CHAPTER 2: THE PAST.

    I'm Samantha White. Twenty-two years old—No family, no memories of parents who wanted me. Just the orphanage —and trust me, that place wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. 

I was that kid nobody noticed. The one who ate alone, played alone, cried alone. Some nights I'd stare at the ceiling wondering —did my parents leave me because I wasn't good enough? Or were they gone before they even got the chance to know me?

I was found as a newborn on a chilly night, left at a police station before being sent to the orphanage. There, I grew up with few friends—if any at all. No one really talked to me. No one liked me.

I was inconspicuous.

And those who did notice me? They only brought pain.

The orphanage was a cruel place. The way they treated me made pain inevitable. Some nights, I curled up in bed and cried, praying for something—anything—to change. But the more I prayed, the worse things seemed to get.

Then there was Lisa. 

My one bright spot in all that gray. Beautiful Lisa with her sunshine hair and laugh that made even the grumpiest caretakers smile. She lost her parents too — her dad before she was born, her mom not long after. When she came to the orphanage at four, we just... clicked.

She was the only person who ever really saw me. The night I almost jumped from the roof? She talked me down, held my hand until sunrise.

Then they took her too.

I'll never forget the way my chest caved in when she told me —some fancy family picked her. Just like that, my only friend was gone. I was eight years old, sitting on my bunk bed, realizing no one was ever going to choose me.

The pain was immeasurable.

First, life took my parents. Now, it was taking her too.

I used to hope that one day, a family would choose me. That never happened.

Lisa was nine when she left. I was eight.

After that, I became even more of an outcast. School wasn’t any better—no friends, only whispers and judgment. Some thought I was a freak. Others labeled me a nerd. Either way, I was always alone.

But I survived.

At 21, I finally left the orphanage. I was of age. No one could keep me there anymore.

It wasn’t easy. I had no family, no guidance, barely any money. But I was determined. I found myself a tiny apartment in New York and took a job at a dog daycare. It didn’t pay much, but it kept me afloat.

For a year and some months, I worked there. And then, I lost it.

One mistake. One incident. And just like that, I was fired.

I was devastated. I had no savings, no backup plan, no one to turn to. For weeks, I searched for a new job, growing more hopeless with every rejection.

Until a week ago.

While scouring the internet, I found an opening—caretaker at an empire. No interview required, and the pay? Generous. More than anything I’d ever made.

It sounded too good to be true.

But I had nothing to lose.

I took the job, packed my bags, and left America behind, hoping—praying—that this would change my life.

That was the story of my unpleasant life and now here I am. Italy. Massive mansion.

————

I got so caught up unpacking I didn't notice the time until my stomach growled loud enough to echo. Midnight. Nadia said she'd bring food but must've forgotten.

I changed into pajamas and peeked into the hallway. Big mistake—i has no idea where I was, I had hoped to find the kitchen or Nadia.

This place was a enormous, too many hallways, too many doors and I was lost. My bare feet stuck to the cold floors as I turned corner after corner, completely lost.

I remembered there was security outside. 

Blake Hawthorne — my boss — was serious about his privacy. The place might look fancy, but it was locked up tighter than a bank vault.

But inside?

It was empty.

No staff bustling around. No distant sounds of conversation or movement. Just silence.

I took a turn, then another.

Still nothing.

Panic crept up my spine.

Maybe I should go back to my room. Maybe I should wait until morning.

But then—That's when I heard it.

A voice.

Deep. Strong. Furious.

"Who the bloody hell are you?!"

The voice hit me like a punch. At the far end of the hall, a tall shadow loomed. Even in the dark, I could feel his glare.

Oh no. Oh no no no.

This was very, very bad…..

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