Page 34 of Belonging to Them

When I arrive at Dorado Terrace, a woman in an identical maid uniform to mine is waiting at the service entrance.Her blond hair is streaked with silver and her light brown eyes look me over before flicking to my guards behind me—Cora and Terrence, today.

“Hi,” she says.“You must be Ella.I’m Lindsey.”

She says her name like I should know who she is.

“I’m going to be your replacement,” she prompts.“Melinda said you’d show me around here today, take me through your routine.”

“She did?She didn’t say anything to me…”

I pull my phone from my bag and unlock it.Sure enough, a message from Melinda is waiting there.Lindsey Kohl will be shadowing you today.Sorry for the late notice—I was just able to hire her.

“Looks like you’ll be shadowing me today,” I say with a bright smile.“Welcome to Maids in Heaven.”

Lindsey grins back.“Thanks!”

After tucking my phone into my pocket, I unlock the service entrance with my specialized key, telling Lindsey she’ll get her own when she takes over.I go over the basics with her—which supplies to use, how to go about getting more if we run out, what to do about lost and found items, and the building’s specific protocols for interacting with tenants—which is: don’t.

The whole time, I’m thinking, this is really happening.I’m really quitting.Melinda’s already replacing me.

As my stomach loops with anxiety, I remind myself of the most important thing: I’m going to make music.

We’re cleaning our way down a corridor, wiping the baseboards, when my phone buzzes in my pocket.Hoping it’s a message from Kingston or Sebastian, I sneak a peek.

The text on the screen has my heart jamming my throat.

$75k.Not fucking around.We’ll be in touch.Do not block this number.

It’s similar to the message yesterday.I thought I blocked him, though.I go to my block list and see that yes, indeed, there’s the other blocked number, right next to Tommy’s.

So this text is coming from yet another phone.

Tommy wouldn’t be able to get another phone and block me from that, too, would he?Unless he’s working with those guys who came after Natasha and me.His “friends.”

“Everything okay?”Lindsey asks, her brown eyes anxious.

“Yep.”

“I’m doing an okay job, right?I really need this job.”

“You’re doing great,” I assure her, swallowing past my own fears.

I can’t do anything about the message until I have a break, and now I’m going to have Lindsey on my heels for the entire shift.Great.

But the shift goes quickly.Lindsey doesn’t slow me down in the slightest—in fact, she enables me to get things done faster, because once I explain them, she’s on it and helping out.

We don’t even need to take a break—we finish early, and I’m waving at her as she makes her way down the block.

As soon as she’s out of sight, I pull out my phone and dial Detective Baldwin.Cora and Terrence watch me with concern, not even hiding that they’re eavesdropping.And I don’t mind—they should hear this.Just like the guys and I talked about.Everyone needs to know what’s going on.

“Baldwin here,” the detective answers.

“Hi,” I say slowly.“This is Ella Marchand again.”

“Hello, how can I help you, Miss Marchand?”

“I was wondering if I could talk to your colleague in Missing Persons again,” I say.

Detective Baldwin sighs.“More issues with your brother?”