Skylar took Riley to the back door meant for staff.
"Take an apron, a book, and a pen and go attend to customers outside," a lady there instructed.
"Like I told you," Skylar whispered to Riley as they collected the materials, "they can't even recognise their own staff."
"We just have to collect orders, right?"
"If it's for drinks, give the orders to the barman. And if it's for food, give the orders to the chefs." Skylar pointed out the locations of the barman and chefs as she explained.
Riley nodded and walked to a table with no food or drinks.
"Good evening, sirs. Can I have your order?" she said, the same way she usually did at The Verdant Plate.
The men gave her a strange look, which she soon understood when another waitress arrived with their order.
"Oh, my bad," she said to them and walked away.
The lady who had served them approached Riley and whispered, "That's not how we do it here. You don't ask for orders. They call a waitress or waiter if they need one."
"So I basically just walk around and wait to be called?"
"Yeah. Now go out there and don't blow it."
Riley did as she was told until a man called her. When she turned to look at him, she froze for a second.
He was one of the two founders of BlueCrest Co, the company they were investigating.
She took the order like any normal person would and walked away, not taking notice of the person seated beside him.
It was when she returned with the order that she noticed him.
The man whose house she was meant to go to, disguised as a maid.
Now, it wasn't the sight of him that made her stand stiff. It was his face.
The funny part was that he looked at her with a puzzled expression because she was holding his drink and refused to let go. That was until he dragged it from her hand.
"Girl, I get you. The sight of that man can make anyone drool," another waitress whispered to her. "But he's gay. That's his boyfriend." She pointed to the man seated beside him, the co-founder of BlueCrest Tech.
---
"I got sixty dollars in total today for serving just two orders."
"I got a hundred. I served five orders."
"I got fifty for serving one order."
Everyone announced their profits as they made their way out of the bar to head home.
Riley looked at the chicken change in her hand. She had served two orders and got only thirty dollars.
"That's poor. Very poor," Skylar said. "Who did you serve that gave you that for a tip? Did you even collect a tip from the second person?"
It was then Riley remembered she hadn't collected payment from the first guys.
She took the card machine from the barman and ran to their table, but they were gone.
After asking more than a dozen people, she later spotted one of the men outside the bar, standing by a car.
Even if he wasn't the one who placed the order, she went to him for payment. Surely he could cover for his friend.
Riley tried to avoid looking up while speaking to him, but that would have seemed rude. So she stared. He probably wouldn't remember her face anyway. What was there to lose?
She boldly admired nature's work on his face, wondering why it wasn't illegal for a man to have extremely pink lips.
The man didn't seem to mind.
"Could you be less perverted?" he said.
Riley's ears stood at the sound of his voice. She imagined him singing a lullaby with it. The kind of voice that could make you dream of fairies.
She blushed in embarrassment, ran his card through the machine, and left in a hurry before her humiliation doubled.
---
On her way home with Skylar, she spotted him again.
Skylar was telling her about incidents that had happened at the bar and who caused them when Riley, absent-mindedly, turned and jammed eyes with the CEO from earlier.
It was an awkward gaze. Riley remembered the embarrassing incident the moment she saw his face.
He didn't look away. Neither did she.
Riley was about to turn away when her hand acted on its own.
What she did shocked even her.
"Is there a problem, Riley? You've been staring at that car for some minutes now," Skylar said.
"I don't think it's that long."
---
Nathaniel got home a few minutes to midnight. The butler was still awake, waiting for his return.
"Is Melanie sleeping?" That was the first thing he asked.
"I don't know, sir. She locked herself in your room some hours ago and refused to come out," the butler replied, taking his boss's suitcase.
Nathaniel asked nothing else. He went straight to his room. The door had an electronic lock, so he could access it even if it was locked from inside.
He looked at his sleeping daughter with rare tenderness. He brushed a strand of hair from her face and picked her up in a bridal carry, taking her to her room.
He laid her down gently and tucked her in.
Then he studied the feminine replica of his own face.
He was glad she took nothing from her mother. Except her boldness. That definitely wasn't from him.
Speaking of her mother, it seemed the woman had disappeared from the face of the earth. When Melanie started school, he had tried looking for her. Melanie asked too many questions about her mother, and since he couldn't answer them, he withdrew her from school.
She was home-schooled instead. It was for the better.
Melanie turned in her sleep.
Consciousness snapped into Nathaniel's mind.
What are you doing, man? You're not supposed to get attached.
He reminded himself of his rule: show no affection, show no emotion at all.
Call him a bad father if you like, but it was for Melanie's survival. He didn't want his enemies using her to threaten him again.
It was his grandfather who brought him into this life. And while he searched for a way out, he refused to let his family suffer for it.
---
Riley woke up to a walkie-talkie message from Mrs Miller.
"Miss Knox, the site has been updated. I expect you to have applied for the position already. Currently, you are the one holding this mission from starting. Remember, crime does not wait for you before it happens. You know the right thing to do, Miss Knox. Do it. I expect a response soonest. Take care."
The message ended with a beep.
Riley stared at the ceiling, unsure whether to feel pressured, angry, or afraid.
She didn't know how to react.