Rachel's POV

I stepped out of the bus and again picked up a newspaper from the newspaper stand. Tonight was a bit cooler than the rest and a beautiful breeze was present. I let my long brown hair loose from the tight bun and ruffled it out. It was constantly up and tied that I was beginning to lose my curls.

I decided to stop by the pharmacy before I went back to the apartment to get myself some cheap supplements for energy. While I was at it, I decided to get grandma some booster shots as well.

She wasn't doing great at all and to be honest, I feared the worst. The neighbour, Mrs. Allen, who was also quite old and enjoying her retirement checked on grandma every few hours for me.

When I reached the apartment, before I could step in, 2 shadows disappeared down the hallway out of my sight. It was so sudden and creepy.

I took of my shoes and neatly placed them on the side after I closed the old, creaky door. It was Wednesday which meant that today I had to give grandma a bath. Due to her frail stance from the cancer, the doctor recommended a bath every second day.

I went into her room and checked on her. She was awake but resting with her oxygen mask on. Lung cancer was the absolute worst.

I was never extremely close to my grandma, we hardly ever spoke however she was the only person I could call family and who provided me with my necessities. I don't think she ever took a particular liking towards me either, I was a burden at the end of the day.

I guess this is my way of repaying her back. Its so uncanny how the tables have turned but I'll happily take care of her because I was grateful. She could have left me on the street whenever she felt like but she never did.

After I gave her a bath, changed the sheets and fed her some soup, I decided to take a little nap before taking care of myself. I settled on the couch as I had been doing for the past 14 years and grabbed the thin blanket and pillow from the cabinet before dosing off.

I was tending to Lilly, trying to get her to latch onto the milk bottle but she refused. She was extremely irritable and I didn't know what to do. Madison was out as usual, Mrs. Ashford being the grandma, never even acknowledge the baby and Yvette couldn't get enough of telling me how useless I was.

I was on my own.

"Come on, sweetheart," I cooed as I adjusted her in my hand, "Please drink," I gently whispered. She babbled for a bit before finally latching onto the nip of the bottle and started drinking. I sighed in relief and took a seat on the rocking chair with Lilly in arms.

I looked at her lovingly, my heart full of warmth. I look forward to being a mother and having children of my own someday. I felt it would close the emptiness in my heart to have someone to call my own. It was one of my greatest dreams.

When Lilly finished with her feed I stood up and gently rubbed her back waiting for her to burp before I put her down to nap.

Today was my turn to help senior Mr. Ashford with his lunch. I needed to prep everything for him in the sunroom and then also organize the pantry. Hugo, the chef, gave me a list early this morning of how he wants things done.

Everything ingredient coordinated, labelled in a certain coloured font and stacked away alphabetically. It would take me a minimum of 5 hours to do all of that given that the pantry was enormous. It was a whole room and a bit more.

I closed Lilly's door and headed downstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Ashford were waltzing into the dining room to have lunch and the other maids scurried to serve them.

The houseguest was nowhere to be seen.

I grabbed the huge tray set with Mr. Ashford's food, cutlery and napkins. I went into the sunroom and laid everything out neatly just as he would expect. I opened the drapes and the windows allowing fresh air to get in.

Unknowingly a fat yawn escapes my mouth as Yvette helps Mr. Ashford into the room. She gave me a stern look and I immediately composed myself and set my posture straight. She scoffed at me as she left.

I began assisting Mr. Ashford with his food. He ate rather slowly while staring outside at the view.

"Where is my grandchild?" he asked.

I looked up at him with the napkin still in my hand, "Miss Madison is out with friends."

"Not her, where is Alexander?"

Alexander was his grandson? How was he his grandson? "He is nowhere to be seen, sir. He left early this morning."

Mr. Ashford nodded stoically and continued with lunch.

Afterwards, I completed the daily chores and at 5pm I still had the pantry to do. I was dreading this task. It's no secret that Yvette gave me worst tasks of them all. All Jocelyn had to do was water the garden and pick flowers for the bedrooms.

I slaved away until past 9pm trying to complete the never ending task. Everybody had left by now and it was just me left here, barely halfway through. If I didn't leave now, then I wouldn't be able to catch a bus home. I wasn't worried about grandma because Mrs. Allen tended to her already.

I decided to come in early tomorrow and complete the task rather than stay here all night. All the lights were off already except the pantry where I was in. As I grabbed my bag and slung it on my shoulder, I felt a presence make their way into the kitchen where I was. I stood still as the shuffling continued.

Suddenly the lights turned on in the kitchen and a hand came from the back and grabbed my waist pulling me towards them.

I shrieked and turned around so fast, immediately pushing the person back while my knee made it's was to their crotch area on their own accord.

I took a look at the person to see a very haphazard looking Alexander groaning in pain and cupping his crotch area. It was a jarring sight to see such a huge, buff man bending down in pain. He was tall as well, around 6'2 whereas I was 5'5.

"Jesus, princess, have mercy on my damn balls!" he bellowed out. "Fuck!"

"I'm sorry, you scared me," I said just standing there in a bit of a panicked state. I didn't exactly know how to pacify him because I couldn't actually tend to his area of excruciating pain.

He calmed himself and stood straight and only then did I see his eyes that were red and the smell of alcohol prominent. I wrinkled up my nose in disgust and looked down. He noticed my reaction and looked away.

"Uh, yeah. Was out with a couple of friends," he explained sheepishly and made his way to the fridge. He didn't have to explain to it to me because it was none of my business anyways. I simply nodded at him and he opened the fridge taking a look inside.

"Why is everything so green. Is there no real food here?" He rummaged through the fridge grunting in frustration only seeing the fresh produce.

I pointed behind me where the other 3 fridges were. "That's Hugo's green fridge, the rest are there."

I once again got ready to leave and began walking out. Just as I was about to exit the kitchen he called, "You, wait."

I turned around and sighed. I really just wanted to get home. "Yes?"

"I'm hungry. Make me something to eat," he demanded and took a seat on a bar stool. I looked at him annoyed.

"Mr. Alexander, I'm not the assistant cook or the chef." He gave me a stern look that made me gulp. His teal eyes glaring daggers at me. I cautiously began to take out my phone, "Uhm, I'll just call Hugo and see if he can come and –"

"Well make me a sandwich then, princess. You can do that much right?" I looked at my wristwatch and saw that I had 19 minutes until the last bus arrived. I nodded and went to grab the ingredients to make a chicken salad sandwich for him while he just looked at me and as usual observed.

I quickly threw everything together and cleaned up. I set his plate in front of him and began to leave. Again, he stopped me just before I could exit the kitchen.

I hastily turned around a little bit aggravated. "What is it now Mr. Alexander? I need to leave immediately in order to catch the last bus."

"Wait, come here," he commanded. I rolled my eyes but went towards him. He held out the sandwich he was eating, "Here, have a bite," he gestured and brought the sandwich up to my mouth. Obviously I resisted because it was prohibited to use any amenities that was not allocated to the help – food included.

"No, thank you. Look I really must be going-" but before I could complete my sentence, he shoved the sandwich in my mouth.

"Relax, Leeroy will drive you home. Share my sandwich with me," he said and began eating the other slice as I chewed the bit I had in my mouth.

"Who is Leeroy?" I asked. He gave me another bit of his sandwich and this time I did accept it because I was starving and surprisingly, expensive organic food tasted of supreme quality.

"My driver."

I nodded because by now I had definitely missed the bus home.

As I was finishing the last bit of his sandwich that he had offered me, I heard the click of his phone camera and it was directed at me.

I looked at him confused. "Why'd you do that?" I questioned and he looked down at the picture of me while he smiled.

"For my private investigator. Since I can't have a conversation with you and get to know more about you as you're always trying to leave, he'll get the job done for me," he winked at me smugly.

I scoffed because what's there to even know. I've literally lived my whole life between 4 crusty walls.