Episode 1

The night fell silent over the city, and the cold wind whispered through the branches of the trees in the garden of the Moretti mansion. The mansion, imposing and old, seemed to hold dark secrets within its stone walls and large glass windows. The sky was heavy with clouds, obscuring the moon, as if the universe itself were trying to hide what was about to happen.

A woman approached the mansion, her quick, heavy steps echoing on the stone pavement. Her face was marked by pain and suffering, her eyes swollen from crying and anguish. The wind whipped her disheveled hair, but she didn't seem to care. The only sound that mattered now was that of her heart beating hard, fast, fearfully.

She clutched a bundle tightly to her chest, a weight that seemed more than she could bear. Inside the bundle, a child—so small, so vulnerable, so innocent. The life of a girl who, unknowingly, carried the fruit of a forbidden love. She looked one last time at the mansion, her gaze full of regret and fear, but the decision was made. There was no turning back.

With a pained sigh, the woman placed the bundle in the basket she carried and left it at the mansion gate. The girl inside, with large, curious eyes, stared at her mother with an expression only an innocent child could have, not understanding what was happening. The woman knelt slowly, leaving a carefully folded letter beside the child.

— Forgive me, Michael — she whispered, the words mixing with the tears streaming down her face. — I can't protect her, but I know you can. She's all I have. Take care of her, please!

With a final look full of farewell and pain, the woman stood up, her hands trembling. She rang the doorbell and quickly walked away, her heart heavy with the certainty that she would never see the child again. And then, she disappeared into the darkness of the night, like a shadow dissipating at the first touch of light.

The housekeeper sent one of the staff to check who was tormenting the family at that hour.

The man returned with the small basket and the letter in his hands. The housekeeper called for her employer, who hated to be interrupted, but this was a serious matter.

When Michael Moretti saw the girl there. Huddled in the basket, with large, confused eyes, she looked like a lost angel, but Michael knew immediately who she was. He recognized her not by her face, which was still a child's, but by blood, by the bond that united her to him, an eternal and undeniable tie.

Her eyes, blue and bright, were just like those of the woman with whom he had shared an impossible and forbidden love. The woman who was supposed to be a secret buried in the past. And there was his daughter, living proof of something he could never admit.

Michael looked at the letter, his fingers tightening on the paper, reading and rereading the words as if they were a spell, a curse. The woman he had loved had left him with this responsibility, with this daughter he could never present to the world. He couldn't let anyone know he had had a child out of wedlock. He couldn't. The scandal, the shame, the consequences would be catastrophic for his position and power.

He looked at his wife, who had appeared silently at the door, her eyes burning with anger and suspicion. She knew about the relationship, but not about the child. Or so everyone thought. Her anger, contempt, and jealousy were instantaneous, and the girl's presence only fueled it. But Michael had no choice.

— Hide her. — He ordered, his voice hoarse and emotionless. — She will be raised as a servant. No one can know about her.

His wife, consumed by fury, looked at the child with contempt, but knew there was nothing she could do; Michael's word was always the first and the last. In her heart, she had already decided that the girl would be nothing more than a burden to be hidden, a shadow in the house that would never be visible.

Alice was treated as a servant from that moment on. As she grew, she washed dishes, cleaned rooms, served guests, always invisible to others' eyes, but watched with hatred by Michael's wife. The house was never a home for her, but a disguised prison. At night, when the day ended and the others went to their beds, she was locked in the basement, where the darkness seemed to swallow her completely. The cage was her only protection against the cruel world outside and against the fury of her stepmother, who wanted to see her dead.

The basement, a damp and cold place, became the only space where she could hide from everything. And yet, even there, Alice maintained her strength. Her soul was immune to abuse and suffering.

As she grew older, Alice was given a room, if it could even be called that, but at least she wouldn't be locked in the darkness of the underground. The young woman grew up with a defiant gaze, but also with a sweet heart that no one had ever seen up close.

She was a paradox, a child full of anger and tenderness, marked by suffering, but with an inner strength that made her fight for something more. She knew that the world out there, despite being cruel and unforgiving, still had something to offer to those who had the courage to reach for it.

And when the opportunity came, she would rise. Nothing, not even the man who brought her into the world, would be able to hold her forever. Alice Moretti was a woman made of light and darkness, and no one, not even the man who kept her as a servant, could predict what she would become.

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***