Then it disappeared.

“Rachel Morgan,” he repeated quietly.Learn a Language

“Yes.”

He turned his chair toward the window.

“You won’t last.”

I stood straighter.

Maybe three months earlier, I would have walked out.

Maybe a&

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year earlier, I would have told him I didn’t deserve to be spoken to that way.

But hunger changes the shape of pride.

When your child is burning with fever in a freezing apartment, dignity becomes something you promise yourself you’ll recover later.

“I only need to last long enough to get paid,” I said.

His chair stopped.

The corner of his mouth moved.

Not quite a smile.

“Honest.”

“I don’t have the energy to lie.”

That made him look at me again.

Before he could answer, the housekeeper returned.

Her name was Mrs. Alvarez.

She was a silver-haired woman in her sixties with soft eyes and a posture so straight she seemed incapable of being intimidated by anyone.

“Mr. Bennett’s evening routine begins at five,” she explained. “Medication, bathing, dinner, stretching exercises, then bed preparation.”

I nodded carefully, trying to remember everything.

“And if I do something wrong?”

“