Chapter 1 - THE ACCUSATION & THE GOLD BUTTON
Natalie’s voice cut through the quiet foyer like glass shattering on marble.
“Where is your mother?”
Lily shrank back, her tiny duck socks slipping half an inch on the polished floor. She squeezed her stuffed rabbit, Bun, against her chest and offered the small, shiny item in her hand. “I found it… pretty button.”
Natalie didn’t look at the child’s face. She looked down at the palm of Lily’s small, outstretched hand.
The moment her green eyes locked onto the gold button, Natalie’s face drained of color. Her knuckles turned white around her porcelain coffee cup. The button wasn't just a piece of metal. It was custom-molded, heavy, and engraved with a crest—a crest belonging exclusively to the Voss family line, an antique cufflink given to Ethan by Natalie’s late father as an engagement heirloom.
Or at least, that was the story Natalie had told Ethan when she gave it to him three months ago.
“Give me that!” Natalie snapped. Her hand darted out, grabbing Lily’s wrist hard enough to leave red marks.
Lily gasped, the button dropping from her fingers and clattering against the marble floor.
“You filthy little thief!” Natalie shrieked, her voice echoing up into the soaring ceilings of the grand foyer. “You were in my dressing room! You stole from me!”
“No!” a voice cried out.
Rosa burst from the service hallway, her hands still damp from laundry detergent. She dropped to her knees in front of Lily, wrapping her arms around her daughter’s trembling shoulders. “Miss Voss, please! She didn’t steal anything! She found it on the floor!”
“She’s a thief, just like you!” Natalie sneered, towering over them in her flowing silk robe. “I’ve noticed things missing around this house for weeks. Scented candles, vintage spoons, and now my family’s heirloom! You train your bastard child to steal so you can sell it on the street!”
“That isn’t true!” Rosa’s voice trembled, but her eyes blazed with defensive rage. “Inspect my bags! Inspect my room! Lily doesn’t lie!”
“I don’t care what she does!” Natalie shoved her iced coffee onto a side table, her face twisted in pure venom. She grabbed Lily by the back of her collar, physically ripping the three-year-old out of Rosa’s arms, and yanked her toward the massive double oak doors at the entrance.
“Get out of my house!” Natalie screamed.
She slammed the latch open, dragged the child across the threshold onto the icy stone porch, and shoved Lily out into the crisp November air. Lily tumbled onto the cold steps, dropping her stuffed rabbit on the threshold.
“Miss Voss, stop!” Mr. Patel shouted, rushing from the office corridor with the estate staff right behind him.
“Touch me and you’re fired too!” Natalie screamed, turning on the staff. “I am the future mistress of this estate! This stray brat leaves, or you all do!”
Lily sat on the freeze-crusted stone steps, her knees scraped, shivering in her thin socks. But she didn't cry. Instead, she slowly looked up at Natalie.
The early morning sun struck Lily’s face at a sharp angle.
And for the first time, Natalie saw the child’s eyes in direct, unshaded sunlight.
They weren't just dark brown. Underneath the deep pigment was a strange, rare burst of amber violet—a genetic anomaly called Alexandria’s Genesis iris variant.
It was an extremely rare genetic trait.
A trait that only one family in the entire state of Connecticut possessed.
A trait that Ethan Harmon possessed.
Natalie’s breath hitched in her throat. Her heart stopped. She stared at the toddler’s eyes, her body going completely numb with pure, unadulterated terror.
No… Natalie thought, her mind spiraling into chaos. It’s impossible. Rosa is just a maid. Ethan never even speaks to her!
Then came the sound that silenced the world.
Step. Step. Step.
Slow. Heavy. Controlled.
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Ethan Harmon stood at the top of the grand staircase, dressed in a dark grey suit, his coat over his arm. His cold, dark eyes—flashing with that exact same hidden violet tint in the light—were fixed on Natalie’s face.
“What,” Ethan said, his voice terrifyingly quiet, “is going on in my house?”
