Chapter 31
MAYA
How is he here?
How?
It’s clear from Zach’s reaction that his father turning up is unexpected. I try to catch snippets of what Dex and Rio are saying, but it all points to a complete shock.
Nobody expected Paul Knight to be here, and now I feel so bad for Zach. His father turning up killed the mood. I’m trying not to panic and move further back into the crowd, not wanting to be seen. This is a nightmare I never saw coming, and now I can’t see how to get out of this.
Zach senses my unease and he watches me carefully, but he doesn’t know. Of course he doesn’t. To my utter horror, he steps towards me, his father by his side. Paul hasn’t seen me yet, and I frantically look to escape.
“Hey,” Zach says, softly. What’s wrong? His eyes ask. He lays a hand gently on my elbow. “Dad, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Never have words instilled such dread into me. I can’t hide. I can’t vanish. I have no option but to confront the man who ruined my mom’s life. The laughter, the music, the clink of glasses, everything fades away.
His father steps forward and stares at me, smiling. “Who is this delightful creature?”
“You already know,” Zach says, cheerful enough, though a faint hesitation mars his tone. “This is Maya. You remember her? From the Knight Estate.”
“Maya?” His father turns my name over, like he’s not sure of what he’s seeing. But my body knows. Straight away, my pulse spikes so hard I feel giddy, and like I’m fifteen again; back in the servants’ corridor at the Knight Estate, with my mother’s tired face staring at me.
Paul Knight knows.
He remembers.
I catch it, the raw and unmistakable shock that flickers across his face. For a split second, his mask slips and his eyes narrow.
“Ah, yes,” he says, smoothly. “The housekeeper’s daughter.”
The monster wants to remind me of my station. “Delighted to meet you, after all this time.”
“Hi.” It’s all I can manage. I try to breathe, but I can’t. The air feels thin, like poison, and my chest tightens until I’m sure I’m going to gasp for air. Now I understand how my mom felt in the library with him. Trapped in a room alone with him with nowhere to run.
I need to leave. I need to get away. But I suddenly remember that we’re on a yacht. Surrounded by water. By people. And there’s nowhere to run.
His eyes are as cold as ever, ice-grey and reptilian. His face is smoother than I expected and even though his hair has been lightened by the years, he doesn’t look as old as I expected him to.
He hides his shock well. So charismatic.
So smooth, but I see it as clearly as if my mother had slapped him all over again.
A polite smile curves his mouth, even though his eyes stay cool and calculating.
I would have missed it if I hadn’t been watching so closely, if my life hadn’t depended on reading exactly how he’d react.
Zach is still painfully oblivious to everything. It’s so clear to see, in the way he looks between his father and me. He doesn’t understand yet, but he knows something isn’t right.
“How did you meet again?” Paul asks.
“At Stella,” Zach says, slowly.
His father nods slowly, as if the puzzle pieces are clicking into place.
My skin crawls when Paul Knight looks at me like I’m a threat. I know his secret. I know what he did. Now I understand why he sent my mom away. Why she couldn’t get another job. Why we had to leave the state.
He didn’t want her talking. Didn’t want her making friends. Didn’t want her telling anyone who he really was.
I can’t speak. If I open my mouth, I’ll scream. Or cry. Or say something that will blow everything apart.
The rest of his brothers have moved away, but thankfully, Cari returns with someone beside her. One of the Italian Knights. Enzo, I think. Their expressions go from curiosity to concern as we stand around, the conversation dead. The air feels thick, like tar, and I’m still struggling to breathe.
“You should eat something, Father,” Enzo says, politely. “You must have had a long flight.” It’s awkward and stilted, but it works because Paul decides to go and get some food, with Enzo trailing him.
Zach reaches for my hand again and this time I let him take it. I can’t keep pulling away, especially not here, and not now. I don’t want to ruin his birthday.
“You don’t have to be nervous,” he murmurs, his lips brushing my ear. “He’s just my father. I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was going to be here.”
But nothing feels okay anymore. “I need to use the washroom.” I disappear, into the night, and find a corner where I can catch my breath.
I can’t shake it. Memories from that night come flooding back so vividly.
“We have to go, Maya.” I hear my mother’s voice that day we left the Knight Estate. At first I didn’t understand, and then I didn’t believe her.
“Maya, now! We need to leave now. We don’t have long.” The fear in her voice, something I’d never heard before, shook me to my senses.
I remember moaning, refusing to leave. “But why, Mom? Why are we leaving?”
Her hands tightened around mine, her knuckles were almost white. I was scared then, scared because this was unusual, and unexpected. I had no idea what had happened, and seeing my mom’s face, so pale, her eyes red-rimmed and gaunt, shook me into awareness in a way her words hadn’t.
“No questions. Just do as I say.”
“But w—”
“Don’t ask,” she hissed. “Don’t say a word. Pack everything. Everything, you hear me?”
Why everything? Before I could protest, one of the other housekeepers, my mom’s friend, put her arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry, Carmen, I’ll help her get packed.”
I had a million questions, but knew better than to ask them.
“It’s a hard night for your mom. Please, Maya. Please. She’ll explain everything later. But you need to leave.”
“I don’t want to leave!” I wailed. How could I leave Zach? What would I do without him? I hadn’t even seen him come back from school and I desperately needed to let him know. Maybe he could fix whatever this was.
“You have to do what your mom says. Please. Be there for her.” The way my mom’s friend spoke. The way she looked at me, told me it was something bad. Something serious. So I did as she asked. In that moment I was fifteen, going on thirty-five. The burden of life settling heavy in my chest.
After that, I packed quickly, my mom’s haggard expression burning in my mind.
Mom packed, too. Not that we had many belongings.
We were ushered out from the back, and we left in silence, my mom trying to stay strong.
I should have known then, the way all the housekeepers hugged us, this wasn’t us going away for a few days.
This was us leaving forever.
They helped us carry boxes, and two small suitcases, loaded into one of the fancy cars on the estate. The cars that Zach and his family were always chauffeured around in.
A part of me tried to reason. It couldn’t be bad if we were going in one of Zach’s dad’s cars. Just as I got in, Zach came running out, but the driver shut the door. Zach waved at me like he knew what was happening.
But now I know he didn’t have a clue.
When I replay the memory, what I mistook for calm composure, was mere shock. He had no idea. Like me, he thought we’d be back soon. Just like that, we were driven out of the Knight Estate, banished, as I would later learn. And I was exiled out of Zach’s life forever.
We stayed with one of Mom’s friends, sleeping on a sofa bed that smelled like sweat and detergent. We stayed for a few nights, and on the second night my mom finally sat me down and told me the truth.
She told me how Zach’s father had looked at her. How he came up to her in the library. How he touched her. What he said. What he tried. And how, when she refused him, something small and ugly appeared behind his eyes and how it scared her.
When he did it again a few days later, she was frightened for her life.
She slapped him. Then the ugliness turned vicious.
She told me that the way he looked at her terrified her, but she managed to get away.
After that she didn’t know what this man would do, and she made sure she was never alone in a room with him, ready for him to pounce.
But things got worse. A few days later, a necklace went missing. Allegedly, his late wife’s pearl wedding necklace. He accused my mom, and she vehemently denied it. Then, magically, the same necklace was found among my mom’s possessions in her room.
Mom denied it. “I didn’t do it!” she told me. “I’m not a thief. You know that.”
I tried to console her. “You’re not, Mamá. You didn’t do it. It was a mistake. Someone probably put it there.”
“No,” she said quietly. “He put it there.”
He fired her. Gave her an ultimatum. Told her to leave quietly, or he would report it to the police. She wasn’t guilty of anything. She hadn’t taken it, but he had what he needed; a reason to get rid of her.
That was why we left.
As days turned into weeks, and we still slept on that friend’s couch, my mom’s life was erased, quietly and efficiently.
I found out later that she tried desperately to find work, but couldn’t.
We had to move away, out of the state because Paul Knight made it difficult for my mom to find a similar job with another wealthy family.
Mom figured it out later, heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend, like a virus that spread around; he’d told those same lies to his friends, and they didn’t hire my mom.
He’d lied to make it impossible for my mom to find work with other wealthy families.
Maybe he was scared my mom would tell them the truth.
As if a housekeeper had that sort of power.
As if people would believe her over the word of a billionaire.
I remember mom crying soundlessly, tears sliding down her face as she apologized for something that was never her fault. It made me feel sick, and angry, fury coursing through my veins as I felt powerless to do anything.
A hand closes around my arm, jolting me back to the present.
“You okay, hon?”
Cari stares at me, her eyes large with concern and understanding. It’s almost as if she knows I’m reliving something awful. “You don’t look so good,” she says gently. “Do you want to sit down? Eat something? Shall I get you a glass of water? Or something stronger?”
Such concern for my welfare. I’m touched, but I struggle to speak because my mouth is so dry.
“Did something happen? Shall I get Zach?” she offers.
“No,” I say quickly. “Don’t get Zach.” I grip the railing tightly. The metal is cold and solid against my clammy hands. The city lights twinkle and glitter across the shimmering water, and that, along with the sound of music and party chatter, makes me feel like I’m trapped between two worlds.
“Maya,” Zach murmurs, rushing to my side looking relieved that he’s found me. A million question swim in his eyes. “It’s okay,” he tells Cari. “I’ve got her.”
But Cari doesn’t go immediately. Her hand rests on my arm, warm and comforting for a few seconds.
“Let me know if there’s anything you need, or anything I can do.
” She vanishes, but I feel a little better because of her.
She’s such an angel. I don’t even know her, but I can’t miss the compassion in her voice.
“Is everything okay?” Zach’s voice is gentle, careful, as if I’m some delicate object he’s scared of breaking.
Okay.
The word almost makes me laugh. His father’s presence when I least expected it feels like a chokehold I can’t shake. Even when I can’t see him, I can feel him, and unease spreads across my veins like poison.
I’m not okay, and I won’t be for as long as I stay on this yacht, but I force myself to stand tall, and turn back toward the deck. Toward the party. Toward the version of myself who can pretend everything is okay.