A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 501

Starla simply watched her, her gaze cool and silent.

Sally, hearing the commotion, came out from the pet enclosures. "Mrs. Yelchin!"

Her heart was in her throat, terrified of being implicated for helping Brinley.

Starla’s eyes still held a hint of a smile as she asked gently, "What's going on here?"

"I... I'm not helping her anymore! I'll get back to my own work right away!"

With that, Sally practically fled. In truth, she hadn't done much. The enclosures were huge, and she hadn't even finished a quarter of the work.

Starla raised an eyebrow and glanced at Brinley.

"I'll do it, alright? I'll do it!" Brinley snapped, a hint of grievance in her gritted teeth.

"These animals stink," Starla remarked. "After you're done cleaning, make sure to give every single one of them a bath."

Didn't she just love pets? Well, now she could wait on them hand and foot until she dropped from exhaustion.

Hearing that she had to bathe all the pets, Brinley’s face turned a sickly shade of green.

"Are you not going?"

Brinley was speechless. Starla showed no sign of leaving. Did she intend to watch her do this filthy work? Was she deliberately trying to humiliate her?

"You're not going? In that case..."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Brinley cried out before Starla could finish her sentence. Whatever came next was surely another threat, and she couldn't bear it anymore. Being manipulated by Starla to this extent was breaking her. Any more threats, and she feared she would snap.

Finally, Brinley resigned herself to the task. Cleaning the pet enclosures was likely the dirtiest job at the Yelchin estate. She fought back waves of nausea as she began to clean, while Starla stood watching from a short distance outside the gate.

Their roles had been completely reversed. Before, Brinley had used a dog to taunt Starla. Now, Starla was using these creatures as her instrument of punishment. The difference was, Starla hadn't suffered any real harm from the previous taunt. But now, Brinley was being forced to endure this punishment in its full, disgusting reality.

"Get lost!"

The maid's patience had run out before Brinley could finish pleading. The stench from the uncleaned enclosures was unbearable even from a distance.

"Get back to cleaning and stop wasting time!" the maid snapped.

Brinley wanted to try one more time, but seeing the maid was completely unmovable, she finally gave up. Furious, she turned and stormed back into the enclosures. The combined smell of animal waste hit her, and she retched.

"Ugh—"

She truly couldn't stand the smell. She was a fool. Why had she ever told Faraday to get her so many animals? Now, even if she wanted to get rid of them, she had no say in the matter.

Starla was gone, but her people were still there. So even though Brinley was burning with rage and wanted to scream curses at her, she could only do so in her mind.

When Darleen and Xenia learned that Brinley had been sent to clean the pet enclosures, a flicker of satisfaction crossed both their faces.