Chapter 3 - The Cold Demands of a Billionaire
By the time Maya reached the nursery doorway, her heart was in her throat. She pushed past the frozen house staff, her eyes wild with panic.
"Lily! Oh my God, Lily, come here right now!" Maya cried out, rushing into the room and swooping her daughter up into her arms.
"Mommy, look!" Lily pointed happily at the cribs. "Babies laughing! Dino do a trick!"
"Shh, baby, shh!" Maya whispered frantically, backing toward the door. She looked at Mr. Harris, whose face was white as a sheet. "I am so sorry, Mr. Harris! She got away from me! I swear she didn't mean to break the rules, please don't call the police—"
"Nobody is calling the police," a deep, icy voice echoed from the hallway.
The staff immediately parted like the Red Sea.
Evan Kwon stepped through the doorway. He was tall—easily six-foot-two—wearing a dark charcoal suit that looked like it cost more than Maya made in five years. His hair was jet black, his jawline sharp enough to cut glass, but it was his eyes that made Maya instantly step back. They were dark, piercing, and exhausted, shadowed by a grief so deep it felt like cold air radiating off him.
He didn't look at Mr. Harris. He didn't look at the maids.
His eyes moved directly to the two cribs.
Caleb was sitting quietly on his mattress, nibbling on the corner of Lily’s graham cracker. Connor was clutching his plush bear, babbling softly to himself, looking up at the ceiling with wide, peaceful eyes. The screaming had stopped completely.
Evan stood motionless for five long seconds. Then, his gaze shifted slowly to Maya, and finally down to the tiny two-year-old girl tucked securely against Maya’s hip.
"Who are you?" Evan demanded. His voice was low, rasping, like a blade dragged across stone.
"Maya Brooks, sir," Maya said, lifting her chin despite the terror fluttering in her chest. She adjusted Lily, placing herself instinctively between her child and the billionaire. "I was hired today for house cleaning. My daughter slipped away while I was working in the library. It was my fault, not hers. If you're going to fire someone, fire me."
Evan didn't answer. He took two slow steps forward.
Maya held her ground, though every instinct told her to run. She knew men like Evan Kwon. Back on the South Side, rich land-developers and corporate lawyers walked through her neighborhood looking at people like her as if they were invisible obstacles. She refused to let him make her feel small in front of her daughter.
Evan leaned down slightly, bringing his face level with Lily’s.
"What did you do to them?" Evan asked.
Lily didn't flinch from his cold, intimidating presence. She reached out her small hand, held up her two-horned blue plastic dinosaur, and pushed it right toward Evan’s nose.
"Dino say hi," Lily said plainly. "You got a big booger?"
Maya nearly choked. "Lily! No!"
A maid behind Mr. Harris let out a sharp, terrified gasp. Mr. Harris looked as though he might faint on the spot.
Evan blinked. For a fraction of a second, something flared in his dark eyes—a sudden, shocked spark of humanity that vanished as quickly as it appeared. He slowly straightened up, fixing his gaze on Maya.
"Mr. Harris," Evan said, not taking his eyes off Maya.
"Y-yes, Mr. Kwon?" the head of household squeaked.
"Effective immediately, Miss Brooks is relieved of her housekeeping duties."
Maya’s heart sank into her stomach. The eviction notice flashed before her eyes. "Mr. Kwon, please, I need this job—"
"You are no longer a maid," Evan interrupted, his voice ringing with absolute, unyielding authority. "You are the head childcare specialist for Caleb and Connor Kwon. Your salary will be twenty thousand dollars a month."
Silence descended upon the nursery so heavily that the soft hum of the air conditioning sounded like a jet engine.
Maya stared at him, convinced she had misheard. "Twenty... twenty thousand a month?"
"With live-in quarters in the east wing," Evan continued, cold and businesslike. "Your daughter will reside here with you. She will have full access to the nursery, the grounds, and the estate staff. Your only duty—your sole duty—is to ensure my sons do not return to the state they were in ten minutes ago."
Maya swallowed hard. Twenty thousand dollars a month was more than two hundred thousand dollars a year. It meant her rent was paid. It meant new brakes for her car. It meant a college fund for Lily. It meant safety.
But she looked at Evan Kwon’s cold, calculating eyes, and her maternal instincts flared.
"My daughter is not a medical treatment, Mr. Kwon," Maya said, her tone dropping into a fierce, quiet pitch that made Mr. Harris gasp again. "She’s a two-year-old child. She gave your boys a cracker because she’s kind, not because I’m renting her out to be your personal miracle worker."
Evan’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I am not asking you to rent her out, Miss Brooks. I am offering you the resources to give your child everything she will ever need in this life, in exchange for giving my sons peace."
He stepped closer, his shadow falling over her.
"Do we have a deal, or do you prefer scrubbing rugs for twelve dollars an hour?"
Maya felt her blood boil at his arrogance, but she looked down at Lily, who was yawning and resting her small head against Maya’s shoulder. Then she looked at the two motherless boys in the cribs, who were staring at Lily as if she were the sun.
"We have a deal, Mr. Kwon," Maya said, her eyes flashing with defiance. "On one condition."
Evan raised an eyebrow. "You are setting conditions?"
"Yes," Maya said firmly. "You treat my daughter with respect. You do not talk down to me in front of these children. And if you ever speak to my girl like she’s a line item on your balance sheet, I walk out that gate, and you can go hire nanny number thirteen."
May you like
Evan stared at her for a long, tense moment. For eighteen months, no one in Chicago had dared to speak to him with anything less than terrified deference. Yet here was a twenty-seven-year-old maid from the South Side, holding a child and a plastic dinosaur, setting terms in his own home.
"Agreed," Evan said softly. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room without another word.
