Chapter 84: Pay up.
Later that evening...
Betty finished drying her hair as she sat in her room, sighing heavily.
"It’s them, isn’t it?" she whispered, bitterness filling her heart. "How could they do such a thing? Do they really hate the madam that much to the point that they’d sabotage her business? Are they that bold not to think of consequences?"
Her heart clenched at the thought until another possibility crossed her mind.
"Or... don’t tell me..." she trailed off, knowing those maids weren’t as dumb as one would think. They wouldn’t be gossiping so boldly instead of doing their tasks if they didn’t think they could get away with it.
They might act like that, but Betty had worked with those three long enough to understand how they operated and covered for each other.
"Nelly already has an idea of how they were poisoning the seedlings, but we need proof," she whispered, deep in thought. "But I don’t think they’ll get caught in the act now, since Castor already set up CCTV cameras all around the greenhouse and the garden."
Betty pinched the bridge of her nose until her phone vibrated against the surface of her desk. She turned her head and rose from her seat to check it.
It was a message from one of the maids.
[From: Sally
Betty, we have something to tell you... and I know we didn’t have a good past. But we hope you can listen to us.]
Deep lines formed on Betty’s face as she looked at the message from Sally. Sally was the brain and the boldest in the group. One could say she was the leader of the other two maids. She was smart and ambitious.
That was why Betty’s initial reaction was confusion.
"She wants to tell me something?" she whispered. "Are they going to confess?"
Betty pressed her lips into a thin, tight line, mulling over the idea that those three were about to confess to what they did. There was no way they would, considering the consequences wouldn’t be so simple.
[Betty, do you trust me?]
Suddenly, Ashley’s voice echoed in her mind, snapping her out of her tangled thoughts.
"Of course," she whispered. "I trust the madam."
The last time Ashley checked on Betty with Lucian, the madam didn’t say anything except that she would never let anyone bully Betty—and that all she needed was for Betty to trust her.
"Even so... I am her secretary," she muttered. "I want to be more useful to her."
She knew Ashley meant it when she said she would protect her. But at the same time, Betty wanted to be someone who could protect Ashley in her own way. And for Betty to do that, her first step was... confronting her fears.
Determination flickered in Betty’s eyes as she nodded to herself.
"This time, I won’t shrink back," she whispered, steeling her heart. "I am the madam’s secretary, her right hand, and someone she trusted to handle the greenhouse, the soil shipping, and the garden’s progress."
Betty swallowed hard as she picked up her phone, messaging them back.
[To: Sally
Meet me in the greenhouse.]
With that, Betty changed into something else and left her quarters with her phone. She headed to the greenhouse and soon reached the quiet area.
Since the greenhouse was established here, there were some lights around. So Betty stood near it, where there was a dim spotlight. She wrapped her robe tighter around herself, looking around. There weren’t any people here, which wasn’t surprising, as this area wasn’t a place where the guards on duty at night would usually stay. Their stations were farther away, so they could stop anyone who tried to sneak in.
"Where are they?" she wondered, but didn’t think much of it. "Their quarters are still on the other side, so it’s alright."
Betty idled and waited patiently, her heart ready to listen to whatever those women had to say. A part of her wanted to believe they would come clean to her. No matter how impossible it was, she wanted to think there was still hope for those three.
"But if not, then..." she trailed off as she turned to the greenhouse, hearing some noises from inside. "Is someone inside?"
She tilted her head before deciding to go in. But when she stepped inside, she checked every corner and saw no one.
"That’s weird," she muttered. "Is that just the wind?"
Little did Betty know that Sally had already arrived at the greenhouse before she did—and was hiding at a distance, taking photos of Betty entering it.
A smirk curled on her lips as a glint flickered across her eyes. Once she finished taking photos, a quiet chuckle escaped her.
"Oh, Betty, you poor, naive thing," she whispered. "I wonder how you’re going to defend yourself with this evidence. Even that country bumpkin from the Di Carpios won’t be able to side with you once we show this. Otherwise, she’ll just lose everyone’s confidence."
After all, they also had photos of Betty coming out of the greenhouse the other night—the night she begged the seedlings to grow.
Sally’s thoughts halted when her phone rang quietly. She answered it and saw it was from one of her lackeys, the one who made noises in the greenhouse to lure Betty inside.
"Did you get it?" came a voice from the other end of the line.
"Of course," Sally smirked.
The voice on the other end still sounded a little nervous. "But Sally, how are we going to delete your message to her? If she says you messaged her, then that could ruin everything."
"Don’t worry about that. We can just steal her phone tomorrow or... if all else fails, we’ll just say she’s trying to frame us," Sally hummed, arms crossed. "Anyway, go back to your quarters and make sure you’re not noticed."
"How about Bang? Did she call you yet?"
"No, not yet—" Sally paused as another incoming call lit up her screen. "She’s calling now. I’ll answer it first."
Without waiting for a reply, Sally ended the call and answered Bang’s. "How is it?"
*****
"How is it?"
Bang, who had snuck into Betty’s room, hid the bleach inside her closet—the same bleach they used to poison the seedlings.
"I hid it well. Once they start checking her room, they’ll find it," Bang said with a smile. "Did you take pictures of her?"
"Of course," Sally perked up slightly. "Bang, she’s coming out of the greenhouse. You should leave now."
Bang nodded. "Okay."
Bang hung up and carefully closed the closet. Everything was set. All they needed was for tomorrow to come, and Betty... was gone as the culprit.
A satisfied smile formed on her face. "Good luck, Betty."
With that, she still tiptoed her way out.
But just as Bang opened the door, her steps halted. Her eyes widened, her entire body freezing as her mind tried to deny what she was seeing.
Because right there, just outside the door, leaning casually against the wall, were two figures.
Ashley and Lucian.
Both of them were leaning against the wall right in front of the door. Ashley’s lips curled up as soon as she met Bang’s eyes, opening her palm toward Lucian.
"Pay up."
Lucian, on the other hand, sighed faintly before slapping a bill onto her palm—as if she had just won a bet.