“What have you been eating?” he asked.
“Sometimes the neighbor, Mrs. Clara, gives me a sandwich when she sees me outside,” Emma said. “Or I drink water from the garden hose.”
Daniel quickly found milk and cookies and set them on the table.
Emma drank the milk eagerly.
Just then two men walked into the kitchen. One of them was wearing Daniel’s robe.
They froze when they saw him.
“Uh… sorry, man,” one said awkwardly. “Vanessa never mentioned a husband.”
“What do you mean she never mentioned?”
“We paid to be here,” the younger man replied casually. “She charges extra for hosting clients in a rich guy’s mansion.”
Daniel felt the ground disappear beneath him.
“You paid?”
“Yeah. A hundred each.”
At that moment Vanessa walked into the kitchen wearing a thin nightgown.
When she saw Daniel, all color drained from her face.
“Daniel… I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
The two men hurriedly dressed and left without another word.
Daniel stood there silently with Vanessa and Emma.
“So,” he said coldly, “you’ve been charging strangers to sleep with you in my house.”
“I can explain—”
“And my daughter?” he interrupted. “Where was my daughter during all of this?”
Emma stepped forward holding her glass.