Chapter 2: The Grim Reaper's Welcome

Aria sat quietly in the plush leather backseat of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, her small knees pulled tight to her chest. She stared blankly out the window as the glittering skyscraper canyons of Valenica City blurred past. Her mind was a hollow echo of grief. Would these people accept her? What kind of future awaited a girl from the slums?The car eventually cruised into an exclusive, heavily fortified gated community where the city’s top elites lived.

After a rigorous security checkpoint, the vehicle glided down a long driveway and came to a halt in front of a sprawling, multi-million-dollar mansion.A butler in a crisp suit immediately stepped forward and opened the door.

Arthur Hayes stepped out first, his face frozen in a cold, unreadable mask.When Aria climbed out behind him, a collective silence fell over the property. She was so thin, her tattered clothes hanging off her frail frame like rags on a scarecrow. The gathering maids and security guards stared at her like a bizarre specimen. Sensing their eyes, little Aria clenched her old doll tightly against her chest, her heart hammering with sheer nervousness.

Arthur looked down at her, his eyes flashing with open disgust. Without a shred of warmth, he turned to the butler. "Put her somewhere inside." He didn't specify a room, a wing, or a bed.With that single, careless order, the servants instantly understood: their master despised this child. Pity flickered in the eyes of the older maids, but none dared to speak.

As Aria followed her father through the grand, gilded double doors, the suffocating opulence of the mansion loomed over her. Sitting on a velvet sofa in the massive living room was a twelve-year-old girl with a spoiled pout, alongside a woman whose face was caked in so many thick layers of heavy makeup she looked like a glamorous grim reaper. This was Victoria Hayes and her daughter, Chloe.

Both of them locked their eyes onto the doorway. When Aria stepped into the light, Victoria’s gaze turned toxic with pure contempt."Who is that trash?" Chloe demanded, her voice rising in a shrieking, entitled tone.

Before Arthur could even open his mouth to answer, Victoria stormed across the marble floor. Without warning, a sharp CRACK echoed through the hall. She slapped Arthur hard across the face, the force of the blow turning his head."So, this is that bitch Evelyn's daughter!" Victoria hissed, her voice dripping with venom.

Without waiting for an explanation, Victoria spun on her designer heels and marched up the grand staircase. Terrified of his wife's wrath, Arthur rushed up the stairs right after her, desperately pleading and apologizing for bringing his illegitimate child home.Left alone in the foyer, Chloe stepped closer to Aria, her eyes burning with malice. "You will never be welcome here," Chloe sneered, stepping aggressively into the little girl's space. "You're going to ruin our family's peace. You're nothing but filth."

With a cruel grin, Chloe shoved Aria hard.Aria collapsed onto the cold marble floor, a sharp pain shooting through her arm as her elbow scraped against the stone. She didn't cry out. She didn't say a word. The butler instinctively stepped forward to help her up, but Aria softly shook her head. "It's okay. I can do it."Summoning her strength, she stood up on her own two feet.

Sighing in pity, the butler quietly led her away from the main house and down to the dark, cramped servants' quarters. Looking at her pale face, he worried she might faint at any moment.That very evening, the nightmare truly began. Aria was summoned to Victoria's private quarters. The moment she stepped through the door, a brutal backhand struck her cheek, sending her flying across the room.

Aria crashed against the floor, her vision spinning."That was for your pathetic mother, Evelyn," Victoria snarled, towering over the ten-year-old girl. "Maybe in your next life, she'll learn to stay away from what belongs to me."Aria slowly pushed herself up. There were no tears in her eyes. Her mother had told her to be strong, so she refused to give Victoria the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

She remained dead silent.Furious at her lack of tears, Victoria began assigning her crushing chores—heavy, grueling labor that a fragile ten-year-old's body was never meant to handle. Scrubbing floors until her knees bled, carrying heavy buckets, and working through the night.

Days bled into weeks. Weeks turned into months, and months into agonizing years. Aria suffered in absolute silence.

As they grew older, the torment only evolved. Chloe would regularly bring her wealthy, mean-girl friends from school to mock, humiliate, and physically torture Aria for entertainment. Even at school, Aria was forced to act as Chloe's personal slave.

Whenever Chloe wanted to get Aria in trouble, she would steal Victoria’s expensive jewelry or cash, secretly slip it into Aria’s schoolbag, and falsely accuse her of theft.The setups always ended the same way. Arthur never believed his illegitimate daughter. Aria would be beaten so brutally by her father and Victoria that she wouldn't be able to walk for days.

During those dark nights, the mansion's older servants were her only saving grace. They would sneak into the servants' quarters in the dead of night, secretly feeding her broth and cleaning her bloody injuries with tears in their eyes.

Twelve long, agonizing years passed this way. Aria survived, growing into a beautiful but deeply guarded young woman of twenty-two.Then came the fateful day that shifted the gears of destiny.An emergency family meeting was called. Chloe was abruptly informed that an old family arrangement had been triggered: she was officially engaged.

Furthermore, she was ordered to pack her bags immediately to move into her fiancé's house so they could "get to know each other" before the formal wedding.

When Chloe found out her groom was Damian Vance—a man whose family empire had famously collapsed into absolute bankruptcy—she threw a tantrum that shook the mansion's foundations.That day became a living hell. Furious at her fate, Chloe smashed vases, screamed at the top of her lungs, and took her rage out on the staff. The servants walked on eggshells, and Aria bore the brunt of the physical abuse, her body bruised black and blue as Chloe took out her fury on her favorite target.

None of them knew that this forced arrangement was about to change Aria's life forever.