Chapter 2

By six o'clock, the Laurent mansion had been divided in two.

The main house was bright, silent, and now belonged to Elena.

The guest house was smaller, older, and had a leaking tap in the kitchen. That was where Vivian and Chloe had been forced to drag their suitcases.

Vivian had screamed for nearly three hours.

"You can't do this to me!" she shouted. "I am Mrs. Laurent! I have lived in this house for twenty years!"

Attorney Cole didn't even raise his voice.

He simply showed the police officers Vivian called claiming she's been evicted from her home, the court order.

"Mrs. Laurent, you have two choices. You can move to the guest house willingly, or I can have you removed for trespassing on Ms. Elena's private property. The choice is yours."

Vivian had stared at him with pure hatred.

Then she moved.

Elena didn't watch.

She locked herself inside her mother's bedroom—her bedroom now and sat on the edge of the enormous bed.

Everything felt unfamiliar.

The mattress was too soft.

The room was too large.

The curtains smelled faintly of jasmine.

She didn't know how someone was supposed to sleep in a room that had once belonged to the woman she had spent her entire life missing.

For the first time in three years, Elena took a hot shower.

She stood beneath the water for nearly twenty minutes, scrubbing her knees until the water around her feet turned faintly pink.

Then she opened her mother's wardrobe.

Inside were clothes that had been untouched for more than two decades.

She found a simple white silk nightgown.

It fit her almost perfectly.

For a moment, Elena stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself.

She didn't look like a maid.

But she didn't know who she was supposed to look like either.

She sat on the soft rug staring at her mother large frame picture.

A knock sounded at the door.

Elena flinched immediately.

Old habit.

"Yes, Madam?"

The door opened.

Adrian stood there.

He had changed into a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. In one hand, he carried a first-aid kit. In the other was a plate of food.

"You're still sitting on the floor," he said.

Elena immediately stood.

"Sorry, sir"

"Don't call me sir."

She lowered her eyes.

"Sorry."

Adrian looked at her for a moment.

Her hair was still wet. Her face was still too thin from years of poor meals. But in the white silk nightgown, surrounded by her mother's things, there was something about her that made him pause.

He had spent years seeing a uniform whenever he looked at her.

Tonight, for the first time, he was seeing Elena.

"You're bleeding," he said.

She looked down at her knees.

"It's nothing. I'm used to it."

Adrian's jaw tightened.

He placed the food on the table and opened the first-aid box.

"Sit."

Elena hesitated.

Then she sat on the edge of the bed.

Adrian crouched in front of her and carefully lifted one of her legs.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleaning this before it gets infected."

"I can do it."

"I know."

He looked up at her.

"But you shouldn't have to do everything alone anymore."

He cleaned the wounds carefully.

Elena winced when the antiseptic touched the raw skin.

Adrian's movements slowed.

"Does it hurt?"

"A little."

"Then tell me."

She looked at him strangely.

No one had ever asked her that before.

Adrian finished bandaging her knees.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then he said quietly, "I watched you kneeling beside the pool this morning."

Elena looked away.

"I saw you working with those swollen knees, and I did nothing."

His voice hardened with regret.

"For three years, you lived behind my house in a storeroom, and I never questioned why."

He looked at her.

"I should have."

Elena's eyes filled with tears.

"My father spent years believing you were dead," Adrian continued. "And I spent three years believing you were nobody."

He swallowed.

"We were both wrong."

A tear rolled down Elena's cheek.

"I don't know how to be this," she whispered. "I don't know how to own a mansion. I don't know how to be a Laurent. I only know how to scrub floors."

Adrian picked up the plate of food and placed it in her hands.

"Then learn."

She looked up.

"Tomorrow morning, eight o'clock. You're coming to Laurent Group."

Her eyes widened.

"The company?"

"You own fifty-one percent of it."

"I can't."

"You can."

"People will laugh at me."

Adrian gave a small, almost amused smile.

"They might."

She stared at him.

"They laughed at me when I became CEO at twenty," he continued. "Let them laugh."

He walked toward the door.

Then he stopped.

"And Elena?"

She looked up.

"Don't apologize for taking what was already yours."

He left.

Elena stared at the closed door.

Then she looked down at the food.

She ate slowly.

Tears slipped down her cheeks and landed on the rice.

It was the first hot meal she had eaten in years without being told she had to earn it.

---

THE GUEST HOUSE

Vivian wasn't crying.

She was planning.

Chloe paced angrily across the small living room.

"Mom, I can't stay here! There are cockroaches! And that maid took my room!"

"Stop calling it her room," Vivian snapped.

Chloe turned.

Vivian was sitting silently on the sofa, staring at her phone.

Then she made a call.

"Marcus."

A man's voice answered.

"I need everything we discussed ready by tomorrow morning."

She listened.

"Yes. The will. The old financial records. Anything that can make Elena look incapable of controlling the company and she's not even fit she doesn't inherit anything."

Her voice lowered.

"Tomorrow, we destroy her credibility."

She ended the call.

Chloe smiled.

"And Adrian?"

Vivian looked toward the window of the main house.

"He will come back to his senses."

She paused.

"He has spent twenty-eight years believing I protected him. Elena has had him for less than one day."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Tomorrow, I'll remind him who his mother is."

---

THE MESSAGE

At eight that evening, Elena finally lay down on her mother's bed.

The mattress was too soft.

She almost missed the thin mattress in the storeroom.

She closed her eyes.

Her cracked phone buzzed.

Elena opened them.

An unknown number.

UNKNOWN:

Welcome home, Ms. Laurent. If you want to know how your mother really died, come to the old factory behind St. Jude Hospital tonight. Alone. Don't tell Adrian.

Elena sat upright.

Her heart began pounding.

Her mother.

For years, Elena had believed Isabella died from a fever.

That was what the old woman who raised her had told her.

"Your mama had a fever. She didn't wake up."

But there had always been something strange about the way the woman said it.

She would look away.

She would change the subject.

Elena stared at the message.

She should tell Adrian.

She knew that.

But another thought entered her mind.

What if the message was true?

What if someone knew something about her mother?

She slipped out of bed.

Then she noticed something.

Across the courtyard, behind the curtains of the guest house, a figure was standing at the window.

Vivian.

Elena froze.

Vivian was looking directly toward the main house.

Had she seen her?

Elena quickly stepped away from the window.

She waited.

Nothing happened.

She grabbed her old maid uniform from the corner of the room and put it on.

It felt strange.

Hours earlier, she had been told she was an heiress.

Yet when she needed courage, she still reached for the clothes she had worn as a maid.

She climbed through the window.

Just as she disappeared into the darkness, Vivian lowered the curtain.

Her eyes were cold.

She had seen Elena leave.

And she had seen the phone in Elena's hand.

Vivian didn't call the guards.

She didn't stop her.

Instead, she smiled faintly.

"Go," she whispered.

Then she picked up her phone.

"Chloe."

"What?"

"Get dressed."

"Why?"

"I think we would solve our problem this night"

Chloe went silent.

Vivian's smile disappeared.

"And we're going to make sure she never gets the chance to tell anyone."

---

THE OLD FACTORY

The factory was forty minutes away on foot.

Elena had no money for a taxi.

Her cracked phone was the only light she had.

When she finally reached the abandoned building, everything was dark.

Rust covered the walls.

Broken windows rattled in the wind.

The smell of old medicine hung in the air.

Then she saw her.

An elderly woman stood beneath a broken streetlight

"Are you Elena?"

"Yes."

Elena stepped closer.

"Who are you?"

The woman looked at her for a long moment.

"My name is Agatha."

Elena's heart skipped.

"I worked at St. Jude Hospital twenty-two years ago."

She swallowed.

"I was the nurse who delivered you."

Elena stopped breathing.

"And I was the nurse who was paid to lie."

"Paid by who?"

Agatha's eyes filled with tears.

"Vivian Laurent."

Elena staggered backward.

"She came to the hospital with money. She told me Isabella Grace was a gold-digger trying to trap Richard Laurent."

Agatha wiped her face.

"She ordered me to tell Richard that the baby had died."

Elena's lips trembled.

"And my mother?"

"Your mother was alive."

Elena covered her mouth.

"She was bleeding heavily after giving birth. Vivian's driver took her away, claiming he was taking her to another hospital."

Agatha shook her head.

"He didn't."

"What happened?"

"He dumped Isabella in a compound outside the city."

Elena's knees weakened.

"He gave her five hundred dollars and threatened her. He told her that if she returned to Richard, they would kill her baby."

Agatha's voice broke.

"That baby was you."

Elena fell to her knees.

"The bleeding was getting worse, but your mother refused to leave you."

Agatha crouched beside her.

"She carried you for two days."

Elena sobbed.

"She walked while she was bleeding."

Her hands pressed against the dirty ground.

"She saved me."

Agatha nodded through her tears.

"I kept quiet because Vivian threatened my family. But Attorney Cole told me you had been found,he knew I was the one who delivered you and had been seeking answers from me but I couldn't say anything, I knew I couldn't carry the secret anymore."

She reached into her bag.

She pulled out a small plastic packet.

Inside was a faded pink hospital bracelet.

BABY GIRL LAURENT

MOTHER: ISABELLA GRACE

DATE: OCTOBER 3

Elena stared at it.

"My mother held me."

"Yes."

Elena pressed the bracelet to her chest.

"Mama..."

Then headlights appeared.

Agatha's face changed.

"Oh no."

A car entered the factory yard.

Then another.

Elena slowly stood.

The doors opened.

Vivian stepped out.

Chloe followed.

Two large men climbed out behind them.

Elena's blood turned cold.

Vivian smiled.

"Did you really think you could uncover my secrets without me finding out?"

Elena looked at the phone in her hand.

"You knew?"

"I saw you leave."

Vivian walked closer.

"I could have stopped you."

She smiled.

"But then I realized something."

Her eyes moved to Agatha.

"You've brought me exactly where I wanted to be."

Elena's face went pale.

Vivian simply looked at the nurse.

"Twenty-two years, Agatha. And you still don't know when to keep your mouth shut."

Agatha stepped backward.

"You can't silence me anymore."

Vivian laughed softly.

"Who will believe you?"

She looked at Elena.

"An old nurse? Or the woman who owns nothing but a story?"

Elena clutched the bracelet.

"You killed my mother."

Vivian's expression hardened.

"I protected my marriage."

"You lied to my father."

"I protected my family."

"You destroyed my mother's life!"

Vivian stepped closer.

"And tonight, I will protect what is left of it."

She nodded toward the two men.

"Make it look like an accident."

The men moved.

Elena backed away.

Then Vivian added calmly:

"The heiress was traumatized. She ran away. She entered an abandoned factory."

She smiled.

"Unfortunately, she never came out."

The men lunged.

Elena screamed.

Then—

Headlights flooded the entire factory.

Four black SUVs came roaring into the compound.

Doors slammed open.

Security guards rushed out.

And behind them came Adrian.

His face was hard.

Cold.

Controlled.

But his eyes went immediately to Elena.

"Get away from her."

The guards attacked.

The two men were taken down within seconds.

Chloe screamed.

Vivian stared at her son.

"Adrian?"

He walked past her.

Straight to Elena.

She was trembling so badly she could barely stand.

Adrian crouched in front of her.

"Are you hurt?"

Elena couldn't speak.

She simply held out the hospital bracelet.

Adrian took it.

He read it.

His expression changed.

Then he looked at Agatha.

The nurse nodded.

Adrian slowly turned toward Vivian.

"You knew."

Vivian opened her mouth.

"Adrian...."

"You knew."

His voice was quiet.

"You lied to my father for years."

Vivian stepped closer.

"I did it for you."

"For me?"

"If that child had lived, Richard would have given everything to her."

Adrian stared at her.

"You let me believe my father didn't care about me."

Vivian said nothing.

"You made me believe he was cold."

His voice cracked with anger.

"All those years, you knew why he kept looking at Isabella's photograph."

Vivian's face tightened.

"I was protecting you."

"No."

Adrian shook his head.

"You were protecting yourself."

He looked toward the guards.

"Take her."

Vivian's eyes widened.

"Adrian!"

He didn't move.

"Take Chloe too."

Chloe began crying.

"Adrian, she's just a maid!"

Adrian looked at her.

"Don't call her that again."

The guards moved forward.

Vivian stared at her son in disbelief.

Then she looked at Elena.

And for the first time, she understood something terrifying.

She hadn't only lost the mansion.

She was losing Adrian too.

---

THE PENTHOUSE

Elena didn't go back to the mansion.

Adrian took her to his penthouse on the fortieth floor.

A doctor examined her knees.

Attorney Cole arrived shortly afterward with police officers.

By three in the morning, Vivian and Chloe had been removed from the Laurent properties.

"They're staying at the hotel for now," Robert said.

He placed several documents on the table.

"But Vivian has already contacted three board members."

Elena looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because tomorrow's board meeting will determine whether you can effectively take control of the company."

Elena looked down at her hands.

"I can't do this."

Adrian stood near the windows.

"You can."

"I don't even have shoes."

Adrian looked at her feet.

"Then we'll get you shoes."

"I've never worn expensive clothes."

"You don't need expensive clothes."

She looked up.

"You need confidence."

He paused.

"But we'll work on that too."

---

THE TRANSFORMATION

At three in the morning, the penthouse doorbell rang.

Sophia walked in carrying several garment bags.

She was Adrian's executive assistant and one of the few people he trusted completely.

Behind her were two stylists.

Sophia smiled at Elena.

"Mr. Laurent gave me instructions."

Elena looked nervous.

"What instructions?"

Sophia smiled.

"Make sure the world sees Elena Laurent tomorrow not the maid Vivian created."

For the first time that night, Elena almost smiled.

The transformation took two hours.

They trimmed her hair and cared for the damaged ends.

They moisturized her skin.

They worked with what was already there rather than trying to turn her into someone else.

When Elena finally looked into the mirror, she barely recognized herself.

Not because she had become a different woman.

Because she had finally been allowed to look like herself.

She wore a simple white blazer with matching trousers, a silk camisole, and elegant nude heels.

Sophia adjusted the blazer.

"Beautiful."

Elena touched her hair nervously.

"I don't feel beautiful."

"You will."

The door opened.

Adrian walked in.

He stopped.

He had seen Elena in a soaked maid uniform.

He had seen her crying in an oversized shirt.

He had seen her in her mother's silk nightgown.

But this was different.

she was beginning to carry herself differently.

Elena noticed him staring.

"Do I look strange?"

Adrian walked toward her.

"No."

He took a small velvet box from his pocket.

Inside was a simple diamond pendant.

He placed it around her neck.

His fingers brushed her skin.

Elena shivered slightly.

Adrian stepped back.

"You don't need to look like anyone else."

She looked at him.

"You look like yourself."

Then, more quietly:

"Richard's daughter."

---

THE BOARDROOM

8:30 a.m.

Laurent Group Tower.

Fifty floors of glass and steel.

The boardroom was packed.

Twelve directors sat around the long table.

Vivian had spent years cultivating their loyalty.

She had also spent the entire night convincing them that Elena was an uneducated maid who had somehow obtained a fraudulent inheritance.

Vivian sat at the far end beside Chloe.

She looked calm.

Almost victorious.

Then the doors opened.

Adrian entered first.

The room immediately went quiet.

Then Elena walked in behind him.

Whispers spread.

"Who is she?"

"Is that Adrian's girlfriend?"

"That's the girl Vivian was talking about?"

Vivian stood.

"Gentlemen, this is exactly what I warned you about."

She pointed toward Elena.

"My son has brought his former maid into a corporate boardroom."

Elena's old instinct returned.

Lower your head.

Apologize.

Don't speak unless spoken to.

But then her fingers touched the hospital bracelet inside her pocket.

She remembered her mother.

She lifted her head.

Vivian continued.

"She is clearly not qualified to control fifty-one percent of this company."

Chloe laughed.

"Elena, did you borrow that blazer from my closet?"

Before Elena could answer, the doors opened again.

Attorney Cole walked in carrying several files.

He placed them on the table.

"This is Ms. Elena Grace Laurent."

He opened the first file.

"Her company identification."

Another document.

"Her share certificate."

Another.

"Richard Laurent's original will."

He continued.

"DNA confirmation establishing her as Richard Laurent's biological daughter."

Vivian's face tightened.

"And finally..."

Robert turned toward the screen.

"Evidence concerning last night's attempted murder."

The video began.

Vivian's own voice filled the room.

Make it look like an accident.

The room went silent.

Then came Nurse Agatha's recorded statement.

The hospital bracelet was passed around.

Richard's recorded message played.

And finally, the original will appeared on the screen.

One director slowly stood.

"Vivian..."

His voice was filled with disbelief.

"You told us Isabella ran away."

Vivian said nothing.

Another director looked at Elena.

"And Richard left the controlling shares to her?"

Robert nodded.

"Fifty-one percent."

Adrian stepped forward.

"My mother deceived this company for twenty-two years."

He looked directly at the board.

"She concealed Richard Laurent's biological daughter, falsified information about Isabella Grace, and attempted to have Elena killed last night."

He paused.

"As CEO of Laurent Group, I have reported the attempted murder to the police."

Vivian's face turned pale.

"As of this moment, Vivian Laurent and Chloe Laurent are prohibited from entering Laurent properties without legal authorization."

He looked at Elena.

Then he stepped aside.

"Ms. Laurent."

The room went silent.

"Your board is listening."

Elena took a breath.

Her hands were still cracked.

Her knees still hurt.

She was still the same woman who had scrubbed floors yesterday morning.

But she wasn't standing in a servant's uniform anymore.

"I don't know everything about business," she began.

Her voice shook.

"But I know what it feels like to have nothing."

She looked around the table.

"I know what it feels like to work until your hands bleed and still be told you're worthless."

Her eyes moved to Vivian.

"And I know what happens when people in power forget that the people beneath them are still human beings."

No one spoke.

"I have a lot to learn."

She straightened.

"But I will learn."

She placed both hands on the table.

She looked at Vivian.

"You told me I would always be a maid. You were wrong. I was always an heiress. I just didn't know it."

Then she did something no one expected.

She took off her white blazer, folded it neatly, and placed it on the chair.

Underneath, she wore the simple silk camisole and on her back, when she turned slightly, the directors could see faint scars. Old belt marks.

From being beaten as a maid.

The oldest director, Mr. Chen, who had been Richard's best friend, stood up with tears in his eyes.

"Isabella's daughter..." he whispered.

He walked around the table and bowed to Elena. A full 90-degree bow.

"Welcome home, Chairwoman Laurent."

One by one, the other directors stood up and bowed.

Only Vivian and Chloe remained sitting, pale, alone.

Vivian knew in that moment she hadn't just lost the boardroom.She had lost her son

Fury and anger were rising from her eyes

Chloe's was fumming she can accept anything that is happening how can life changed Overnight

Vivian stared at Adrian

Why is Adrian protecting this lowlife?