Read My Mind, Mr. Sterling

To pay off my dad's massive debts, I became the personal maid to the city's most dangerous billionaire heir. Word on the street was that none of his maids ever lasted more than three months. Serve his soup too hot? Dead. Wear a perfume he hates? Dead. Speak a little too loudly? Dead. To stay alive, I brought a mini battery fan with me the very first day I stepped foot into his mansion. Every single dish that passed through my hands was blown completely cold. His steak was practically frozen solid. *Look, if the steak gets stiff, at least my corpse won't have to!* Little did I know, the billionaire sitting at the dining table could hear my exact thoughts. His hand froze mid-air. "What did you just say?" I deliberately squeezed my vocal cords into the squeakiest, sweetest baby voice I could muster. "I didn't say anything, sir~" *I squeezed my voice so high it's practically ultrasonic. There's no way he can kill me for being too loud now, right?* Julian Sterling stared straight at me, his knuckles turning white around his silver fork. That was the first time I got a clear look at his face. A high, sharp nose bridge, hooded obsidian eyes, and a single, intoxicating beauty mark right beneath his lower lid. *Holy hell, he's gorgeous. A face so hot it would turn straight men insane and cure a woman's hormonal imbalance on the spot! He's literally the cure for clinical depression, an alarm clock for comatose patients, and a miracle for all womankind!!* *I'd marry you in a heartbeat, even if you wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole.* *Clatter.* The fork slipped from his fingers, hitting the mahogany table with a loud crack. Julian stared at me in utter disbelief. The moment I looked back, he jerked his gaze away. The tips of his ears were burning a furious crimson. *Is it that hot in here? Is his blood pressure spiking? He should probably drink some tomato beef soup to cool down.* Awkwardly tugging at his tie, Julian let out an aggressively casual, rehearsed cough. "Go to the kitchen and bring me some tomato soup." He paused, clearing his throat again. "Feeling a bit overheated." *Ha! Called it!* I bowed respectfully. "Right away, sir." Knowing how to read the boss's mind means I'm one step closer to surviving three months and clearing my debt! To pay for my mom's cancer treatments, my dad had drained every single penny we owned. I gave up my scholarship to an Ivy League university just to work odd jobs and save money. Yet the cash I brought in was just a drop in the ocean compared to the mountain of hospital bills. That night, my dad chain-smoked the cheapest pack of cigarettes until dawn—half of them were discarded butts he'd picked off the pavement. With shaking hands, he said to me, "I'm so sorry, Nina." "I had no choice. I took out a loan from loan sharks." Knowing he could never pay it back, he took me and ran. But Julian Sterling's enforcers tracked my mom down to the hospital anyway. The Sterling family ruled both the corporate world and the criminal underworld. To people like them, lives like ours were completely disposable. The lead debt collector pulled out a switchblade and shoved it against my dad's chest. "Pay up, or pay with your life." My mom broke down, screaming that she'd rather pull her own plug and die. Dad's eyes were bloodshot as he rasped, "Take Nina and live. You have to survive." I instantly knew what he was about to do. Right before the blade could pierce through my dad's flesh, I threw myself onto my knees and dropped before Julian Sterling. "Sir! I heard you're looking for a personal maid." I lifted my head to look at him. The man stood against the light, his sharp silhouette cutting through the dim hospital corridor. He was dressed in a bespoke suit without a single wrinkle, looking down coldly at me as I knelt by his polished leather shoes. I tuned out my parents' hysterical sobbing. I threw away every scrap of pride I had clung to for the past eighteen years. Crawling at his feet, I said, "Take me. Use my life to pay their debt." Julian didn't say a word. The frantic thumping of my heart roared in my ears, loud as thunder. *As long as I can survive... as long as they can live...* *I'll do anything.* After what felt like an eternity, I heard a very faint, dry scoff. He said, "Deal."When I returned to the dining room carrying the bowl of tomato soup, Julian was already gone. The butler told me: "Mr. Sterling had urgent business to attend to. Here are the keys to his private suite. Go clean his room." I nodded. Naturally, I didn't forget to take the soup with me to eat later. Luckily, being Julian's personal maid wasn't actually that much physical labor. Once I finished cleaning his suite, I had plenty of free time on my hands. I used those hours to take on freelance essay writing and online tutoring gigs. My mom was still hooked up to IVs, and my dad's hand had been broken by loan sharks, meaning no construction site would hire him. On top of paying off the debt, I had to send them living expenses. I couldn't afford to slack off for a single second. By the time I finished wrapping up my online classes, it was past midnight. I went downstairs to reheat the tomato soup. Just as I stepped into the kitchen, the front door clicked open. A tall silhouette stood framed in the doorway against the moonlight. A heavy, metallic stench of blood hit my nose. Under the dim nightlight, it looked horrifying. My hand trembled, nearly dropping the bowl. Before I could scream, a large, calloused hand clamped tightly over my mouth. "...Don't scream. It's me." Julian's voice was raw and ragged. Rushing over had clearly torn his wound, making him suck in a sharp breath of agony. He collapsed straight toward me, his heavy frame knocking me flat onto the floor. *Thud.* The painful impact I braced for never came. His hand was tucked securely behind my head, cushioning the fall against the hardwood. His lips brushed past my ear, his breath burning hot. Julian let out a stifled groan of pain, slumping weakly against my chest. My pupils contracted in sheer terror. I had heard he was an extreme germaphobe—any maid who dared to brush against his clothes supposedly never lived to see the next sunrise. And now this... The more I spiraled, the harder my chest pounded. My heartbeat was deafening. He let go of me, pushing himself up on shaking arms. Beneath the warm ambient light, I saw his fingers curl tightly into fists. An unmistakable trace of awkward fluster flashed across his dark eyes. "Kill that thought right now." I scrambled upright, my face completely drained of color. Kill what thought? Kill the thought of wanting to stay alive? Julian's brutal methods were legendary; God only knew how he planned to torture me before executing me. *It's over! I'm dead meat! Honestly, I might as well throw myself off a cliff right now!* He stared at me in total shock. "Your feelings for me... are that intense?" I looked up at him, tears welling in my eyes. Seeing his expression darken by the second, my heart sank. I get it. Tonight is my last night on earth. I'm just so sorry to my mom and dad. And to the little stray puppy I've been secretly feeding behind the estate. I closed my eyes, resigning myself to my grim fate. Yet the expected pain never arrived. Instead, a warm, gentle touch brushed against the corner of my eye. Awkwardly and with breathtaking gentleness, Julian was wiping away my tears. The look in his eyes was impossibly complicated. And somehow... filled with tenderness. "I can't give you a stable, safe life." Huh? What is he talking about? Meeting my completely bewildered gaze, he swallowed hard and forced out, "Stop... falling for me like this." "Don't love me." Excuse me??? Every single word was plain English, but why couldn't my brain process them together?! When in the absolute world did I ever show that I was in love with him?! I was so flabbergasted that I literally forgot to cry. Julian stood up, his gaze drifting toward the bowl of tomato soup sitting on the counter. His eyes softened, and he instructed the butler—who had materialized out of nowhere—to carry it up to his bedroom. Watching his retreating back, I sat frozen on the floor. The good news: my life was spared. The bad news: my midnight snack was officially confiscated.Over the next few days, Julian deliberately kept his distance from me. He even reassigned the chores that originally belonged to me over to the butler. Whenever the butler looked at me, his face was a mix of flattering respect and petty resentment. He brought over a tall glass of organic milk. "Mr. Sterling says the staff look too scrawny, as if the Sterling estate can't afford to feed its workers." "You are required to drink this milk, Nina. You in particular. Drink it, and then finish this imported A5 Wagyu ribeye." The butler also claimed that Julian found my lack of a college degree embarrassing—saying it would humiliate him if people knew his personal maid was uneducated. So, he hired top-tier private tutors to give me cram sessions. He even signed me up to retake my college entrance exams. Every word out of his mouth screamed that he hated my guts and couldn't stand me. Yet every single thing he actually did felt like... Stop. Don't be delusional. My goal is crystal clear. Survive, pay off the debt, and run like hell. Fleeting, romantic illusions are luxuries a girl like me can never afford. I pressed a hand against my racing heart. Then, I furiously knocked out ten practice SAT exam booklets. I had just packed up my test papers when the heavy double doors of the foyer slammed open. A drop-dead gorgeous woman strutted in wearing head-to-toe Chanel Haute Couture, trailed by seven or eight personal assistants, each carrying a dozen luxury shopping bags. She slid off her oversized designer sunglasses, sank onto the plush sofa, and arched an eyebrow at me. "So you're the personal maid Julian keeps around?" She looked me up and down with blatant disgust. "Instead of doing your job, all you do is plot how to seduce him so you can climb into high society?" Chloe Sterling snatched the test papers straight out of my hands, letting out a mocking scoff. "You haven't even gone to college, and you actually have the nerve to pull this stunt?" She slapped the stack of papers right across my face. I didn't say a word. I just knelt down, reaching to pick them up. Suddenly, a sharp stiletto stamped down hard onto the back of my hand. Chloe gestured to one of her maids. "Get over here." She twisted her heel deliberately, grinding into my skin. "Since you owe money to the Sterlings, you better do some real work for once." "Here. Wash her feet." The razor-sharp stiletto felt like it was drilling straight through my flesh. The pain made my breath hitch in my throat. She wore a triumphant smirk, waiting to watch me break down in humiliation. Washing another maid's feet was indeed degrading. But I was poor. Dirt poor. At this point in my life, did I even have the luxury of human dignity? Besides, Chloe was the Sterling family's legitimate heiress. Julian was the adopted son. Even though he held all the real power in the Sterling empire now, he had always indulged his spoiled sister. I was just a lowly maid. I had zero right to say no. Chloe shot a look at her assistant. The maid kicked off her designer sneakers and swung her bare foot right toward my chest to kick me down. I lost my balance, tumbling backward. Instinctively, my hand flailed to grab onto anything nearby—only for a strong, warm palm to catch my wrist mid-air. A rich scent of cedar and smoky wood enveloped my senses. "Chloe Sterling, is this the kind of manners you were raised with?" "How dare you lay a finger on my person?" My heart skipped a violent beat. A tangled rush of terrifying relief and panic flooded through me. I can't feel this way. I shouldn't feel this way. I only came here to clear a debt. To force down the wild fluttering in my chest, I desperately forced myself to recall stupid internet memes. *Say no more, King! Take the entire tri-state area, it's all yours!* I failed to notice the sudden, complicated glimmer that flashed across Julian's eyes. The maid scrambled to her feet, shaking with terror. "I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Sterling..." Julian's voice was arctic. "Get the hell out." Chloe leaned back against the sofa cushions, eyeing him coldly. "Julian, I was just telling the help to give a foot rub. Why are you so worked up? Or are you taking it personally?" "Everything you have was given to you by my father. If he hadn't pitied you and adopted you off the streets, you would have died in a ditch years ago." "What makes you any different from these servants? Did you really think that just because I call you 'brother', you're actually a real Sterling?" Julian's face darkened instantly. He pulled out a titanium black card and whipped it straight across Chloe's cheek. "Is that enough money for you?" "Take what you want, and shut your damn mouth."The edge of the black card sliced cleanly across her temple. Beads of bright crimson blood welled up immediately. As an heiress who had been spoiled rotten since birth, she had rarely even suffered a minor scrape. The moment her manicured fingers touched the sticky blood, she let out an ear-piercing shriek and bolted out the door in hysterics. The heavy front door slammed shut with a deafening bang. I looked at Julian awkwardly. "Sir... aren't you going to go after Miss Chloe?" Julian turned around to look at me, his dark brows knitting slightly. "You belong to me. Why do you care about her?" It felt as though a pebble had been tossed into the quiet lake of my heart, sending soft ripples outward. A flush of heat crept up the edges of my ears. I heard him repeat, his voice low and steady, "You're mine. So don't be afraid." ... Ever since that afternoon, my heart would race whenever Julian was near. I started actively avoiding his eyes. Fortunately for my sanity, an urgent overseas assignment came up, taking him away for four or five days. He even granted me a short break. Sighing in relief, I prepared to head to the hospital to visit my parents. The second I stepped off the estate grounds, a cloth soaked in chemicals was clamped over my mouth and nose, and I was dragged violently into a black SUV. When I finally opened my eyes, I was chained inside a damp, subterranean basement. Heavy iron shackles bound my wrists and ankles. The air was thick with the stench of mildew and rot. A few decaying corpses lay discarded in the far corners. The nauseating smell made my stomach heave violently. The sharp click of designer heels echoed through the stone corridor. I lifted my head to see Mrs. Sterling. Despite her age, her face was impeccably preserved, twisted now into a sneer of pure contempt. "So this is the cheap little stray who seduced Julian?" My heart lurched, but a tight gag in my mouth prevented me from uttering a sound. "Do you know why Julian went through personal maids so quickly?" "Because every time a woman harbored inappropriate ideas about him, I took care of them for him." "Later on, he pretended to execute them, but secretly gave them cash and let them escape with their lives. I merely chose to turn a blind eye." My breath hitched in my throat. The real monster pulling the strings behind the scenes wasn't Julian—it was his adoptive mother! She snapped her manicured fingers. Several stone-faced women strode in, clutching long, gleaming steel embroidery needles. "But you, you miserable bitch... you actually made him lay a hand on my daughter! His future bride!" "Do it. Carve up her pretty little face. Let's see how she plans to seduce Julian without it!" Terror crashed over me like a tidal wave. Watching the sharp, silver needles gleam closer and closer, my body shook uncontrollably. Suddenly, Julian's deep voice echoed in my head: *You're mine. Don't be afraid.* *Liar. I'm scared to death right now!* *If I could do this all over again, I swear to God I would never be a maid!!* I shut my eyes in sheer despair. Yet the expected, piercing agony never came. Instead, a soft chuckle broke the silence. Julian arched an eyebrow, cleanly severing the iron chains around my wrists with a tactical blade. Looking down at me, he murmured, "If you don't want to be my maid, what do you want to be?"