A MAZE OF GREED

Ruth was slowly fitting into this new arrangement in 'the great manor'. She and Elsie got along very well... better than her expectations. Lester was warming up towards her but acted strange sometimes that puzzling her.

Having Rees around and able to see him multiple times in a day was huge support for her nervous self. Theodora would smile Ruth's way or reply with a nod or words when Ruth greeted her.

Ruth had seen Augustus a couple of times. But every time he would ignore her presence, or just pass a cursory glance her way then walk away. She did not mind it though. His grey eyes gave her chills.

Ruth was getting comfortable with other maids and servants. Yet, she preferred to spend most of her time with Ida as she was the only one who would listen to her lengthy stories about Thea and her friendship.

In between this positive environment, only one person was there with whom Ruth could not get along- Eloise. The elder O'Dell daughter kept glaring her way or spat insults on her face for any trivial reasons.

Elsie tried standing up in front of her sister but failed most of the time, which made Ruth wonder what kind of relationship the two sisters shared.

Ruth was combing Elsie's hair in her chamber when Eloise came stomping her feet angrily.

"ELSIE!"

Startled, Elsie turned to face her sister with wide eyes. Ruth immediately stepped away while trying to get invisible in front of Eloise.

Normal Eloise was hard to handle, but angry Eloise was impossible to handle.

"Yes, sister?" Elsie asked unsurely.

"How dare you do it?" Eloise's angry eyes had turned red as her chest heaved up and down.

"Wh-what did I do?" Elsie asked in confusion.

She passed a questioning look to Ruth, to which the latter reacted by subtly shaking her head in negation. She was as confused as Elsie.

"What did you do? Let me show you what you did." Eloise marched towards Elsie's wardrobe and opened its doors with force.

She began rummaging through her dresses, which were lined perfectly, tossing them everywhere.

Ruth pursed her lips as she thought it was an invasion of privacy, and Eloise should at least have asked Elsie for permission before going through her personal belongings. She would have said it out loud if she were not only a mere maid.

"Sister... do you need anything. I... I can give it to you if you just tell me." Elsie stood up but did not dare to approach her sister to stop her.

Eloise ignored Elsie and kept throwing the things out of the cupboard. Her jewellery dresses everything was scattered on the floor.

"Yes! You hide it here huh?!" Eloise said victoriously and pulled a green dress out of the cupboard.

Ruth sighed that the woman got what she was looking for, or else she would have turned the whole place upside down.

But her moment of relief was short-lived as Eloise faced Elsie with anger.

"You thief! You stole my dress!" Eloise roared, dangling the dress in front of Elsie's face.

Ruth's eyes widened in shock so did Elsie's.

"No sister I did not. This-"

"Yes you did! Do not fool me with your tears, Elsie. You are not a kid anymore. How dare you steal my dress? Tell me!" Eloise shook Elsie's shoulders.

"Sister, I did not steal it. Please believe me! I get it from the tailor. Trust me!" Elsie's eyes teared up as she pleaded.

"But you knew that I liked this dress first. Then why did you take it?"

Ruth was astonished hearing Eloise's argument. 'Really woman?' She wanted to yell at her.

Eloise was telling Elsie that she was not a kid anymore only a minute ago, and now she was acting like one.

"You told me that you only need five dresses and you chose them. This one was not included in it as it could not fit you. So... so I thought..."

"So you thought you can take it without my knowledge!"

Elsie did not know how to calm down her sister. She tried desperately, but her sister was not ready to buy anything that she said.

"Oh now I get it! You took this dress because it is Lester's favourite colour, did not you?"

"Sister!" Elsie's eyes widened.

"You knew if I wore this dress then Lester would definitely like it. So you took this dress only to impress Lester. Is not this right Elsie?"

Ruth had enough of this nonsense. As Elsie was in no state of defending herself, Ruth stepped in.

"Pardon me for interrupting Lady Eloise. But Lady Elsie had no such intentions. I was there with her when she chose this dress. If it would have fit you well then she would not have taken it for herself." Ruth said as calmly and politely as she could.

But her explanation did not sit well with Eloise. "You filthy poor woman! How dare you talk to me like this? have you forgotten your place? Or should I show it to you?"

Before Ruth responded, Lester and Rees arrived after hearing loud voices. It was Ida, who informed them about it when she sensed that the situation was about to go out of control.

Ida stood in the corner silently. She wished Ruth would not have butted in the fight between the two sisters. And now that it had happened, she waited in anticipation for the consequences.

"What is going on here?" Lester's voice boomed in the room.

The women turned to him in surprise. The first thing that Lester noticed was tears in Elsie's eyes. Instinctively his feet turned in her direction, but when he was only steps away from her, he was attacked by someone's hug.

He halted in his steps as Eloise clung to him as her life depended on it. She started sobbing loudly, and To Ruth's surprise, tears made their way out of her eyes.

Lester, torn, gave a helpless look to Elsie. Ruth noticed how Elsie's face pained, even more, when Eloise hugged Lester. Ruth had grown closer to Elsie after these days and felt bad for the woman. She stepped near her and touched her hand warmly.

Elsie passed a thankful yet sad smile, but her eyes kept running back to her sister and her mate.

Rees caught Ruth's eyes, and he could tell how angry she was. It was hard to get Ruth angry, but when she became that it was difficult to calm her down. He raised his brow questioningly, to which she responded by pursing her lips while glaring at Eloise.

"Eloise, please calm down! What happened?" Lester held her in his arms, trying to make her stop crying.

He tried reaching Elsie through the mind link, but she had closed it the time he hugged Eloise.

"Lester... I..." Eloise broke into another loud sob.

"Tell me Eloise."

"You... you will not believe me. I know!" She wailed.

Lester tried pulling away, but she tightened her hold on him.

"I will. I promise I will believe you but first tell me what happened." Lester tried anything that would make her pull away from him.

And his trick worked as Eloise freed him and took a small step back to keep enough distance between their bodies that would allow them to look at each other.

Little did Lester know that he was the one tricked by this smart woman.

"Elsie... Elsie stole my dress, Lester." She told in between her cries.

"What?"

It was clear from Lester's tone that he did not believe it was true.

"Yes. She stole this dress. I liked this dress first and wanted to buy it but she stole it from me."

Lester looked at Elsie, who avoided his gaze.

"And this piece of shit here... she raised her voice at me and insulted me." Eloise told angrily and started crying again.

That took both Lester and Rees by surprise.

"She insulted ME, Lester. Can you beliieve it? And Elsie... she did not stop her or even reprimand her maid for talking back to her elder sister like this. She enjoyed her servant telling me that I am a lier."

"You are lier Lady Eloise when you are manupulating the facts!" Ruth did not realise when the words flew out of her mouth.

Rees's eyes widened in shock. He signalled Ruth to shut up, but Ruth was too angry to notice it.

"Enough!" Lester's commanding voice boomed loudly.

"Miss Moore, you do not have any right to call Eloise a lier. She is a O'Dell. Do I need to remind you who they are?" Lester asked darkly.

Instead of feeling intimidated by his warning, Ruth's anger bubbled up some more.

"No, Lord Wright. You do not need to remind me who the O'Dells are. And as much as Lady Eloise belongs to this family, Lady Elsie does too.

If I can not call Lady Eloise lier, then she can not call Lady Elsie a thief too!"

Ruth was not ready to back down. She had seen how rudely Eloise behaved with her younger sister. She had observed their strained relationship where Eloise did not miss a single chance of dominating Elsie.

She insulted her in front of servants, call her names, ignores her opinions, select only good things for herself and leave the rest for Elsie.

Ruth was a single child, and she knew how it felt. She could not understand how a sister behaves so wrongly with others.

And today Eloise had crossed her boundaries. Ruth did not know why Elsie did not stand up for herself but if she could not, then Ruth was ready to do that for her.

Rees gulped nervously thinking, Thea was indeed rubbing on her!