“If you’re of no use in this house, then you can rot down there like a sewer rat. When you’ve learned your lesson, I’ll let you out.”
That night, I cried and begged, nearly on my knees.
“Mom knows she was wrong, please don’t lock her away…”
But Richard kicked me aside.
I collapsed on the floor, clutching Mom’s leg, sobbing for her not to go.
As she was dragged away, she knelt down and gently handed me an empty box.
“Don’t cry, Sophie. You know how to fold paper stars, right?”
“When you fill this box, I’ll come back to get you. I’ll take you to Grandma’s.”
I clutched the box tightly and nodded.
“Mom, you promised. I’ll wait for you to come.”
But after that night, I never saw her again.
Olivia and her daughter became the new mistresses of the mansion.
Whenever Richard wasn’t home, Olivia dropped her act and openly tormented me.
The doll I loved—if Emily wanted it, it was hers.
The pretty dresses Mom had carefully picked out for me—because Emily didn’t like them, the housekeeper cut them to shreds.
Emily sneered down at me. “Trash like you should dress like a beggar.”
I endured it all silently.
I held onto the half-filled box of paper stars, counting the days until Mom came back.