Chapter 1 - The Knock on the Door
The heavy knock echoed through our freezing, silent house.
I completely froze in the middle of the kitchen.
Noah began to cry loudly against my trembling shoulder.
I had never given anyone our address.
My mother always locked the deadbolt twice before leaving for work.
She warned me to never answer the door for anyone while she was gone.
But the stranger on the other side of the wooden door knocked again.
This time, the sound was louder and much more urgent.
I slowly crept toward the front window and peeked through the dusty blinds.
A tall man in a perfectly tailored charcoal overcoat was standing on our crumbling porch.
He was holding four massive brown paper bags overflowing with expensive groceries.
Behind him, a sleek black luxury car idled quietly at the curb.
I opened the door just a few inches, keeping the heavy metal chain securely attached.
The man looked down at me with piercing, ocean-blue eyes.
He did not look angry or dangerous at all.
He looked at the shivering baby in my arms with a profound, unexplainable sadness.
He told me his name was Alexander and that he had received my accidental text message.
He handed the heavy bags of food through the narrow gap in the doorway.
I saw fresh milk, warm roasted chicken, expensive bread, and colorful fruits I had never tasted before.
My hands shook wildly as I accepted the unbelievable charity from a complete stranger.
I thanked him repeatedly, tears of pure relief streaming down my cold cheeks.
Alexander smiled softly and turned to walk back to his expensive car.
But as he turned, his eyes caught a glimpse of a framed photograph sitting on our hallway table.
It was an old picture of my mother smiling in a yellow summer dress.
Alexander completely stopped breathing.
The warm, kind expression vanished from his handsome face in a single second.
He violently grabbed the edge of the door and ripped the metal chain completely off the wall.
He stepped into the house and stared at me with a terrifying intensity.
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He asked me why I was living in a filthy shack with a woman named Victoria Sterling.
I backed away in sheer panic because my mother's name was Mary.
