I woke to the sound of drilling.
My heart raced as I sat up on the thin mattress, wincing at the pain in my cheek where Beau had struck me. The servant's quarters felt even smaller today, more like a prison cell than a bedroom.
"What are you doing?" I called out, my voice muffled by the thick door.
"Just making sure you stay where you belong," Khloe's voice replied sweetly. "Beau's installing an extra lock. You know, for your protection."
I heard the metallic click of the new lock sliding into place, followed by Khloe's satisfied sigh. "There. Now you can't wander where you don't belong."
The drilling stopped, replaced by their retreating footsteps. I rushed to the door, pressing my shoulder against it with all my strength. It didn't budge.
"Khloe!" I shouted, pounding my fists against the wood. "Beau! You can't do this!"
"Oh, but we can," Beau's voice came through the door, cold and final. "And we have."
For two days, they kept me there. Two days of minimal food—a crust of bread and water pushed through a small slot at the bottom of the door. Two days of Khloe's taunting visits, her voice dripping with false concern as she described in excruciating detail how she and Beau spent their evenings in my rightful bed.
"The sapphire sheets suit me so much better than you," she cooed through the door. "Beau says I look like a goddess in them."
I pressed my hands over my ears, but her voice still penetrated.
"And the emerald necklace—your grandmother's, wasn't it? It's mine now. Beau gave it to me last night."
That was the worst part—knowing she wore my grandmother's necklace while I sat in darkness.
But I wasn't idle. As my strength returned with each small meal, I began to remember more. Fragments at first—my father's voice, the sound of his laughter—then larger pieces: bank account numbers, property locations, the names of business associates who had known me since childhood.
I tore small strips from the mattress cover and wrote everything I could remember on them, hiding the scraps beneath the loose floorboard near my bed. Each memory was a weapon I could use later.
On the third day, I noticed something strange. The small window in my room—usually sealed shut—had been left partially open. Perhaps the maintenance staff had forgotten to secure it properly.
I stood on my chair, fingers reaching for the window frame. It was narrow—designed to let in air but keep servants from escaping—but I was smaller than most. If I could just squeeze through...
The window groaned as I pushed it wider, rust falling like dust onto my hands. I hoisted myself up, my body protesting after days of confinement. The ground looked so far away, but freedom beckoned beyond the garden walls.
I squeezed through the window, my ribs scraping against the frame. Then I jumped.
Pain shot through my ankle as I landed awkwardly on the garden path. I bit my lip to keep from crying out, looking frantically toward the house. No movement at the windows. No shouts of alarm.
Limping as quickly as I could, I made my way across the manicured lawn toward the main gate. The iron bars loomed ahead, freedom just beyond them. I could see cars passing on the street—potential help, if I could just reach them.
I was ten feet from the gate when strong hands grabbed my arms.
"Going somewhere, Miss Aurora?" One of Beau's security guards—men I now remembered my father hiring years ago—held me firmly.
"Let me go!" I screamed, kicking and struggling. "Help! Please, help me!"
The second guard appeared, his face impassive as he lifted me off my feet. I saw a neighbor watching from across the street, her face pale with shock. Our eyes met for a moment before she quickly turned away.
No one intervened. No one ever did when it came to the Jensen family.
"Beau will be pleased," the first guard said, dragging me back toward the house. "He said you'd try something like this."
My screams faded into sobs as they carried me through the garden, past the window I'd escaped from, and into the house. Beau was waiting in the foyer, his face a mask of cold fury.
"Disappointing," he said simply. "I thought you'd have learned your lesson."
"Please," I whispered, my ankle throbbing with each heartbeat. "Just let me go."
Instead, he nodded to the guards. "Take her downstairs."
They dragged me down a flight of stairs I'd never seen before, to a door at the bottom that opened into darkness. The basement—a place I vaguely remembered my father mentioning but had never seen.
"Beau, don't," I begged as they shoved me through the doorway.
The room was cold and damp, with stone walls and a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. A dirty mattress lay on the concrete floor in one corner.
"You'll stay here until you remember who you really are," Beau said, his voice echoing in the darkness. "The hired help who should be grateful for any kindness I show you."
The door slammed shut with a final click, leaving me alone in the basement's gloom.
