You lock your arms around his waist. He leans heavily against you, taller than you expected, trembling so hard you think both of you will fall. His feet barely hold him. His breath breaks. His body remembers weight but not trust.
“One,” you count.
His hands grip your shoulders.
“Two.”
His face twists with pain.
“Three.”
Then his knees buckle.
You guide him back into the wheelchair before he collapses, and for a moment both of you just breathe.
Alejandro stares at his legs.
You expect anger.
Instead, one tear slips down his cheek.
He wipes it away fast, furious with himself.
“I stood,” he whispers.
You nod.
“You stood.”
The next night, he makes it to four seconds.
The night after that, five.
By the end of the first week, he can stand long enough for you to count to ten.
Nobody knows.
Not Doña Isabella DeVega, who floats through charity lunches in designer dresses while pretending her oldest son is “resting.”
Not Don Richard DeVega, who owns hotels, shopping centers, private clinics, and half the political favors in Los Angeles.
Not the butler, Mr. Sterling, whose footsteps you learn to recognize from two hallways away.
And especially not Alejandro’s younger brother, Damian.
Damian DeVega is twenty-two, beautiful in the careless way cruel people often are. He drives sports cars too fast, wears watches worth more than your mother’s yearly rent, and smiles at staff only when guests are watching. Everyone in the mansion knows not to be alone with him if they can help it.
The first time Damian notices you, he blocks your path near the wine room.
“You’re the new maid from East L.A., right?” he says.
You lower your eyes.
“Yes, sir.”
He laughs.
“Sir? Cute.”
You try to step around him, but he shifts with you.
“You clean my brother’s room?”
Your stomach tightens.
“Yes.”
“How is the crippled prince?”
Your hands curl around the laundry basket.
“He is resting.”
Damian smiles.
“Of course he is. That’s all he does.”
You say nothing.
That is another thing you have learned in the mansion.
