Chapter 1 - The Kitchen Encounter
The heavy silence stretched across the marble floors of the mansion.
Alexander Hayes stood perfectly still in front of the kitchen sink.
Samantha stared at him with wide and terrified eyes.
Soapy water dripped slowly from her trembling fingers onto the porcelain.
Victoria Collins rushed forward with a nervous and artificial laugh.
She tried to place her hand gently on the billionaire's expensive suit jacket.
Alexander did not even look at her as he smoothly stepped out of her reach.
His cold blue eyes remained entirely focused on the girl in the wet apron.
Olivia and Charlotte exchanged panicked glances from the center of the living room.
Their perfect diamond necklaces suddenly felt very heavy around their necks.
Alexander reached into the inner pocket of his tailored jacket.
He slowly pulled out a small and faded silver locket.
Samantha gasped as the air completely vanished from her lungs.
She instantly dropped the ceramic plate into the soapy water with a loud splash.
That locket had belonged to her real mother before she passed away.
Victoria had confiscated it ten years ago and claimed it was lost forever.
Alexander gently held the silver necklace out toward Samantha.
His deep voice finally broke the suffocating silence of the room.
He told her that she left it in his car twelve years ago outside the orphanage.
Samantha shook her head in pure confusion and disbelief.
She whispered that she had never been to an orphanage in her entire life.
Alexander tilted his head slightly as a dark shadow crossed his handsome face.
He coldly informed her that Victoria Collins was not her stepmother.
Victoria screamed for the security guards to remove him immediately.
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But Alexander leaned close to Samantha's ear and whispered a terrifying truth.
He said the woman standing behind them was actually her kidnapper.
