“Do you think I’ll just wash your mother’s bedsheets and then stay silent?” Daria said calmly.
Daria was sitting on the sofa in her small one-room apartment, reading, when Igor came home from work. He looked pensive, even a little tense. After hanging up his coat, he went into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and then stood by the window for a long time, watching the city at sunset.
“Daria, we need to talk,” he finally said, sitting down beside his wife.
“About what?” she asked, putting down her book and turning to him.
“About Mom. Her condition is deteriorating. The doctors say she needs constant care, she needs someone by her side. She lives alone in her two-bedroom apartment and is finding it increasingly difficult to take care of herself.”
Daria frowned. Valentina Petrovna had indeed complained about her health recently, but until then she had managed…
Chapter 1: The Fortress of Obedience
Seattle in November had the beauty of a glass-enclosed cemetery. A gentle drizzle lapped against the windows of the small twelfth-floor apartment where Daisy sat on an old sofa, her book long since stopped at page 142. She wasn’t reading. She was listening. Listening to Ethan’s footsteps in the hallway – a familiar rhythm, but today it seemed heavier, carrying the scent of calculation.
Ethan entered. He didn’t look at his wife immediately. He hung his Burberry coat on the rack, poured himself a glass of water, but stood motionless by the window, watching the bustling city traffic sink into darkness.
“Daisy, we need to talk,” Ethan finally said, his voice low and trembling with a feigned tension. He sat down beside her, the scent of expensive perfume mingling with the smell of office sweat, creating a suffocating mixture.
“About what?” Daisy asked, setting down her book. Her gaze was so calm it made Ethan avert his eyes.
“About Mom. Victoria’s condition is deteriorating. The doctors say she needs constant care. She lives alone in that apartment and… I can’t rest easy anymore.”
Daisy felt a chill run down her spine. Victoria Sterling – her mother-in-law, a woman who always looked at her like a stain on her expensive carpet. A woman who always used vulnerability as a weapon to manipulate her son.
“So what do you suggest?” Daisy asked, her voice still as flat as a frozen lake.
“I think… you should take some time off work. Your freelance design work can be done from home anyway. We’ll bring Mom here, or you can move there permanently to take care of her. I can’t hire outside help; Mom doesn’t trust anyone. Only family can take good care of each other.”
Ethan said it smoothly, as if he’d practiced it a thousand times in front of the mirror. He was asking her to give up her career, her freedom, and become an unpaid maid for a woman who despised her.
Chapter 2: Unwashable Stains
For the past ten years, Daisy had been silent. She was silent when Victoria criticized her humble origins. She was silent when Ethan used her salary to pay off his gambling debts under the guise of “business investments.” She was silent because she believed in a will of love she had drafted for herself.
But that silence ended last Monday morning, when she secretly went to Victoria’s apartment without notice to deliver a stack of files Ethan had left behind.
She found Victoria – the “frail” woman – radiantly drinking wine with a strange man. She saw suitcases full of cash hidden under the bed. And even worse, she saw the bedsheets in the laundry room.
They weren’t dirty from the patient’s sweat. They were dirty from dried blood and the strange symbols of an insurance fraud organization in which Victoria and Ethan were key members. They were staging a fake death, a fake exhaustion, to claim a huge payout from the insurance company where Daisy worked as a security system design consultant.
They didn’t need her care. They needed her there to testify to Victoria’s “exhaustion,” to sign the paperwork they had prepared. They needed her silence to complete their will of betrayal.
Chapter 3: The Climax – When the Voice Breaks the Silence
“You think I’ll wash your mother’s bedsheets and then stay silent?” Daisy said, her voice not loud, but it ripped through the suffocating atmosphere in the room.
Ethan froze. The fake smile on his lips froze. “What are you saying, Daisy? I only want what’s best for her…”
“I saw those sheets, Ethan. I saw bloodstains, not from patients, but from illegal ‘treatments’ to falsify medical records. And I also saw the man named Marcus – the insurance company representative you secretly meet in the basement.”
Daisy stood up, the anger of a woman pushed to the limit erupting.
“Why do you want me to quit my job? So I can’t access the company’s surveillance system and see that you’ve erased the traces of your mother’s transactions? Or so I can be the perfect accomplice when the police ask about Victoria’s condition?”
Ethan jumped up, his face shifting from shock to rage. “Shut up! You know nothing! You’re just a country girl lucky enough to marry into the Sterling family. You owe us everything!”
“I owe no one anything,” Daisy pulled a USB drive from her handbag. “The will of silence you wanted me to sign… it’s turned into an indictment against you. All the footage of Victoria walking around healthy and your conversations in that apartment has been recorded. I didn’t just design security systems for buildings, Ethan. I designed a trap for the very person who wanted to trap me.”
Chapter 4: The Twist – The True Owner
“You think you’ll win?” Ethan roared, lunging to snatch the USB drive.
But just then…
Suddenly, a frantic knocking sound came from the door. It wasn’t the police. It was the Sterling family’s private lawyer – Mr. Miller.
Ethan stopped, breathless. “Miller? What are you doing here? I didn’t call you.”
Mr. Miller looked at Ethan with utter contempt. “I didn’t come here for you, Ethan. I came here for the true owner of this apartment and the apartment your mother lives in.”
Miller turned to Daisy, bowing respectfully. “Mrs. Daisy, all procedures for transferring ownership from Mr. Ethan’s father’s trust to you have been completed in accordance with the ‘Ethical Violation and Criminal Conduct’ clause that his father included in his anonymous will fifteen years ago.”
The cruel twist was revealed: Ethan’s father – an upright man who had seen through the malice of his wife and son – had left behind a secret will. The entire Sterling family fortune will go to Ethan’s legal wife, provided she can prove their fraud.
Ethan and Victoria had spent their lives deceiving each other, but they never imagined they were nurturing the very person who would take everything away from them. Daisy wasn’t a lamb; she was the true heir chosen by Ethan’s father to protect the family legacy.
Chapter 5: The Purge of Silence
“No…it can’t be…” Ethan collapsed to the floor. His entire multi-million dollar world, his entire insurance scheme, and his arrogance crumbled in an instant.
“You want me to wash your mother’s bedsheets?” Daisy stepped closer, looking down at the man she once called husband. “Tomorrow morning, those sheets will be taken away by the FBI as evidence. And Victoria’s apartment? I’ve already signed the eviction order. She can continue her charade, but not in my property.”
Daisy picked up the book and calmly walked out the door. “The silence is over, Ethan. And so is your life.”
Chapter 6: The Writer’s Conclusion
The story ends as Daisy’s figure disappears into the Seattle rain. She takes nothing with her but freedom and a will that has been fairly executed.
In his small apartment, Ethan sits amidst the ruins of lies, realizing that the biggest stain isn’t on the bedsheets, but in his own soul – a stain that no amount of care or money can wash away.
The will of silence has been perfectly executed. Daisy was silent to observe, silent to gather, and finally, she spoke up to change fate. In the world of intrigue, sometimes the quietest person holds the key to destroying an entire empire of lies.
The author’s message: Never underestimate the patience of a woman who has been treated with disrespect. Because when they begin “washing your bedsheets,” they may be wiping your entire life off the map of existence.
