The night I escaped

In the Santoros estate, no one simply left.

There was a rule everyone learned quickly-quietly, carefully, and without asking questions.

Those who leave do not return.

And in whispers behind closed doors, people said something worse:

They don't survive long after they try.

It was Ronan Santoros' house.

A place built on silence, wealth, and fear that never needed to be spoken aloud to be understood.

She was only known as a maid there.

Head down. Invisible hands. A life measured in cleaning schedules and avoiding mistakes. But beneath the uniform was a girl carrying a past she could barely survive-an abusive father, a mother who loved her fiercely enough to fight for her safety, and a home that had never been safe to begin with.

Now her mother was gone.

And all she had left was a memory she couldn't fully hold onto anymore-a childhood best friend whose face was fading, but whose kindness still echoed somewhere inside her like a half-remembered dream.

She shouldn't have been thinking about escape.

And yet she was already planning it.