Chapter 353

It couldn’t be true. She wouldn’t betray me or Victor to the faction.

My mind couldn’t make sense of it. We are friends. I trusted her, and she has been there for me.

She was among the last people I would have suspected of betraying me. Even now, I wanted to push Jayden away from her and tell him he was wrong.

But why was she secretly recording the meeting with our Allies?

Stepping closer to her, I held out my hand.

It was hard to believe Jennifer would do anything to deliberately hurt me. She cared about me. She helped me adjust to my new life as an Alpha, even helping me improve my appearance.

Sure, she had been acting distant lately due to personal problems. But she is a kind and caring person.

Why would she suddenly turn on me? It couldn’t be true. Yet, it was.

“Please give me the camera, Jennifer,” I said. “It's hard for me to believe you are a spy for our enemies, but I want to see what you were recording, and I need to know why you were recording it.”

Jennifer shook her head. “I …I am sorry, Miss. A …a man approached me when I was leaving my sister’s house. He offered me money …a lot of money, to tell him things about you.”

“What did he want to know?” I asked.

“Nothing I thought was harmful. He asked if you spend time with any men besides Mr. Klein,” she answered. “And he asked me to text him what you were doing each day.”

Jennifer had to be how the faction knew we were at the lake!

“What was the last thing you told him about me?” The situation was surreal. I couldn’t wrap my head around Jennifer being a spy.

Jennifer wiped away a tear. “I sent him a text yesterday afternoon about you going to see your adoptive parents, and then later, I told him you and Mr Klein were having dinner at Gray’s Restaurant to celebrate his birthday.”

“John Cameron planted people at the restaurant to start trouble,” Jayden said.

Victor nodded. “I think you’re right.”

The seriousness of what Jennifer had been doing hit me. We could have gotten hurt or killed. Even though we paid for the damages, Mr. Gray’s Restaurant ended up in shambles.

“Why did you do it, Jennifer?” I asked. “You are like a big sister to me.”

Jennifer shook her head. “No, Miss. I am your maid. My younger sister is named Tanya.”

“Tanya is who you’ve been worried about, right?” I asked.

“Yes. She lost her husband last year, and now she’s sick too,” Jennifer replied. “Her medicine costs more than her rent. I had to do something to help her. The man paid me hundreds of dollars just to know bits and pieces of your life.”

Her words hit me hard. She had mentioned her sister needed help, and I’d forgotten about it. If I had helped her, would Jennifer still have helped the faction spy on me?

“When I told him you were having a dinner party, he offered me five thousand dollars to record it on his camera,” Jennifer added. “I had to do it. That money would have taken care of my sister for two months,” she sobbed.

I put an arm around the crying woman. “I understand, but I would have helped your sister if you told me what was happening to her.”

“I didn’t think so, Miss,” Jennifer said. “You aren’t the same girl you used to be. You enjoy the good life now, and you only want to help people who want an education.”

“What about us folks in the working class?” Jennifer demanded. “We need help too. Do you care about the people who work hard so you rich people don’t have to? Most of us can’t afford to get sick or hurt.”

I felt like she slapped my face. But she was right. There was still a lot that needed to be done to make our world work for everyone. Yet, they refused to see that John Cameron and his ilk wouldn’t improve their lives in any way.

“I would have helped you and your sister,” I insisted. “I wish you would have told me what was happening to her.”

“I’m not so sure,” Jennifer wiped away a last tear and handed me the tiny camera. “I’ll go pack my things now.”

Tears filled my eyes when Jennifer hurried from the dining room

“I’ll have her final check prepared,” Benson said. “And I’ll see she is off the estate and warned never to return. I’m sorry, Miss Wilson, I didn’t see what Jennifer was doing.”

I nodded mutely, a sense of loss filling me. Jennifer was being fired!

“Be sure to get her keys and change her security code,” Victor ordered.

“Must we fire her?” I asked. “Even though she betrayed me, I don’t want her to go.”

Victor, Benson, and Jayden looked uneasy at my question.

Victor put his arms around me. “Daisy, I know you are fond of her, but Jennifer can no longer be trusted. She must go.”

But I still felt as if what she did was my fault. I should have asked more questions about her sister.

“Benson, I want her to have a large severance check,” I said. “Jennifer needs it to help her sister.”

Benson remained silent, so I decided to see to it myself.

“Daisy, let me have that camera Jennifer gave you,” Jayden said. “I want to see what’s recorded on it.”

I handed the camera to Jayden and began to leave the room to take care of Jennifer myself. I wanted to tell her I wasn’t angry, and I had to make sure she and her sister would be okay.

After going to my room for my checkbook, I went looking for her in the servant’s quarters on the third floor.

Jennifer wasn’t there. She must have already been packed. She’d left a few of her belongings behind, but the room was bare of personal possessions.

Hurrying downstairs, I asked another maid if they had seen her.

The girl shook her head. “Jennifer left a few minutes ago, Miss. She was standing outside the formal dining room, and then she just bolted outside to her car.

I ran outside behind the garage to where employees parked their cars and saw Jennifer’s old powder blue Ford was gone.

Maybe Benson had her sister’s address. I could send the check there by messenger. I had to know Jennifer would be okay.

Yes, she betrayed me, but I think she felt like she didn’t have a choice. Victor needed to look into health care for the masses that wouldn’t make them go bankrupt.

Our guests were leaving the dining room. I escorted them to the front door and made small talk for a few minutes to assure them everything was fine before they left.

My future in-laws didn’t believe I was okay.

“I’m sorry about your maid,” Lana said. “You two seemed close.”

“Desperate times can make anyone do terrible things,” Harry added. “Have you considered letting Alex know what’s been happening?”

I vehemently shook my head. “After everything he went through, Alex deserves to do what he likes now. And I don’t want him to think Victor can’t handle the leadership.”

“Sometimes a little experience makes all the difference,” Lana advised. “Think about calling him, dear. He would be your greatest ally.”

After Lana and Harry left, I went looking for Victor. He was in the living room with Jayden and Shane.

They were using a laptop to watch the footage from the camera. The first few minutes was a video of me shopping for Victor’s birthday present and me coming out of the bank with the messenger bag.

“They’re looking for anything they can use to make Daisy look bad,” Jayden said.

I noticed the TV was on, and a familiar face filled the screen. “Look!” I cried out and turned up the volume. It was Jennifer.

She was being interviewed by Jane Peone on Max News. The chyron across the bottom of the screen read: Daisy Smith Fires Loyal Maid.

As terrible as that was, what Jennifer was saying about me now was even worse.

“Daisy spends money constantly on clothes and other luxuries,” she said. “I saw the receipt for a watch the other day that cost her more than she paid me in two months.”

“And Victor Klein is bewitched by Daisy,” Jennifer revealed. “She forgot his birthday yesterday and still made him bring her breakfast in bed. He would be much better off with another mate.”

“She’s a cold-blooded woman,” Jennifer sobbed. “She fired me even knowing my little sister is very sick.

With Jennifer’s words echoing in my mind, the room began to spin, and I collapsed onto the couch.