Bleeding Out In Dreamland - Patrick T. McConville

Paulina Riquelme rushes to her bartender job in the midst of another seventy hour week with the hope of eventually affording competent legal assistance for the sake of regaining joint custody of her two year old son.  

Waiting for her at the bar, Keiko Miyazaki introduces herself and hands her an unsent letter from a previous romantic interest of Paulina. Once she has read the message, Keiko offers her an employment opportunity that will pay well in addition to legal assistance Paulina could never otherwise hope to attain. Paulina, accompanied by her roommate, visits the Miyazaki estate, to hear the detailed terms, noticing the massive and well-hidden land employs a small army of Japanese born servants. 

Once alone with Paulina, Keiko lays out the employment offer: watching Paulina's previous lover, Robert, for one year so that he does not injure himself while under the heavy influence of alcohol, as he traipses the estate grounds at night, all the while disguised as a mute burn victim who wears blacked-out clothing and cannot reveal her identity to him under any circumstances.

Paulina initially disgusted, rejects the offer, however after an unfortunate evening of heavy drinking herself, finds herself unemployed. Distraught, she returns to Keiko and pleads to now accept the job, which is obliged. 

After a trial run at the estate without Robert present, Paulina begins her new employment, her visitation situation already improved via Keiko's intervention, she is pleased yet apprehensive over the pending face to face with Robert.  

Robert is predictably upset his wife has hired a babysitter to watch his drunken escapades and is openly hostile to her. After a run-in that deeply upsets him, Robert alas catches her stare and is reminded instantly of Paulina. He shares his side of the their story and Paulina is awed by the magnitude losing her has meant to him.

In a still highly volatile situation, the two clash repeatedly and ugly. At the nadir of her despair, Paulina meets the mother-figure of the house, Asami who tells her the story of how she came to be a resident at the Miyazaki estate, the very first one, and encourages Paulina to see her relationship with Robert in a reconciliatory manner.

Paulina and Robert grow closer, both learning sign language to communicate better, over the course of nine months, they eventually decide they need to be with each other, whatever the cost. Keiko is furious that her plan to put Paulina through hell to get her son has backfired and is determined to pull the plug on the experiment and sever any connection between those two for good. 

A particular act of cruelty to one of the estate workers sends the remaining employees into a revolt against Keiko, and the struggle both for her dominion and to free of it ensues.