CHAPTER 1:THE COIN
375 Words
Maggie tightened her grip on the worn silver coin as she stood outside the towering black gates of the Ashford Mansion.
Rain dripped from her hair, and her small suitcase sat beside her feet. The address in her hand matched the one the employment agency had given her that morning.
“Housekeeper needed. Live-in position. Excellent pay.”
Excellent pay.
Those two words had brought her here.
She was eighteen, jobless, and desperate. Her mother had passed away years ago, and the only thing Maggie had left from her was the strange silver coin that never left her pocket.
“Don’t lose it,” her mother had whispered before she died. “One day, it will take you home.”
Maggie had never understood what that meant.
The gates creaked open.
A tall man in a dark suit stepped out. His expression was cold.
“You’re late.”
“I’m sorry,” Maggie said quietly.
He looked at her old clothes and faded shoes before picking up her suitcase.
“Follow me.”
The mansion was unlike anything Maggie had ever seen. Crystal chandeliers hung from ceilings painted with gold patterns. Marble floors reflected every light. Expensive paintings lined the walls.
She felt completely out of place.
The butler led her to the servants’ quarters.
“You will clean the east wing. Stay away from the third floor unless instructed otherwise.”
“Why?”
He stopped walking.
“Because Mr. Ashford values his privacy.”
Mr. Ashford.
The billionaire owner of the mansion.
Maggie nodded quickly.
As she unpacked her few belongings, the silver coin slipped from her pocket and rolled across the floor.
Clink.
Clink.
Clink.
It stopped against the leg of an old wooden cabinet.
When Maggie bent to pick it up, she noticed a tiny engraving she had never seen before.
A crown.
And beneath it, one word.
Ashford.
Her heart stopped.
Before she could think, footsteps echoed outside her door.
A deep male voice spoke from the hallway.
“Find the coin.”
Maggie froze.
The voice continued.
“She’s here.”
And for the first time, Maggie realised she hadn’t come to the billionaire’s mansion by accident.
Someone had been waiting for her.
The coin had brought her here.
- Writer
