Chapter 3 - Sixty-Three Missing Hours
At nine the following morning, Naomi sat across from Victoria in the mansion's home office.
She had barely slept.
Leah had been awake when Naomi returned to their apartment the previous night. Her twenty-one-year-old sister was studying for a college anatomy exam, surrounded by flashcards and cold coffee.
Naomi had told her what happened.
Not just the broken dishes.
Everything.
Leah had stared at her.
"You've been carrying this alone?"
Naomi hadn't known how to answer.
She had been so determined to protect her sister from financial anxiety that she had mistaken secrecy for strength.
Now she sat in Victoria's office with her blue notebook, pay statements, and photographs of the approved time sheets.
Adrian stood beside his mother's desk.
The polished room smelled faintly of coffee and furniture wax.
Victoria gestured toward Naomi's documents.
"Start from the beginning."
Naomi opened her notebook.
"August fourth. I stayed until eleven-fifteen for your dinner with the hospital trustees. August ninth, another four hours after my regular shift. August seventeenth, six extra hours for Adrian's engagement party."
"Former engagement party," Adrian muttered.
Naomi kept reading.
Page after page contained dates and times.
Some entries had small notes beside them.
Stayed for Mrs. Whitmore's physical therapy transport.
Prepared dinner for twelve.
Cleaned after private reception.
Ruth assisted until ten.
Victoria rubbed her forehead.
"I remember those events."
Naomi placed her phone on the desk and showed Victoria photographs of signed time sheets.
Each included the additional hours and Victoria's initials.
Adrian leaned forward.
"Those signatures only meant the work was authorized. They don't establish that every hour was separately payable."
Naomi reached into her folder.
"Then why does my employment agreement say approved special-event hours are paid in addition to my regular weekly schedule?"
She passed the agreement to Victoria.
It had been signed when Naomi was hired and never replaced.
Victoria read the relevant section twice.
Adrian folded his arms.
"That arrangement was supposed to change."
"But it didn't," Naomi said.
Victoria looked toward her son.
"Adrian, show me the payroll summaries."
He hesitated.
"Mother, we've got more important things to discuss. She destroyed property."
"And we'll discuss that," Victoria replied. "First, the payroll."
Reluctantly, Adrian opened his laptop.
The household payroll summaries showed Naomi's ordinary weekly hours but none of the approved additional work.
Victoria compared the documents.
"Why are the special-event hours missing?"
"They were covered by the event budgets."
"That doesn't answer my question."
Adrian exhaled.
"The event budgets were getting out of control. Between catering, flowers, rentals, and staffing, you kept complaining that costs were too high."
Victoria frowned.
"I told you to reduce unnecessary spending."
"Exactly."
Naomi felt her stomach tighten.
Adrian continued.
"Most of these were family occasions. Naomi was already here. I didn't think we needed to treat every extra minute like a separate expense."
Naomi stared at him.
"Every extra minute?"
He looked annoyed.
"You know what I mean."
"Sixty-three hours isn't a few minutes."
Adrian turned toward Victoria.
"She gets a good wage. She has meals here. You've helped her family. At some point, people start taking advantage."
Naomi felt the familiar sting of that accusation.
Victoria had once given Leah a used laptop when she started college. Naomi had thanked her repeatedly.
Now that act of kindness was being used to question whether Naomi deserved wages for hours she had actually worked.
"The laptop was a gift," Naomi said. "It wasn't my paycheck."
Victoria glanced down at the agreement again.
"And the money I authorized for special-event staffing?"
Adrian shifted.
"I reallocated portions of those budgets to other event expenses."
"Without changing the approved schedules?"
"I was managing the overall costs."
Victoria removed her glasses.
The explanation was no longer complicated.
Adrian had been reducing reported staffing expenses by excluding Naomi's approved extra hours from payroll.
He had not forgotten to pay her.
He had decided her time was expendable.
Naomi sat perfectly still.
For months, he had convinced her that asking for money she earned was unreasonable.
Now she was hearing him describe withholding it as responsible management.
Victoria looked at her son.
"You should have discussed this with me."
Adrian scoffed.
"You were the one telling me to get spending under control."
Victoria opened her mouth, then stopped.
Naomi understood something at that moment.
Adrian had made the decision.
But Victoria had created an environment where keeping appearances mattered more than asking how the work was being done.
"You knew I stayed late," Naomi said quietly.
Victoria looked at her.
"You saw me working when the guests went home. You thanked me the following mornings."
"Naomi, I didn't know he wasn't paying you."
"I believe that."
For a moment, Victoria seemed relieved.
Then Naomi continued.
"But when I tried to tell you, you wouldn't listen."
Neither woman spoke.
Adrian closed his laptop.
"So we're just ignoring what happened last night?"
"No," Naomi answered. "I'm not asking anyone to ignore it."
She looked directly at Victoria.
"I broke your dishes. I shouldn't have done that, and I'll take responsibility."
Then she touched her notebook.
"But I didn't imagine these hours. I didn't invent this agreement. And I didn't make your son decide my time was free."
Victoria stared at the handwritten entries.
After a long silence, she spoke.
"I want to review what you're owed."
Naomi felt a flicker of relief.
But Adrian immediately leaned over his mother's shoulder.
May you like
"Fine," he said. "Then we need to discuss what she'll owe us in return."
The relief vanished.
