Chapter 4 - Flashback — "He Was Rude"
Megan didn't wait for his reaction. She observed the color-coded tabs on the floor, matched the dates on the headers, and within two minutes, she had stacked every single folder back onto the mahogany desk in its exact original position—down to the millimeter.
She stood up, smoothed down her gray trousers, picked up her spray bottle, and walked out of the office toward her cleaning cart parked in the wide marble hallway.
Dominic’s dark eyes followed her until she cleared the doorway.
Outside in the corridor, sixty-two-year-old Nancy Price, Dominic’s longtime house manager, was waiting. Nancy was a sharp, silver-haired woman neatly dressed in a dark wool dress, having managed the estate’s operations for over fifteen years. She knew Dominic’s temper better than anyone and had witnessed dozens of staff members fired for the slightest infraction.
Nancy caught Megan’s arm, whispering in an urgent, panicked tone:
"Are you actively trying to get fired?"
Megan stopped, pushing her cleaning cart forward down the hallway with a steady stride.
"He was rude," Megan replied plainly, without stopping or looking back.
Nancy gasped softly, keeping pace with her. "He owns the house, Megan! He owns half this city!"
Megan stopped her cart, turned her head, and looked Nancy straight in the eye.
"So?" Megan replied immediately, her voice crisp, indifferent, and completely genuine.
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Inside the office, sitting in his wheelchair near the open door, Dominic heard every single word of their exchange.
His hand tightened on the metal wheel rim. A strange, unfamiliar sensation flared in his chest—a mixture of disbelief, intrigue, and an involuntary spark of respect. For the first time in five years, someone inside his house saw him simply as a man, not an untouchable monster.
