Chapter 10
Scarlett’s uncle admitted Silas paid him.
Not with money.
With a promise.
If Cassian gained temporary command, Vaughn properties seized years earlier would be returned.
Again.
Old losses.
Old pride.
Silas built his entire operation by collecting people who wanted yesterday back.
Cassian wanted relevance.
Scarlett wanted her father vindicated.
The Vaughns wanted property.
Retired captains wanted privileges.
Silas wanted his history erased.
Everyone believed the conspiracy centered on their grievance.
Elegant.
I almost admired the architecture.
Almost.
Then Iris entered after the physician changed her bandage.
She stopped when she saw Silas.
Her expression changed.
“You know him?”
She nodded slowly.
“He came to the staff hall last month.”
Silas looked annoyed.
Good.
“What did he want?”
Iris said he had been asking questions.
Which maids cleaned my father’s room.
Which staff carried engagement gifts upstairs.
Which doors remained unlocked during large dinners.
He offered money.
Iris refused.
He laughed and told her:
“People in aprons always become invisible eventually.”
I looked at him.
That sentence finished him in my mind.
Not the theft attempt.
Not the conspiracy.
The worldview.
He believed servants did not count as witnesses because powerful people trained themselves not to see them.
That was why Iris had been dangerous from the beginning.
She noticed him.
Cassian.
Scarlett.
The cufflink.
The map.
Not because she had special access.
Because everyone assumed her presence did not matter.
Silas smiled coldly.
“She’s a maid.”
Iris flinched.
I answered:
“She just dismantled your entire night.”
Silence.
Cassian looked at her differently.
So did Scarlett.
Good.
Then I asked Iris:
“Why did you keep the cufflink when Scarlett hurt you?”
She looked down.
“I thought if I gave it back, everyone would say I imagined him.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Evidence was not greed.
It was protection against powerful people rewriting what a servant saw.
I looked at my fiancée.
Former fiancée now, whether either of us had said it yet.
Scarlett understood too.
May you like
She had not merely threatened Iris.
She had tried to erase the witness before the lie began.
