Chapter 1Sienna
My Fiancé's AI called my bestie"Mom" and me "Servant".
Blake built an AI assistant named Lemon and made it part of our lives.
But it seemed to have it out for me.
I was allergic to seafood, yet it kept serving me seafood.
I was always cold, but it insisted on keeping the AC at 61°F.
Even when I tried to buy a purse, it would cancel my payment.
I told Blake to fix it, but he just frowned.
"Stop being so dramatic. Lemon is my life's work. There's nothing wrong with it."
Then my best friend Vivian returned from abroad and moved in with us.
She worked in AI, too. One day, she and Blake argued over an algorithm.
"Vivian, are you seriously that stupid?"
Blake teased, pinching her nose. "Even Sienna, who went to some no-name college, knows you're wrong!"
Vivian bit his wrist. "You asshole! You're the one who begged me to come back!"
I was about to intervene when Lemon chimed in.
"Uh-oh! Mommy and Daddy are fighting! Vivian is always right! Blake, apologize to Mommy!"
Mommy. Daddy.
It suddenly hit me.
The seafood lover. The one who liked the AC at 61°F.
That had always been Vivian.
Blake had programmed Lemon to recognize her as his wife.
"Lemon," I asked quietly, "who am I?"
"Identity confirmed. Sienna's role: Daddy and Mommy's servant."
I burst out laughing, tears streaming down my face.
...
"Ow! Vivian! What are you, a dog?"
Blake glared at the bite mark on his wrist, then lunged at Vivian and pinned her to the couch, threatening to tickle her.
"You're the dog, Blake!"
Vivian smacked him with a throw pillow.
"If I weren't worried you'd go broke and leave Sienna high and dry, I wouldn't have come back to help your sorry ass!"
They kept teasing and shoving each other around like a couple of kids, completely forgetting I was even there.
Then Lemon's camera started flashing.
A piercing alarm instantly filled the room.
"Second warning! Blake Wilson, stop bullying Mommy!"
"Apologize to Mommy in thirty seconds, or further action will be taken!"
Blake rolled his eyes.
"Okay, okay! Turn off the damn alarm, Lemon! I'm sorry, Vivian!"
He had to shout it three times before Lemon finally went quiet.
I stood there, completely frozen.
Whenever Blake and I argued, Lemon would pressure ME into apologizing first.
I'd spent years feeling hurt, thinking Lemon had a bug in its programming.
Now I finally understood.
To Lemon, I was just a servant.
Masters didn't apologize to servants.
I took a shaky breath. Looked straight at Blake.
"Why is Vivian Lemon's mom?"
Blake barely glanced at me.
"Vivian helped me a lot when I was developing Lemon. That's all."
My throat tightened.
"After all these years, Blake, did it never once cross your mind to make me the mom?"
Chapter 2
Sienna
For three years, Lemon had made my life a living hell.
On freezing winter nights, it shut off the heat and hot water.
Claiming I didn't have permission to use them.
When my stomach was acting up, it threw my medicine in the trash.
When I stayed up all night finishing a work project, it cut the power and Wi-Fi.
All my work was gone.
Every time I complained, Blake blamed me for being too sensitive.
"Sienna, I know you didn't go to some fancy college. But it doesn't mean you can't figure out how to use AI. Stop blaming Lemon for everything."
Now, I looked him dead in the eye.
"I hate Lemon. I'm shutting it down. Right now."
I reached for its power button.
Blake's face darkened.
"You're really going to make such a big scene over an AI?!"
Vivian grabbed my wrist.
"Sienna, don't get the wrong idea. Lemon's like our baby. Calling me Mommy doesn't mean anything!"
I tried to pull away.
Lemon's voice suddenly turned cold.
"Warning. Servant Sienna is hurting Mommy!"
Its mechanical arm shot out and slammed into me, knocking me to the floor.
My forehead struck the edge of the coffee table, splitting the skin.
My ankle twisted beneath me, swelling almost immediately.
Blake didn't even look at me.
He rushed straight to Vivian.
"Are you okay, Viv?"
"Thank God for Lemon! I knew that security feature would come in handy!"
Vivian rubbed her wrist and gave me a wounded look.
"Sienna, please don't blame Lemon!"
"You're only an assistant. You have no idea how much Blake cares about his work!"
Blake finally looked at me, only to snap,
"Sienna, calm down and go take a breather."
I pressed a hand to my bleeding forehead.
Somehow, his words hurt worse than the cut.
My head was pounding.
I asked Lemon to unlock the cabinet where we kept the first-aid kit.
"Access denied."
I almost laughed.
In the end, I limped to the nearest drugstore myself and get some gauze and antiseptic.
But when I tried to pay, my card got declined.
Then my phone buzzed with a message from Lemon.
"Your joint account with Blake has been frozen at his request."
"To get access back, send the lady of the house a 3,000-word apology by midnight."
Blake texted me, too.
"You were out of line with Vivian. Just apologize and let it go."
I had no choice. I did.
I sat on the curb in the freezing cold, struggling to type with numb fingers.
I didn't stop until the whole damn apology was done.
Snow was coming down hard.
By the time my account was unlocked, I could barely feel my hands or feet.
I grabbed the supplies and limped home.
I pressed my thumb to the fingerprint scanner, but the door still wouldn't open.
Finally, Lemon spoke.
"Sienna's access level is lower than Ball's."
"You may enter once Ball's playtime is over."
Ball was Vivian's dog. He'd never liked me.
Every time I came near him, he'd bark his head off.
I let out a bitter laugh.
So in Blake's world, even a dog came before me.
I stood shivering in the snow until Blake finally opened the door.
The moment he saw me, he pulled me into his arms.
"Why would you go out in this weather?"
He tucked my frozen hands inside his jacket, then handed me a steaming mug.
"Here. I made you some hot tea. It'll warm you up."
I took a sip and nearly spit it out.
Chapter 3
Sienna
The tea was loaded with ginger.
I hated ginger.
Blake softened his voice, trying to coax me into drinking it.
"I used Lemon's recipe. See? It comes in handy. You need to stop looking for reasons to hate it."
I didn't need to ask.
Vivian was the one who loved ginger tea.
When I didn't respond, Blake finally gave in.
"You want Lemon to call you Mom? Fine. I'll change it after Vivian leaves. Lemon can only have one mom at a time. I don't want to make her feel unwelcome while she's staying here."
Funny. Vivian was only staying for three months.
Yet Blake couldn't bear the thought of making her uncomfortable.
But I'd lived in my own home with maid-level access for three years.
And he'd never once cared about my feelings.
"Forget it. I'm fine with things as they are."
I kept my voice calm.
It didn't matter anymore.
Then I dumped the tea into the sink.
A few drops splashed onto the papers Vivian had left on the table.
"Sienna, no!"
Vivian gasped.
"What the hell is wrong with you? I've spent days putting that presentation together, and I don't have a backup!"
Her eyes filled with tears as she turned to Blake.
His face went cold.
He grabbed the mug and threw the rest of the hot tea straight into my face.
My skin burned.
Bright red patches appeared almost instantly.
"Had enough yet?" he snapped.
"Vivian's been your best friend for ten years, and you're treating her like this over an AI? When are you going to stop acting like a child?"
I looked at Vivian clutching her papers and fighting back tears. I almost laughed.
Ten years. So they both remembered that.
When Vivian's parents divorced, she buried herself in schoolwork and had no friends.
I was the one who stood up for her when other kids bullied her.
When we got to college, she struggled with her classes and failed more than a few.
I introduced her to Blake because they were both passionate about AI.
He helped her catch up.
And this was how she repaid me.
My best friend. My fiancé. Ten years down the drain.
I was done with both of them.
I didn't sleep a wink that night.
The next morning, I barely made it into the office before I was told to report to the conference room.
"We've spent five years developing our newest AI assistant, Lemon. We're launching it at the end of this month," Blake announced into the microphone.
"Today, I'll show you what it can do using the Lemon prototype at my house."
I sat there, barely paying attention.
Until he played a video of Lemon protecting Vivian.
Onscreen, Blake and Vivian sat together on the couch.
I was sprawled on the floor beside them, looking pathetic, with a label identifying me as "Servant Sienna."
"This is Lemon's protection feature. It steps in to keep its owner safe," Blake explained.
Whispers broke out across the room.
"Oh my God, that's Blake and Vivian! Lemon calls them Mom and Dad. I knew those two had something going on!"
"I heard Blake named it Lemon because Vivian loves lemon water."
"Aw... They're both AI experts and went to the same school. Talk about a perfect match!"
"Am I the only one who thinks that maid needs to learn some boundaries?"
"Wait. Isn't that Sienna from Marketing?"
Suddenly, every eye in the room was on me.
The looks ranged from curious to downright disgusted.
"She's living with Blake and picking on Vivian? What a homewrecker!"
"No wonder she keeps finding excuses to go to his office."
