Chapter 1 - The Bloody Heel
I ran into the foyer and found Serena dragging two-year-old Ethan across the marble floor by one arm.
“Stop it, please! You’re breaking his arm!”
She turned toward me and kicked me in the stomach.
I crashed backward without breath before her heel pressed down against my abdomen.
“Who do you think you are, you lowly maid?”
Ethan’s cries weakened.
His injured arm hung at a terrible angle as I dragged myself toward him.
“Ethan… stay with me, baby, please.”
Heavy footsteps echoed through the dark hallway.
Victor Blackwood stepped into the light and froze at the scene.
“What the hell is happening here?”
Serena immediately backed away from us and pointed at me.
“She attacked him, Victor—I was trying to protect Ethan!”
I gathered the little boy into my arms.
He was pale, trembling, and barely able to make a sound.
“Please…” I looked straight at Victor. “Don’t let her touch him again.”
Victor’s expression became hard.
Then he noticed the red mark Serena’s heel had left across my dress.
And the security camera above us, blinking as though it had just been switched back on.
Serena noticed his gaze shifting upward, and the color drained completely from her flawless face.
She had paid the security team to shut down the cameras for one hour.
She wanted to teach Ethan a lesson for spilling juice on her designer dress, without leaving any digital trace.
But someone had turned them back on.
“Victor, darling, the cameras have been glitching all day,” she stuttered, stepping toward him with fake tears in her eyes. “This crazy woman tried to kidnap your son!”
Victor didn’t look at her.
His piercing gray eyes were locked on me, and then on his son, who was sobbing into my chest.
“Call an ambulance,” Victor ordered, his voice dangerously calm.
“Victor, she’s a criminal!” Serena screeched.
“I said, call an ambulance!” his roar shook the crystal chandelier above us.
He knelt beside me, his large hands gently touching Ethan’s bruised cheek.
“I’ve got you, buddy. Daddy’s here.”
May you like
He looked at my bleeding stomach, then at Serena’s stilettos.
The pieces of the puzzle were already coming together in his mind.
