Chapter 1 - The Silver Scissors
The late-afternoon sun poured through the massive glass walls of the greenhouse, turning the air into a warm, golden haze. But inside, the atmosphere was freezing cold.
Nadia, a twenty-seven-year-old maid wearing a crisp white uniform, stood completely still among the expensive white orchids. Her heart hammered violently against her ribs.
Standing right in front of her was Clarissa Merrill, the stunning, platinum-blonde fiancée of Theodore Hawthorne, the billionaire owner of the estate. Clarissa held a pair of long, silver pruning scissors lightly between her manicured fingers.
Behind Clarissa stood two frightened house employees, Beth and Carmen. Clarissa had intentionally ordered them into the greenhouse so they could watch the humiliation.
"Take off the scarf, Nadia," Clarissa commanded, her voice dropping into a cold, terrifying register that completely contradicted her famous, charitable magazine covers.
Nadia swallowed hard. "I said I would keep my hair tied neatly, ma’am."
Clarissa smiled wickedly. "Apparently, you thought that was a negotiation."
Nadia slowly untied her scarf. Her thick, beautiful chestnut hair tumbled down, falling almost to the middle of her back. Her late mother used to wash it with rosemary water every Sunday. After her mother died, Nadia had stopped cutting it. It wasn't vanity; it was the only piece of her mother she had left.
Clarissa stepped closer, raising the silver scissors.
Nadia took one small step back.
"I am trying very hard to save you from making this uglier than it needs to be," Clarissa whispered maliciously. "Your sister has another implant evaluation next month, doesn’t she?"
Nadia froze completely.
Clarissa now controlled the household medical expenses. One signature from her could permanently cancel the cochlear implant funding keeping Nadia's deaf sister, Mila, connected to the world. Clarissa was intentionally using a disabled teenager's medical care to force a maid to submit.
Nadia closed her eyes. She didn't move.
Snip.
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The soft, metallic sound echoed in the greenhouse. A long, severed chestnut curl fell onto the pale tile floor.
👉 Clarissa laughed, entirely unaware that the man walking up the driveway had spent half his life destroying women exactly like her.
