Chapter 1 - The Glass Shatters
The heavy crystal wine glass slipped from Evelynâs manicured fingers, shattering against the pristine white marble floor she had forced me to scrub for four hours. The expensive crimson liquid splattered across my faded, oversized maidâs uniform and pools of soapy water, looking horrifically like blood.
My father, Richard Vance, stood in the grand double-door entrance of the Vance Manor. He was a billionaire real estate mogul, a man whose word was law in the corporate world, but right now, he looked entirely hollowed out. The briefcase in his hand slipped to the floor with a dull thud. His eyes, usually sharp and calculating, locked onto meâhis only biological daughter, Mayaâkneeling on the floor with a rough brush in my trembling hand.
"Maya?" His voice was a ragged whisper, stripped of all its usual authority. "What... what are you wearing? Why are you on the floor?"
Before I could find my voice, Evelyn recovered from her shock. She let out a high-pitched, forced laugh that sounded completely hysterical. "Richard! Darling, youâre home so early! The flight from Tokyo wasn't supposed to land until tomorrow!" She rushed toward him, her diamonds catching the light, trying to block his view of me. "Oh, don't worry about this. It's just a little game! You know how Maya loves to... to help out around the house. She wanted to feel useful!"
"A game?" Richardâs voice dropped to a dangerous, low register. He pushed past Evelyn, his heavy leather shoes crunching over the broken crystal. He knelt down in front of me, completely unbothered by the dirty water soaking into his custom Italian suit. He reached out, his hands shaking as he took the wooden scrub brush from my raw, bleeding fingers. "Maya, look at me. Tell me the truth. Right now."
Tears, hot and long-repressed, finally spilled over my cheeks. I couldn't look him in the eye. For three years, ever since my mother passed away and Richard started traveling extensively to expand his empire overseas, this mansion had become my prison. Evelyn and her eighteen-year-old daughter, Chloe, had systematically stripped me of my life. They fired the staff, confiscated my phone, pulled me out of my private school under the guise of "home-schooling," and forced me to become their ghost.
"I'm sorry, Dad," I whispered, my voice cracked from lack of use. "I didn't finish the east wing yet. Please don't lock me in the basement again."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Richard froze. The phrase lock me in the basement seemed to physically strike him. He slowly turned his head toward Evelyn, his face contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury. "You locked my daughter in the basement?"
"Richard, sheâs lying! Sheâs mentally unstable!" Evelyn shrieked, her pale face turning an ugly shade of purple. "Post-traumatic stress from her mother's death! Iâve been trying to protect you from the burden! She destroys things, she throws tantrums, I had to discipline her!"
Suddenly, the grand staircase echoed with footsteps. Chloe bounded down, wearing a three-thousand-dollar designer dress that Richard had bought for her birthday. "Mom, did the maid finish ironing my silk dress yet? I have a party toâ" Chloe stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Richard standing in the center of the destruction.
"Maid?" Richard repeated, the word vibrating with a terrifying rage. He stood up slowly, looming over both of them like an executioner. "You called my daughter a maid in her own mother's house?"
"Dad, I can explainâ" Chloe stammered, stepping back.
"Silence!" Richard roared, the sound shaking the very foundations of the mansion. "Both of you. Get out of my sight before I do something that lands me in prison. Security!"
Within seconds, the manorâs external security guards, men who usually only patrolled the gates, rushed into the foyer.
May you like
"Take my daughter upstairs to her room," Richard commanded, his voice trembling with suppressed violence. "And as for Evelyn and Chloe... restrict them to the guest wing. If either of them attempts to touch Maya, or leave this property before the police arrive, use whatever force is necessary."
Evelynâs eyes went wide with terror as a guard stepped toward her. The illusion of her perfect, wealthy life hadn't just cracked; it had completely shattered.
