The Housemaid Is Watching
by Freida McFadden
Contents
Chapter 40
Overview
Millie wakes from a drowning nightmare to find Enzo missing from their bed and returning home in his truck at 3 a.m. Confronted, Enzo shifts from a flimsy excuse to claiming he drove around the neighborhood alone, but Millie can’t tell if he’s lying. The scent of another woman’s perfume on him turns Millie’s unease into a sharper fear that Enzo is hiding something.
Summary
Millie jolts awake at three in the morning drenched in sweat from a nightmare in which a hand yanks her ankle and drags her under the ocean.
A week after the beach incident, Millie feels the household has been off-balance, especially because Enzo has been distant and distracted. In the moonlit bedroom, Millie realizes Enzo is not in bed and scans the bathroom, but he is nowhere inside the suite.
Millie then hears a car engine and sees Enzo’s truck pulling into their driveway, indicating he has been out of the house. Enzo creeps upstairs trying not to wake her, but Millie confronts him as soon as he opens the bedroom door.
Enzo first claims he only went downstairs for water, but Millie points out he is dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and socks—clothes he would not sleep in—and that she saw his truck returning. Pressed, Enzo says he couldn’t sleep and drove around the neighborhood alone, and Millie struggles to tell whether he is lying.
Enzo gets back into bed and urges Millie to sleep, but Millie cannot relax because she smells another woman’s perfume on him, intensifying her suspicion that he was not alone.
Who Appears
- MillieWakes from a drowning nightmare; confronts Enzo’s late-night absence and suspects infidelity.
- EnzoReturns home at 3 a.m.; offers shifting excuses and carries the scent of another woman’s perfume.