Chapter 1 - The Accusation at Midnight
The cold water of the luxury pool dripped from Elena’s hair, soaking into the fabric of her black and white maid uniform as she knelt on the pristine stone tiles. Her chest heaved, not just from the shock of plunging into the deep end to rescue the infant, but from the sheer terror of Victoria’s piercing screams. Victoria stood over her, her emerald green evening dress shimmering under the moonlight like a serpent's scales, her finger pointed directly at Elena’s trembling face. Richard, her husband, held their infant son tightly against his chest, the baby’s muffled cries piercing the tense night air. Richard’s dark eyes darted between his weeping wife and the frantic maid, confusion and anguish warring in his expression. Victoria’s voice was sharp, laced with venomous certainty as she declared that Elena had deliberately pushed the baby into the water. Elena shook her head violently, tears mixing with the pool water streaming down her cheeks, desperately trying to articulate the truth that she had only jumped in to save the child from sinking. But Richard, overwhelmed by panic and swayed by his wife's commanding fury, looked down at Elena with a gaze full of cold betrayal. The security cameras mounted on the high stucco walls blinked red in the dark, silent witnesses to a crime that had yet to be fully exposed. As Richard turned his back, carrying the crying child toward the mansion with Victoria marching triumphantly behind him, Elena was left alone in the freezing dark, branded as a monster in the house she had served faithfully for two years.
