Chapter 1 - THE SMELL OF FIRE
The first thing Emma Reyes smelled was burning hair. The second thing she heard was a child's silent scream.
She dropped the laundry basket in the marble hallway of the Callahan estate and ran. White towels slid across the floor behind her, forgotten.
Emma had spent six months swallowing insults in that mansion. She had watched Renata dismiss Lily's fear as bad behavior, watched servants lower their eyes, and told herself survival required patience. In that instant, patience felt like cowardice.
Inside the master bathroom, seven-year-old Lily Callahan sat frozen on a velvet stool. Her small fists gripped the cushion. Smoke curled from a lock of honey-blond hair trapped beneath a styling wand.
Renata Cole held the iron near Lily's scalp and smiled at the mirror.
"Move again," Renata whispered, "and next time I touch your ear."
Emma crossed the room in two strides.
"Get away from her!"
She slammed her shoulder into Renata. The iron flew across the tile. Renata struck the tub, then rose with murder in her eyes.
Emma wrapped Lily in both arms. The child shook so hard Emma could feel it through her apron.
"I've got you," Emma said. "You're safe."
"Safe?" Renata laughed. "You just assaulted Grant Callahan's future wife."
She pressed the intercom.
"Security. Call the police. The nanny attacked me and tried to hurt Lily."
Emma stared at her. "That's a lie."
Renata leaned close. "Who will Grant believe? Me, or the woman two months behind on rent?"
Heavy footsteps approached outside.
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Then Lily tightened her fingers around Emma's wrist and, for the first time in two years, forced out one broken word.
"Camera."
