“I’m declining to pay for your hypocrisy. There’s a difference, and everyone in this room just watched it.”

Agatha’s composure broke completely. She spun toward the doors and called for her security guards, ordering them to remove me from the property — to throw the insolent maid out into the street, in front of her distinguished guests, for embarrassing her.

And my heart stopped, because my daughters were upstairs.

Chapter 4 — The Rescue

They were always upstairs during Agatha’s parties. Locked in the far rooms, out of sight, so that her guests would never have to see the three girls who lived beside the laundry.

I thought of them up there — Olivia listening at the door the way she always did, Erica holding Holly’s hand — and I thought of the guards’ hands on my arms, and of being put out onto the road without them, and something in me went white with panic.

Before I could run for the stairs, Bruce spoke again, and this time his voice stopped the entire room, guards included.