"Alfred, I need you to do something for me" said Natasha as she stopped tickling Joy and she looked up at Alfred.
"Okay Madam, what is it?" asked Alfred as he looked at Natasha.
"I want you you to deduct the pay of one certain maid" she said.
"Can you do that for me?" asked Natasha.
"Of course" said Alfred as he nodded, Natasha was the woman of the house anyway, so it was only natural for her to do as she pleased in the house.
"Good, the maid named Lexi will not receive her pay for the next three months" said Natasha with a cold look.
"Alright Madam" said Alfred as he did not ask any questions.
Alfred had seen Lexi running away and crying, she looked horrible, and to be honest he felt no sympathy for her at all ,she had been overstepping her boundaries for a long time now, she also had a big mouth, she that meant that she had said something that made their usually calm and relaxed Madam, to give her a severe punishment.
"Are you not going to ask me why I am doing such?" asked Natasha as she wanted to make sure Alfred knew the reason that she was doing this, because it would be easy for people to brand her as wicked if they did not know what truly happened.
"No Madam, I trust you and your judgment" said Alfred calmly.
"You would not just treat someone unfairly out of the blue, the person had to do something very wrong for you to go as far as to punish them" said Alfred.
"Thank you Alfred" said Natasha as she smiled, it felt good to know that somebody trusted you even though no one else did.
"Besides, I know that Lexi can have a sharp tongue, and she is also ill mannered" he said, there was no way that Alfred was going to cover up for Lexi.
He had been warning her about her attitude for some time now, and she failed to listen to him, now she had reaped the fruit of her actions, she should just consider herself lucky that the Madam did not just fire her instead, she could have not even let her retain her job.
"You are right about that" said Natasha.
"She has a big mouth, she is rude, incompetent and most of she is a brat" said Natasha coldly.
"I agree with you on that Madam" said Alfred.
"She needs to be punished, maybe then she will realize that she should learn to keep her mouth shut" said Natasha.
"Madam I am surprised that you just did not fire her, after all it is not like she does not deserve it" said Alfred.
It was true that Alfred was the head of all the staff in the house, but he had no really power to fire them, as long as they did their work well and they did as they were told, no matter how rude they were, he could not fire them, it was only if they over stepped their boundaries like Lexi did, could he get the Madam and Master of the house to fire them, that was just how things worked here.
"I am not that wicked, she said that she still has family to take care of, so let her work" said Natasha leisurely.
"But she needs to learn that you need to be grateful for everything you have, and you need to be respectful to everyone, no matter how old or rich they are" she said.
"Well alright then Madam" said Alfred as he agreed with her, because left for him, he would have fired her regardless, but that's what made the Madam different, she had a good heart.
"I will inform the accountant of your decision" said Alfred.
"Thank you Alfred" said Natasha.
"It is my pleasure Madam" said Alfred.
"So my baby how was playing with Alfred outside?" asked Natasha as she turned with a smile to look down at Joy who was enjoying being carried.
"It was very fun mommy" said Joy as she squished her mom's cheeks with her tiny hands.
"Oh is that so my baby?" asked Natasha as she laughed.
"Yes Mommy, Alfred, let me play with the flowers in the garden, and he told me the names of the flowers" said Joy.
"Oh really my baby??" asked Natasha as she laughed, she grabbed Joy's wandering hands with her own hand, and she pretended to eat them.
"Ahh mommy" said Joy as she laughed and she tried to pull her hand away but her mother was just too strong.
"You don't want me to eat your fingers?" asked Natasha and Joy nodded.
"Yes Mommy, fingers are not for eating" said Joy
"Oh they aren't?" asked Natasha and Joy nodded.
"Mhmm" said Joy.
"Oh then what are they for my baby?" asked Natasha.
"They are for counting Mommy, and also you can use them to eat, but do not eat them" said Joy.
"Ohhh you are a little professor aren't you my baby" said Natasha as she let go of Joy's hands and she tickled Joy and Joy laughed.
"Alfred thank you for taking Joy out" said Natasha as she turned to look at Alfred who was standing and smiling.
"It's my pleasure Madam, who would not want to spend time with a girl as cute as Joy" said Alfred as he smiled.
"Haha" said Natasha as she smiled back at him.
"Well Madam if you would excuse me, I have somewhere else to be" said Alfred.
"Oh that is alright Alfred" said Natasha.
"Joy say goodbye to Alfred" said Natasha as she looked down at Joy.
"Goodbye Alfred" said Joy as she turned to look at Alfred.
"Goodbye Joy" said Alfred as he smiled and waved, as he walked away.
...
"Hey, I was wondering if you have the..." said Mason as he walked into the kitchen.
"What happened to you??" asked Mason as he caught sight of Lexi who was crying in the kitchen, he rushed to her.
Amalia gave Mason a hard glare and he stepped back, and walked the other way.
"What happened to you Lexi?" he asked as he was sure that he was a far distance away from Amalia.
"She had refused to tell me anything too" said Amalia as she calmed down and she went back to looking at Lexi worriedly.
"She just came in here crying" said Amalia
"Hey Lexi, what's wrong??" asked Mason as he walked closer to Lexi.
"I... I... I" said Lexi as she could not control her crying.
"You what??" asked Amalia and Mason in a chorus.
"I am not going to get paid for the next three months" said Lexi as she cried even more.
"What??" asked Amalia.
"That is impossible what happened?" asked Mason.
"The madam said so herself" said Lexi as she cried.
"That Madam truly is wicked" said Mason.
"Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute" said Amalia.
"The Madam would not just wake up one morning and decide to pick on one of the maids" said Amalia as she was sure of that fact, the Madam never spoke to them, she always allowed them to do their work.
"What did you do Lexi??" asked Amalia as she was sure that her friend was the one at fault.
"Well I... I" said Lexi as she cried.
"I was rude to her, and I said some things, some very rude things" she said as she cried.
"And she decided to deduct my pay" said Lexi as she cried.
"Lexi!!" said Mason and Amalia at the same time, they were in disbelief, but then again Lexi was the only one that would dare be so stupid as to do such.
"I know that I am wrong, but, please, I cannot get paid, I need the money" said Lexi as she sniffed.
Amalia felt bad for Lexi, even though she deserved it, but it was true that Lexi needed the money, her parents were old and she had younger siblings to take care of.
In fact Amalia was the one who got Lexi this job, because she knew how hard things were for Lexi.
"Lexi, count yourself lucky that you did not get fired" said Mason as he could not believe this.
"Exactly" said Amalia as she agreed with Mason.
"I know, I know, but it was a mistake, it will never happen again" said Lexi as she cried.
"What is going on here??" asked Alfred as he walked into the kitchen.
"Oh Alfred" said Lexi as she rushed to Alfred.
"Please, please help me to beg the Madam, please" she said as she begged him with tears filled in her eyes.
"*Sigh* I am sorry Lexi, but I cannot help you, the Madam has already made her decision" said Alfred
"You forget that I am also a worker here just like you" said Alfred.
"But pleasee" said Lexi as she cried even more.
"That is enough Lexi" said Amalia as she did not like seeing Lexi embarrass herself like this.
"Alfred can I please take her to her room?" asked Amalia as she grabbed Lexi's hand, while she was still crying.
"You can go ahead" said Alfred.
"Thank you Alfred" said Amalia as she pulled Lexi along before she embarrassed herself even more.
A big Thank you to Tiphe_Olaoluwa and Tafi_Api who support this book with power stones haha