Chapter 3
I opened my phone and bought a train ticket home, leaving in three days.
No sleeper, just a regular seat. The cheapest option.
Eighteen hours straight on the train.
The day before I left, I put everything I couldn't take with me up for sale on a secondhand site.
The table, the chair, the mini fridge.
All things I'd found and bought piece by piece.
Now, strangers were snapping them up for next to nothing, clearing out my place.
After three years in my little home, all that remained was a single suitcase and me, feeling empty inside.
On my last day, I dragged my suitcase out of my tiny apartment.
I didn't head straight to the train station.
Somehow, I ended up at the entrance of Vogue Place.
I stood off to the side, watching the glass doors I'd walked through every single day.
I saw Cameron, looking smug and full of himself, confidently directing the staff as they set up a new promotional display.
I saw Kaylee, wearing the supervisor uniform I'd always dreamed of, strutting around with her nose in the air, scolding the new interns like she was queen of the place.
And I saw the old sofa in the corner, the one Emma always sat on, sitting empty.
Emma never showed up again.
Maybe that was for the best.
I let out a bitter laugh at myself.
Maybe she'd found somewhere cooler, somewhere that actually wanted her around.
Even at four in the afternoon, the sun was still beating down hard.
I tugged the brim of my hat, ready to walk away.
Just then, a low, orderly rumble of engines approached from the distance.
Without thinking, I turned around.
And then I saw something I never could've imagined in my wildest dreams.
A line of black luxury cars pulled up, parking neatly right outside Vogue Place.
These weren't ordinary cars.
The lead car had a silver Spirit of Ecstasy perched proudly on its hood.
It was a Rolls-Royce.
Behind it came a whole row of Bentleys and Maybachs, all lined up one after another.
It was like something straight out of a movie.
The security guards at the entrance were so dumbfounded that they froze and didn't even try to stop the cars.
The convoy pulled up and came to a stop.
All at once, a dozen men in black suits and sunglasses stepped out from the cars, moving in perfect sync.
Expressionless and with military precision, they lined up on both sides of the Rolls-Royce, forming a wall that shielded the car from the crowd's prying eyes.
Then, the lead man, a middle-aged man who looked every bit the butler, stepped forward respectfully and opened the back door of the Rolls-Royce.
I just stood there, dumbfounded.
Was this some royal from overseas? Or maybe a super-rich mogul dropping by?
Cameron and Kaylee rushed out when they heard the noise.
Their faces were plastered with shocked, sycophantic grins as they fussed with their collars, prepping themselves to welcome a VIP so powerful that it felt unreal.
Then, a foot appeared from inside the car.
It was wearing a pair of handcrafted, luxuriously soft leather shoes.
And then, the person behind those shoes finally stepped out.
It was an aged lady.
She wore a flawlessly tailored dress, her hair pulled back into a sleek, elegant bun that looked as if not a strand were out of place.
No cane in sight. Her posture was perfectly upright, proud, and steady.
Her face still showed wrinkles, but her eyes were nothing like the cloudy ones I remembered.
Now, they were sharp, clear, and held the kind of commanding presence I only saw in people who'd been in charge for ages.
It was Emma.
No.
But this wasn't Emma.
She was a completely different person from the silent, shrinking, aged lady in the faded blue shirt I remembered.
The only thing that hadn't changed was her face.
Cameron's smile was stuck on his face.
Kaylee's mouth dropped open so wide.
Everyone was left speechless, frozen in place.
But Emma, making her entrance like a queen, didn't even bother with anyone else.
Her eyes swept right past the shocked crowd and locked onto me. Standing across the street, dragging my suitcase, looking completely worn out.
Then, she gave me a gentle smile, full of apology.
She beckoned to me.
The butler quickly crossed the street, came right up to me, and gave me a deep bow.
"Miss Miller, Mrs. Lewis has been waiting for you," he said softly.
I was so confused that I couldn't even process what was happening.
From across the street, Emma spoke in a gentle voice that somehow carried to everyone watching.
"Kiddo, don't be scared," she called out. "Come on, get in. We're going home."
"Come on, get in. We're going home."
My mind went completely blank.
It was like my brain had just been powered off, like an old computer suddenly shutting down.
All my thoughts and feelings just stopped.
Home?
Were we going home?
Wasn't my home that tiny town, eighteen hours away by train?
Everyone was staring at me, like I was suddenly center stage under a spotlight.
Stunned.
Baffled.
Envy.
And from Cameron and Kaylee? Pure, bone-deep terror.
The butler stayed bent over in a deep bow, almost at a perfect right angle.
His posture was the very definition of humility.