I escape to my room in panic. That was ... embarazoso. Embarrassing and careless. This could make her lose her job.

Okay, technically, Adrian could be the one who'd fire me. But that still doesn't make it okay. This is another painful reminder of who I am, especially to him. I should stay his dirty secret. And now his wife found us in a very promising position.

I can't even be mad at him. It's not really his fault, I should know better, too. There's a tightening feeling in my chest – the feeling that tells me I did something wrong and something I shouldn't be proud of.

I'm scared to go out of my room and face either of them. I don't know if I'll be able to look Mrs Welch in her eyes ever again now. Even though they don't have the real marriage, this is still their house and I'm not proud of anyone seeing me like that.

I have a war in my mind. I kind of hope that Adrian will come in here and tell me everything is alright, but minutes clock by and he's nowhere to be heard or seen. And I can't hide in here, either. I have work to do. I'm at least honourable enough to want to get paid for what I do and I want to be efficient – even if it's just cleaning.

I take some deep breaths, putting my hands on the stomach because it's actually starting to hurt. I keep burying myself a hole and soon it'll get so deep that I won't be able to get out. This is getting more complicated than it should be.

I go out of the room and go to my business. I avoid the kitchen. I don't hear any yelling. I don't hear anything, actually, and that makes me feel a little better, although I'm scared someone will appear from somewhere and not make it that easy for me to avoid it.

I move quietly around the house, although I soon find out that I don't even have to because there's no one. Except for Milena and I also see Roswald a few times wandering around, meaning that Adrian and Mrs Welch are probably both at home, but doing God knows what. Maybe I won't have to hide from them, after all. They're doing that by themselves. The rest of the day, actually. They don't even show up for dinner, which worries me. I asked Milena about it and she said she doesn't think they went anywhere.

Milena doesn't know what happened. I don't tell her, either. It's too embarrassing to share this with anyone.

And later, when I lie in my bed for hours, I'm just a tiny bit disappointed that Adrian didn't come to see me so we could talk about what happened. Or just to reassure me. I know I'm not really high on his priority list, but it still stings a bit.

Although he doesn't owe me anything – I realise that. It would just be a nice thing to do.

I sleep with a heart that's a little heavier today than other days and the worrying keeps me up for hours. I don't know what future holds for me, but I know I'm messing it up by continuing playing this dangerous game, pretending that I don't know how it's going to end.

I find out we're getting some visitors the next day. They weren't announced beforehand and they throw me off guard a little. Especially because I see Adrian and Mrs Welch for the first time after yesterday's incident. And they act all lovey-dovey around each other, which makes it even more uncomfortable for me.

Mrs Welch doesn't really give me any more attention than she has to. She really just glances at me and that's all. Her smile doesn't even slip, that's how good she is at pretending.

And Adrian ... he isn't any better. When he came home, he didn't want to eat lunch. I haven't even seen him until now. At a table full of gentlemen or at least men who pretend they're gentlemen. I feel their eyes on me. I try to ignore them all, but it's hard.

I'm tired today. And it's not only from the lack of sleep. So having to keep a smile on my face is a little harder task than usual. I try to catch Adrian's eye when Milena and I serve the main dish, but he ignores me. Mrs Welch, however, notices me staring at her husband and she glares at me, silently warning me to back off.

I lower my head and quietly leave the dining room, going back into the kitchen.

The voices in the dining room are becoming louder, the laughter is heard more frequently, which is a clear indicator that they're getting intoxicated. I sigh to myself, cleaning the dishes in silence.

Someone presses up against me and I almost let out a scream in surprise, but the man presses his lips against my ear. "Shhh," he says, his arm coming around my waist, his expensive watch shining in the light.

"Adrian, qué estás –"

"Shhh," he whispers again, his thumb coming to my lips, dragging my bottom lip down. He steps even closer to me, dropping his hand down to the front of my dress, unlacing it and grabbing my breast so I sigh.

I lean against him – I can't help myself. He makes me lose my mind. I notice he used a different cologne today. I like it. I want to turn around in his arms, but he doesn't let me. He puts his other hand under my skirt, grabbing my ass and grinding his crotch against me while biting down on my earlobe.

His hand goes into my panties and I grip his arm, my breathing getting faster.

"Cassandra."

My eyes fly open. I turn around so fast that I hit my hip against the counter, but I don't even feel the pain. Adrian is standing at the entrance, staring at me with his hands in his pockets and there, next to me, is another man. Who's not Adrian. Meaning it wasn't Adrian who was touching me.

Adrian's face doesn't give anything away, he's just impassively staring at me while my heart wants to burst out of my chest. I look from the man on my left back to Adrian.

"Quién eres tú?" Who are you?  I want to know. My hands are starting to shake. I can't even comprehend what happened.

And as if on cue, Mrs Welch appears next to Adrian, asking, "What is going on here?" Her face is a little too smug for my liking, though. She looks at everyone, but her mean eyes stop on me and they don't go away. "Really, Miss Duarte? First my husband and now someone else in just two days? We don't pay you to whore around – pardon my words."

At that moment, it feels like I lost the floor under my feet. I shake my head. "No es así." It's not like that.

"Speak English in this house, especially when you're talking to me."

I start shaking my head, terribly wanting to explain but I just don't know how. It's like I suddenly don't know how to speak.

"Eric, would you like to explain what was going on?" Adrian addresses the man next to me. I can't even look at the man, my pleading eyes are on Adrian, hoping he'd understand what I can't say.

"I don't know if there's anything to explain. I came to her and she was willing. I'm sorry you had to walk in on that."

I see Adrian's nostrils flare a little bit, but his expression doesn't change. He keeps glaring at the man and I fear it's because he can't look at me.

"It's not like that," I whisper quietly, desperate for Adrian to understand, but I know I can't flat out say I was willing because I actually thought it was Adrian touching me – a married and highly respected man.

"Miss Duarte, the guests are waiting. Return back to work – the kind of work you get paid for, please – for the remaining of the night and afterwards, we will talk about the sanction of your behaviour," Adrian speaks to me, but he doesn't look at me. He looks somewhere past me and this hurts so much worse.

I can't cause any more drama, so I only nod, although I'm dying inside. Everything in this house is just going downhill. And maybe I should really think about finding a new job. I have a feeling I won't have a choice anyway because I might lose it today.

Even though this really wasn't my fault.

Mrs Welch locks her hand around Adrian's bicep and leans to him, whispering something in his ear. I have to look away. My heart is getting too heavy with so many things weighing it down tonight. It's almost sinking.

"Eric, you can return back to your seat if you please." Mrs Welch smiles at him.

I look at the man and he catches my eyes, winking at me. It makes me want to vomit.

I look at Adrian again and catch him glaring at Eric yet again. At least he's letting me know that he's not that indifferent about that situation and that it affects him seeing me with another man. Even though I would never do that on purpose. I was literally violated and they're blaming me for it.

They all return back to their seats. Adrian looks at me one last time before going back and he can't hide the disappointment from his eyes. I have to bite down on my lip so I don't do something stupid, either starting to cry or start screaming that it's not my fault.

I do neither. I just lower my head and admit my defeat. I can't do anything against these people. It's my word against theirs. And I know who everyone would believe first.

I continue washing the dishes when they leave and pray my hands will stop shaking until I have to take out any more plates or fill the glasses because I don't want any more incidents to happen today that would bring any more attention on me.

At some point, Milena comes into the kitchen, wearing a worried expression. "What the hell happened in here?"

I look at her with wide eyes. "What?" I ask quietly, afraid of what she's going to tell me.

"Adrian almost got into a fight when he came out from the kitchen. He threw out a man and almost caused a scene."

I shake my head. How come I didn't hear anything? "In front of everyone?" I ask.

"No. They went to the main hall, but his screaming could be heard and I had to go and calm him down before he'd do anything stupid. Did ... it have anything to do with you?"

"I ... I don't want to talk about this."

Milena presses her lips together and nods. I think I gave her the answer she needed. "I'll go see if they need a refill."

I nod. "I'll join you when I'm finished in here." Which, hopefully, won't be anytime soon. I really don't want to go out there and face them again.

I couldn't be happier when the guests leave. Because it got harder to pretend you're happy and content and that everything is alright. Thankfully, there wasn't another scene again, although one tried to make some drunken comments about me, but I just ignored him and walked away.

I didn't look anyone in the eyes. I tried to pretend I'm not even there. I tried to be as invisible as possible.

Adrian wasn't himself either, I noticed. He's been drinking – not a lot. Most of the time, he's been just staring at the glass, twirling the wine around and throwing in some smiles or some short replies when needed to.

It takes some time to clean everything after them. And, honestly, I'm glad because I'm scared to face Adrian or Mrs Welch. Or both. They said we're going to talk about what happened and I fear that. I already know what I'm going to hear from them. And I know it's probably for the best anyway, but it still doesn't make it any easier, especially for the financial situation I'm currently in.

I sigh, wiping my hands and rubbing my tired eyes. I clean the counter, finally done for today – or forever. And when I turn to go out of the kitchen, I let out a scream when I see Adrian at the doorway, casually leaning against the doorframe with a glass in his hand, the other one in his pocket, his dress shirt partly opened, his dark hair all kinds of messy.

I grip the counter behind me, breathing hard. Adrian's face doesn't show any emotion, it doesn't change at all. He just silently stares at me. And I stare back, shocked and slightly scared.

"Are you all done here?" he asks with a tone that's colder than the ice that's clinking against the glass every time he circles it.

I slowly nod my head, not knowing what kind of answer I should give him. I want to stall this, but I can't avoid it forever.

"Good. Come," is all he says before he turns on his feet and walks out of the kitchen, not pausing to even see if I'm following.

I look up at the ceiling, saying a small prayer before I walk after him. He leads me up the stairs, probably leading me towards his office.

He stops before his bedroom. I stare at the door in silence, not wanting to say anything that could potentially ruin the situation even more.

He opens the door for me and nods his head, willing me to enter. I look at him, but he remains silent. I go into his bedroom with a lump in my throat.

I turn to him when I hear him close and lock the door. "Adrian, I –"

"No," he cuts me off sharply. "You don't get to talk right now."

I quickly close my mouth. Adrian empties his glass and harshly puts it on his nightstand, roughly pulling his tie off afterwards.

He nods towards the bed. "Climb on."

I look at it and then back at him, confused. "Adrian, please, let me –"

"On the bed, Cassandra. Don't make me repeat myself because I'm not in the mood to play Santa Claus and grant you any wishes."

Maldita sea, he really is pissed off. I go towards the bed, but I sit on it, looking him straight in the face.

I see his nostrils flare again and he comes towards me. I dig my nails into the mattress, trying hard not to fear him, but can't stop my heart from racing a little faster.

He grips my bare leg and turns me around so I'm lying down on my stomach, my feet still touching the floor.

I look over my shoulder, a little shocked. I see him taking his belt out of his pants and my eyes slightly widen. "Adrian? Qué vas a hacer?" I ask a little nervously. What are you going to do?

He folds the belt in half and holds the ends in each of his hand, making sure that I see it clearly. "I'm just joining the game you wanted to play, Cassandra."

He pushes my skirt up releases the belt from one of his hands and suddenly swings with other, the belt harshly biting down on my skin.

"Ay! Jesús!"