The air in the office was cool, but Elena's hands were sweating. She had walked in feeling proud. She expected Ethan to thank her for giving Elara "extra work." In her mind, she had finally shown the house manager who was boss.
But Ethan didn't look happy. He looked at her, smiled a little, and sighed as if he were disappointed. After he finished talking to Elara, he turned to Elena. His face was like stone.
"You seem to have a lot of free time, Elena," he said, his voice deep and cold. "If you have enough energy to mess with the house staff's schedule, you clearly aren't busy enough with my work."
Elena's smile disappeared. "Ethan, I was just trying to be efficient—"
"Efficiency is Elara's job. Yours is to follow my lead," Ethan interrupted. He turned his chair and stared right into her eyes. "Since you like organizing so much, I have a special project for you."
He handed her a heavy, rusty iron key.
"In the very bottom of the basement, behind the wine cellar, there is a vault. It's filled with twenty years of old paper records from the previous owner. They are a mess and covered in dust. I want every single page sorted and labelled by hand. No computers, no scanners. I want to see your handwriting on every file."
Elena was stunned. "The basement? Ethan, I'm your secretary! That's a job for a low-level clerk. It'll take months! It's dark and damp down there."
"Then you'd better start now," Ethan said coldly. "Until that room is finished, you don't have a desk up here. You will work down there eight hours a day. No excuses."
Elena felt like she had been slapped. She looked at the key in her hand. She realized she had made a huge mistake. By trying to bury Elara in work, she had trapped herself.
As she left, she saw Elara in the hallway. Elara was carrying tea and looked as calm as always. She didn't brag or smile. She just bowed politely as Elena walked by.
"Have a nice morning, Miss Elena," Elara said softly.
Elena didn't say a word. She kept walking until she reached the heavy steel door to the basement. When she opened it, the smell of old paper and mould hit her. The lights were low, and there were hundreds of boxes stacked to the ceiling.
She sat at a tiny wooden desk in the corner. There were no window and no music—just the sound of her own breathing and piles of dust.
As she opened the first box, she realized the truth. In this palace, Ethan decided who was important. She thought being the mother of his children made her safe, but Ethan had just shown her that everyone was just a tool to him. And when a tool caused trouble, he put it away in the dark.
She picked up a pen and started writing. High above, she heard a helicopter taking off. Ethan was starting his day, and for the first time, she wasn't with him. She was just a woman in a basement, learning the hard way that Ethan made all the rules.