Chapter 3

Just as I anticipated, Ethan and Chloe began their affair.

It started with hushed conversations in his study, lingering touches, and shared "health tonics" Chloe prepared.

One afternoon, chaos erupted.

Chloe let out a theatrical shriek from the kitchen.

I walked in to find her clutching her arm, a spilled, steaming mug of dark liquid on the floor, its herbal scent acrid.

"Oh, Ava!" Chloe cried, tears welling in her eyes. "I was just making my special vitality brew, and I think you bumped into me. It' s scalding!"

Ethan rushed in, his face a mask of concern for Chloe.

He didn't even look at me.

"Ava! What happened? You need to be more careful!" His voice was sharp, accusatory.

"I... I didn't touch her," I said, keeping my voice even, though anger simmered beneath.

Chloe winced dramatically. "It's alright, Ethan. It was an accident. Ava's pregnant, perhaps a little clumsy. It' s my fault for being in the way."

Her feigned magnanimity only made Ethan angrier at me.

"Clumsy? She could have seriously hurt you, Chloe!" He fussed over her, dabbing at her arm with a napkin, his glare fixed on me.

I saw the triumphant glint in Chloe's eyes before she hid it with a pained expression.

This was her game: paint me as incompetent, careless, a burden.

Meanwhile, Tiffany was making her own waves.

She was brash, demanding, and openly flirtatious with Ethan. She called him constantly, sent suggestive photos.

Chloe, with her "refined" sensibilities, despised Tiffany.

Mrs. Gable, the housekeeper, was firmly in Chloe' s camp, treating Tiffany with disdain.

"That... woman," Mrs. Gable would mutter, loud enough for me to hear, "has no class. Unlike Miss Chloe."

I used one such moment to subtly assert my position.

Mrs. Gable had "forgotten" to bring my afternoon tea, a small act of defiance, clearly siding with Chloe who was being pampered in the living room.

"Mrs. Gable," I said, my voice quiet but firm, when I found her later. "I am Mrs. Prescott. The lady of this house. My requests are not suggestions."

Her face flushed. She mumbled an apology.

Chloe, who overheard, shot me a venomous look. My quiet assertion of authority irked her. She wanted me to be a doormat.

To further stoke the flames between my two chosen distractions, I made a calculated gesture.

I "gifted" Brenda, Mrs. Gable's niece who was now Ethan's assistant, a rather expensive set of cosmetics. I gave a similar, flashier set to Tiffany.

"You both work so hard," I said with a warm smile. "You deserve a little something."

Brenda was thrilled, feeling valued. Tiffany preened, seeing it as an endorsement.

Both saw Chloe, who received no such gift from me, as the established rival they needed to outshine.

The rivalry was exactly what I wanted.

Let them tear each other apart for Ethan's fleeting attention.

Ethan, caught between Chloe's "sophistication" and Tiffany's overt allure, was becoming increasingly distracted and irritable.

Perfect.