Victoria The Billionaires Maid

Kenzie’s [POV]

I’d done more than learn how to cook over those four and a half years. I had also learned the business side of things, and I knew locally sourced ingredients would not only be a selling feature, but they would allow me to cut out the transportation costs, which would help food costs exponentially. I was very confident in my culinary abilities, but I wished I could say the same about my seduction skills.

“It’s overdone,” Reece told me midway through the day.

“Huh?” I asked as she broke through my thoughts.

“The shrimp. It’s overdone. You’ll need to start it over.”

I looked down and realized she was right. It was a true role reversal right now and I shook my head, needing to clear away the clutter inside. It was hard, however, when the one dominating my thoughts was sitting about twelve feet away from where I stood.

“You’re right,” I told her, then sighed. I tossed the seafood into the trash and picked up a clean pan. I filled it part way with water, then salted it generously. Poaching anything required concentration, and I needed to use all of mine, or else I ran the risk of losing this challenge.

Failure wasn’t an option for me. Things had been hard recently financially, so I needed to not allow past exes to blow my chance at a future. The last thing I wanted was for me and Reece to have to move back to Lincoln, or worse, Omaha. With my mind, where it needed to be, I added a few aromatics such as lemon, peppercorns, and parsley leaves, then allowed it to boil before I removed it from the heat. I waited for all the bubbles to subside and added in my cleaned and deveined shrimp, then placed a cover on the pan to allow them to cook. Thankfully, this part of the appetizer could easily be redone so my earlier negligence didn’t set us back too much.

“It’s not like you to be so distracted,” Reece whispered. “I bet a certain redhead is to blame.”

I turned and glared at her. That redhead was distracting so she wasn’t wrong, but he was also not going to be the reason I lost focus. He’d already annihilated me once, and I wouldn’t give him the chance to do so again. Still, I couldn’t help but steal a glance in his direction, and I realized he was looking right at me. I rolled my eyes, hoping he’d see, before removing the cover from the pan once the shrimps were opaque and pink.

“If you say so,” Reece added.

“Just get me the cocktail sauce from the fridge,” I told her as I placed the cooked shrimp into an ice bath. They needed to chill completely before I could serve them, so I moved on to the other appetizer dishes. Our challenge was to create three different ones, and outside of the shrimp cocktail, I planned to also make a lobster crostini and sweet chili calamari.

I knew from my research on the Titans that many had expensive tastes, so I tried to elevate what I had. Jonas had spared no expense when it came to fresh ingredients which made that easier, and I had to admit it was nice to work in a space where I could move around freely and not have to worry about elbowing Reece or stepping on her feet. I was sure she appreciated that as well.

Reece returned with what I’d asked for and we finished up the rest of this untimed challenge. A few others were ahead of me, so I waited my turn. I was nervous, and even more so because of who was judging the competition. The prize wasn’t a check that would barely pay a few months’ rent in some small building space, but something that would change my entire life. This was an investment in a future I’d been planning for over the last several years. It would just so happen that the one person I could’ve gone the rest of my life not seeing would be the one making that decision. I had to impress him, even if I would rather swallow glass.

The others all moved along and eventually, my turn had arrived, and both Reece and I placed the three appetizers onto the table in front of him. I was so nervous that my knees were practically knocking, but when he looked up and flashed me one of his customary smirks, I steeled my resistance to him and straightened my stance.

“What are you serving us?”

I cleared my throat, then smiled politely at Oliver who was sitting on one side of him. On the other, there was a local chef I recognized, but couldn’t place. “We have a shrimp cocktail, lobster crostini with a tomato and champagne sauce, and lastly, there’s breaded calamari served alongside a sweet chili sauce.”

“Sounds very appetizing,” the chef proclaimed, and I smiled.

I loved cooking. It’d been such a useful outlet for me once I was released from the hospital. My grandparents had been apprised of why I had to come live with them, and it’d been a hard period. What no one knew at Spencer Academy was that memories weren’t the only things that followed me to Nebraska. When in the psych ward, it was determined that Jonas had left me with a permanent reminder of what we’d done.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

A little over seven months after arriving in Nebraska, I’d delivered a baby girl with bright red hair and those same hazel eyes that were staring at me now. I tried not to think of Victoria, because to the entire world, she was nothing more than my niece. My older sister had trouble conceiving and when I found out I was pregnant, I made the decision to let her adopt her. I had no means to support myself, much less a child, so it’d been a no-brainer.

At least this way, I was able to watch her grow up, even if it sometimes ripped my heart out to do so. I couldn’t think about Tori, or anything else other than this contract. I needed to make it to the next round, and as the three sampled some from each plate, I stayed calm.

Reece was holding one of my hands and gave it a comforting squeeze. I hadn’t met her until after I’d had Tori, so she had no idea, and the way she kept looking between Jonas and me, it was now for the best. She had already suggested that I play this man, and in the heat of the moment the night before, it seemed like a much better plan than it did right now.

“Delicious,” Jonas finally said, then licked his lips as I watched. That tongue of his had always been wicked, and remembering what he’d told me last night, I shivered slightly. “I can’t wait to taste more.”

From the way his eyes were practically glued to my legs, I knew what he’d been referencing, and something told me it wasn’t food. “Thank you,” I mumbled, then Reece and I removed what was left of the plates, and stepped aside so the next chef could be judged.

“He wants you,” Reece stated as we carried the plates over to the sink.

I rolled my eyes again. “You need to forget about this. I changed my mind about it all.”

“You what?” she hissed softly.

“I can’t do it,” I whispered back. It had seemed easy enough, but it wasn’t me.

When I arrived in Omaha in the predicament I found myself in, I had been overcome with rage and despair.

I had not only been humiliated in front of everyone twice but I also was now forced to carry a child he created during that unholy union. I had pretty much closed myself off from everyone and everything, spending all of my time alone in my room.

With each bout of morning sickness, discomfort from my summer pregnancy, and later the fourteen hours of labor I’d endured, I had sworn to make him pay one day.

That time was now, but I couldn’t make him atone for the past because he held my very future in the palm of his hands.

“I disagree, but it’s your choice,” she replied.

I smiled at her. If anyone knew how bad I could make a life for Jonas, it would be Reece.

After all, he hadn’t been the only one to try to play me for a fool. I was better equipped for Bobby Jenkins, however, than I’d ever been for Jonas. We dated for a few months, then he decided to try to make me a side piece by getting married to someone else and not telling me.

I wasn’t proud of the way I acted afterward. I did more than break up with him when I found out. I’d done all the normal things from crying over a quart of ice cream to burning all reminders of my time with him.

That hadn’t been all, though. I keyed his car, flattened the tires, and essentially stalked him until what I was doing finally sank in.