That night, Lilly slept in the maids’ quarters.
The small room smelled of detergent and ironed clothes. The bed was narrow, the blanket thin. The two maids, still new in Dante’s house, looked at her with quiet pity.
They didn’t know who she was.
They didn’t understand why such a small child was being treated like an unwanted burden.
But in that house, questions were dangerous.
So they kept silent.
Lilly cried herself to sleep, hugging the edge of the pillow as if it were her mother’s arm. She whispered into the darkness, hoping praying that Zara would come for her.
But morning came.
And she woke up alone.
For a few seconds, she lay still, confused, expecting to see her mother beside her.
When she didn’t, something inside her shifted.
A painful thought formed in her young mind.
