Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 32

**Change Begins With You — Jayden Collins**
**Chapter 32**

**Maya**

Caden had been absent since Saturday, and now, an entire week had passed, bringing us to Friday.

Six interminable days had slipped by. Six days since he’d pressed his lips to mine in a gentle goodbye, promising that he would return soon, as if that would somehow make the time apart easier to bear.

This was uncharted territory for us; he had never been away for such an extended period. Not once in all the time we had spent together. Yet, curiously, his absence seemed to barely register with anyone else in that absurd mansion we called home, which only deepened my sense of isolation and frustration.

Tylon and Leo went about their daily routines as if it was entirely ordinary for Caden to simply disappear for days on end.

When I had mustered the courage to inquire about the nature of Caden’s work for his father, I was met with vague responses or, at worst, complete silence.

“I mean, it’s not healthy,” I had confided to Leo earlier in the week, my voice tinged with concern. “He’s still a student. What kind of job demands that much of his time?”

Leo had merely offered me his customary half-hearted smile and replied, “Confidential work. It’s not my place to divulge, Maya.”

And Tylon? Forget it. He had become a ghost in my life, barely sparing me a glance these days. I had attempted a couple of times to reach out, hoping to mend the rift created by that disastrous night when he overheard me call him an asshole. But he had made it abundantly clear that he had no interest in forgiving me or even acknowledging my existence.

It was infuriating, to be honest. He had been the cold one from the very beginning, so what right did he have to hold onto his resentment now?

With Caden’s silence weighing heavily on my heart, Leo’s evasiveness gnawing at my patience, and Tylon’s frosty demeanor pushing me further into despair, I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a precipice.

That was precisely why payday at the internship office was supposed to be my one glimmer of hope in an otherwise dreary week.

Miss Vale had assured us that checks would be ready by noon, and when Jamille finally strolled into the office with the envelope, I could almost taste the relief that was just within reach.

With trembling hands, I tore open the envelope, only to freeze in shock.

The amount was wrong. Not just a little off, but shockingly, it was half of what I was supposed to receive.

A knot twisted in my stomach as I scanned the stub again and again, desperately hoping I had misread it, but the numbers remained stubbornly the same, glaring back at me in stark black ink—half the pay I had worked so hard to earn over the month.

I glanced around the small office, where everyone else was already smiling, chatting, and counting their checks with an air of satisfaction. Jamille, of course, sat behind her desk, flipping her glossy hair with an air of superiority, smirking as if she had just unlocked the secrets to world peace.

“Jamille,” I said, forcing calm into my voice as I approached her desk, my heart hammering in my chest. “There seems to be a mistake with my check.”

She didn’t even bother to look up from her work. “Is there?”

“Yes, it’s half of what it should be.”

The sharp click of her pen echoed in the silence as she continued to scribble. “You missed days.”

“I was attacked,” I snapped, my voice rising louder than I intended, the frustration spilling over. “Miss Vale personally approved those days. And the storm last week? Everyone left early! You can’t just cut my pay because of that!”

Finally, she lifted her gaze, and her lips curved into a condescending smile that barely masked her disdain.

“Maya, it’s just a few hundred dollars. Surely you can survive living like the leech you are with those men until next month’s pay. You seem to have enough… privileges to keep you comfortable.”

A low, disbelieving laugh escaped my lips, a bitter sound that echoed my disbelief. “That’s your problem, isn’t it? You’re upset that I actually live there and you don’t.”

Her smile sharpened, turning predatory. “I’m upset that you’ve wormed your way into their heads and blinded them to the truth. You’re just a leeching, broke-ass bitch.”

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