened from outside, and I turned around to greet him.

As our eyes met, Ray peered at me suspiciously before taking off his suit and pulling his tie, which sat nicely over his chest from the morning.

My thoughts were complicated when it came to this man. Did I hate him for what he had done? Oh, absolutely.

But at the same time, he was also my savior—at least the only one I could rely on right now.

So I took a deep breath to mentally prepare myself and approached him.

"I’ve just cooked dinner for us. You should eat while it’s still hot," I said. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Mm," Ray sat at the table and then said, "Come and have dinner with me."

I obliged and sat right across from him. I ate slowly while glancing at him a few times. But he was so focused on his meal that he didn’t notice my glances.

One thing that I liked about him was his obedience when it came to food.

You would think that such a meticulous man like Ray would nitpick at my cooking and insult me over it.

Strangely he kept himself quiet, he always ate whatever I put on the table and never complained—unlike Miles, who always found a way to nitpick about the smallest things in my cooking. I guessed he did that just for the thrill of making me feel shitty.

It was too cold, too hot, too salty, too bland, too sweet, and in the end he never finished any of it and ordered himself a pizza, which he didn’t share with Aurora and me.