Chapter 1

For twelve years, I devoted myself completely to my job as a maid for a wealthy lady in Dislinton.

However, last week, when her ring went missing, she ruthlessly kicked me out and told me to head back to the small town of my home country.

The townspeople all laughed at me, saying my employer had kicked me out and that I'd wasted half my life for nothing.

Feeling completely defeated, I opened my old suitcase, ready to unpack a few of my worn-out clothes.

But instead of my ragged clothes, I saw something else.

There were nineteen neatly arranged property deeds, along with a confidential letter written in my employer's writing.

On the envelope, it read: [Run. Never come back to Dislinton.]

*****

My name was Norah Zamora, and I was forty-two years old.

For twelve years, I served as a maid for Catherine Hamilton in Dislinton.

Last week, her emerald ring, worth millions of dollars, disappeared.

With nothing but a cold, piercing glare, she accused me of theft. "Norah, I've always been good to you. You really disappointed me."

Not giving me a chance to explain, she had her bodyguards shove me onto a plane in the middle of the night and deported me back to my home country.

After twelve years of relentless hard work, all I received was: "Get lost and return to your small town."

Once the plane touched down, I grabbed my old suitcase, the one I had owned for over a decade, and headed back to the town.

The place remained unchanged, but the words spoken here stung even more than the heat of Dislinton's desert.

As soon as the car arrived at the entrance, the gossiper in town converged on me.

Leading the group was my cousin-in-law, Remy Zamora. "Well, look who it is! Norah, back after striking it rich, huh?

"I heard you were working as a maid for some wealthy lady in Dislinton. So why are you back with nothing but that battered suitcase?"

She looked me up and down, evidently relishing my misfortune.

"Norah, didn't you always boast about how well your boss treated you? Why hasn't she bought you one decent outfit?" she sneered.

I was disinclined to engage, so I lowered my gaze and attempted to slip past her.

Remy seized my suitcase. "Hey, don't rush off. What's Dislinton really like? Is it true that there's gold all over the place?"

"I heard you were earning thousands of dollars every month. So how much cash did you bring back?" another neighbor interjected, her tone shrill.

Though my lips moved, no words escaped.

Catherine had insisted on managing and investing all my wages herself, as she desired.

She assured me that she would hand over everything in a single large sum when I got older.

So aside from a few hundred dollars for travel expenses, I returned broke.

Remy saw my silence, and her grin widened. "What's wrong, Norah? Have you lost your voice?

"I bet you did something shady and got kicked out, didn't you?"

That comment struck me like a knife to the heart.

Laughter erupted around me, growing louder with every moment.

"See? She's only a maid. What achievement could you expect from her?"

"Twelve years of hard work, and in the end, she returns here empty-handed."

"Half her life wasted. How pathetic."

I forcefully yanked my suitcase from Remy's grip and nearly ran, dragging it all the way to my dilapidated, old house.

*****

As I pushed open the creaky wooden door, a thick, musty smell rushed out to greet me.

I threw my suitcase onto the floor and collapsed onto the icy floor, unable to hold back my tears any longer.

Twelve years of my youth were gone.

Twelve years of loyalty were wasted.

I treated Catherine like family, but she discarded me like trash.

Every time the townspeople mocked me, it felt as if they were carving my heart up with a knife.

I cried until my eyes were raw and stinging.

No, I couldn't let things end like this.

I had to survive.

I wiped away my tears, braced myself, and pushed to my feet, ready to start cleaning up the place.

That battered old suitcase sat right in the middle of the room, painfully obvious.

This was my only possession now.

I walked over, crouched down, and prepared to open it, intending to grab a few old clothes to change into.

The lock had been broken for ages, so I had tied it shut with a strip of fabric.

I untied the cloth and slowly opened the lid.

To my surprise, there weren't any of the worn-out clothes I expected to find.

Inside, things were perfectly stacked.

On top was a row of dark red folders.

I was taken aback. What were these?

My hands shook as I picked one up.

The two large gold-embossed letters, Property Deed, on the cover took my breath away.

My head spun.

I flipped it open and saw my name, Norah Zamora, under the owner's section. It was located in Finslyn Borough, Boslanville.

I couldn't believe my eyes, so I reached for another one.

It was another property deed, with my name and an address in the eastern district of Jinsburg.

I counted them one by one.

There was a total of nineteen property deeds, all neatly stacked together.

Every single one was for prime locations in the most prestigious cities across the country, and each deed was under my name.

I was utterly confused.

What on earth was going on?

Didn't Catherine kick me out and leave me with nothing?

Why would she leave me all these property deeds?

Underneath the nineteen property deeds, there was a thick brown envelope.

The envelope wasn't sealed, and on it was a line of handwriting, familiar, elegant, and hurried.

It was a letter written in Catherine's writing.

There was only one sentence on the envelope, like a stern warning.

It read: [Run. Never come back to Dislinton.]