“Ma’am,” the housekeeper said, perhaps sympathizing as a fellow woman, “she left. Said she won’t come back on any of her days off anymore.”
A wave of frustration welled up in Daniel’s chest. “What’s she mad about now?”
She was the one who asked him to come home, but now that he was back, she'd left instead.
“Sir, you really shouldn’t say that about her…” The words were on the housekeeper’s lips, but seeing as Daniel was the one who signed her paycheck, she swallowed them back.
But swallowing them was harder than it should have been.
Irritated, Daniel yanked his tie loose and watched as the housekeeper scrubbed at the dining table, her rag working the same spot until the finish nearly came off.
“What were you about to say?” he demanded.
The housekeeper felt an odd sense of “Well, you asked—I’m not just gossiping,” relief. Setting the rag aside, she explained, “Ma’am cooked dinner herself for you tonight. She wanted to wait until you got home so you could eat together, but you were gone so long. She finally gave up and left.”
“She cooked for me?” Daniel latched onto the wrong detail.
All Amelia had asked earlier was whether he had any dinner plans, never mentioning she’d made him a meal at home.
The housekeeper nearly choked on her words, tempted to say, “Sir, maybe focus on the bigger picture here,” but before she could, Daniel cut in again: “Where’s the food she made?”
“She packed it up and took it with her.”
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“And she can eat all that by herself?”
The housekeeper raised her voice, exasperated. “Ma’am said not to let it go to waste—she was taking it to feed the stray cats and dogs outside.”
Daniel was speechless.
[Amelia, are you serious?]
[Come home and make me dinner, and I’ll forgive you.]
When Amelia saw the messages, she had just stepped out of the shower.
If he could reach her by phone, Daniel wouldn’t have driven all the way here.
His expression darkened. “Double-check for me. There’s got to be a mistake—I was here just yesterday.”
Daniel had an intimidating presence, and the guard didn’t dare push back too hard. “Even if I let you in, the inner checkpoint uses facial recognition. That’s military police on duty—they don’t bend the rules.”
Silkwood Institute of Technology’s research campus collaborated with the government on sensitive projects. Security was airtight.
No matter how bold Daniel was, he wasn’t about to challenge armed military police. One wrong move and he’d be in serious trouble.
He had no choice but to turn his car around and park outside the facility, waiting.
He waited until eleven o’clock, still unable to reach her.
Growing restless, Daniel lit a cigarette just as Grace called—no doubt unable to sleep and still stewing over yesterday.
“Daniel, you’ve spoiled your wife rotten. She doesn’t even respect me as her mother-in-law anymore. Yesterday, I said one thing and she argued back tenfold. Nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Daniel stared at the floodlit perimeter of the facility, flicking ash out the window as he exhaled a plume of smoke, his voice heavy with resignation. “What’s there to be upset about? I’m her husband, and she doesn’t even care what I think.”
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