CHAPTER 1 – The Girl Everyone Treated Like She Was Invisible
Every morning before sunrise, eleven-year-old Lily Carter knelt on the freezing marble floor of the Ashford family's mansion.
Her tiny hands gripped the heavy wooden mop so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The expensive marble reflected the crystal chandeliers above, but no one ever noticed the little girl cleaning it.
To the wealthy Ashford family, Lily wasn't a child.
She was simply "the maid's daughter."
After Lily's mother suffered a serious illness, she could no longer work. Desperate to pay the hospital bills, Lily secretly came to the mansion every day before school, taking over her mother's cleaning duties without anyone knowing.
No one thanked her.
Instead, the Ashfords treated her like furniture.
"If I see one fingerprint on this floor, you're starting over!" Mrs. Ashford shouted as she walked past in designer heels.
Lily quietly whispered, "Yes, ma'am."
Her stomach growled.
She hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon.
At breakfast, the family enjoyed pancakes, fresh fruit, and warm pastries while Lily watched from the hallway, pretending she wasn't hungry.
When a piece of bread accidentally fell onto the floor, Lily carefully picked it up.
Before she could take a bite...
Mrs. Ashford snatched it from her hand.
"You think servants eat our food?"
The bread landed in the trash.
Lily lowered her head.
"I'm sorry."
That afternoon, while scrubbing the endless hallway, tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
One tear hit the polished marble.
Then another.
As she wiped them away, her mop suddenly struck something beneath the floor.
CLACK.
It didn't sound like solid marble.
It sounded...
...hollow.
Lily froze.
She hit the same spot again.
CLACK.
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Hidden beneath the mansion...
Something was waiting.
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