NOTICE: SOME CHAPTERS IN THIS STORY MIGHT BE NAUGHTY
My name is Nora Roberts, and I'm twenty two years old. I'm the second child in my family. My life took a tragic turn when my mother, the first wife of my father, Mike Roberts, passed away when I was just four. After her death, my stepmother took over, and I found myself living in a house where I felt more like a maid than a daughter.
At fourteen, I made the difficult decision to leave my father's home. I was determined to find work and gain some independence. It wasn't easy for a girl my age to find a job, but eventually, I was taken in by Old Madam Grace Herbert as her maid. That's where my life began to change, though not always for the better.
By the time I was sixteen, everything shifted when I met Drake, Old Madam Grace's grandson. One fateful night, while I was mopping the floor, he stumbled in, clearly drunk. He was twenty, and I was just a naive girl of sixteen.
"You look so good today; I need you to warm my bed," he slurred, grabbing my hand and pulling me close. Before I could react, he pushed me against the wine shelf and kissed me forcefully. I screamed for help, but the other maids just stood there, frozen in shock.
He slapped me for my outcry and dragged me into his room. Helpless and terrified, I wished for my mother to come back and save me. He threw me onto the bed, pinned me down, and began to remove my skirt as he lay on me, moving his body up and down, his manhood was hard like wood coming into my dry self. I cried out, but no one came to my rescue. My first experience was filled with pain, not love.
After satisfying himself, he handed me a handkerchief to clean myself. I stood up, tears streaming down my face, ready to leave.
"Pick up the bedsheet. It already stinks," he ordered coldly.
I felt a surge of anger and despair but obeyed. As I ran to my room, the other maids stared at me, their eyes filled with pity. I locked myself in and cried for hours. I wanted to tell Mrs Herbert, Drake mom, but my colleagues warned me against it.
"Nora, I know how you feel, but Mrs. Herbert won't do anything," one of them cautioned.
Despite their warnings, I approached Mrs. Herbert, but she looked at me with disdain, as if I were nothing but dirt drinking her glass of wine. I felt humiliated and powerless. That was the day I decided to quit working for the Herberts leaving their mansion.
That night, I found myself sleeping on the streets, lost and alone in cold, until a car pulled up beside me the next morning.
"Nora, what...".
"Nora, why are you here? Your family has been searching for you for two years," Aunt Emily snapped as she stepped out of the car, looking stunning yet cold.
"Aunt," I whispered, feeling small.
"You smell awful. Do you even bathe?" she sneered, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"My dad, your brother, died today. I'm going to the hospital to see if what Rachel said is true. You're a chief mourner it'd be right to have you there," she added sharply.
"I'm sorry, but I can't go," I replied, trying to walk past her.
Before I could escape, two men grabbed my arms and shoved me into a taxi headed for the hospital.
Inside, I saw my stepmother and my stepsister, Rachel, their faces turned away from me as if I were a ghost.
"She stinks," Rachel hissed.
I stood at my father's ward door, staring at his lifeless body. Despite all the pain he caused me, I never wished him dead. At sixteen, I became an orphan.
Returning home meant living under the same roof as my stepmother and half-siblings. Those five years were brutal. I juggled part-time jobs just to survive, never touching my parents' money except for the room in my father's house.
Then, one day, my elder half-sister, Rachel, pushed me down the stairs, leaving me in a coma, all to get rid of me.
Now, trapped within my own body, I found myself speaking to Elara, a spirit from 1890 who was slowly taking over.
"As I live for you, I will take over everything," Elara whispered, her voice echoing in my mind.
With Elara's strength and cunning, I would finally have the chance for revenge against those who wronged me. Together, we would reclaim my life and ensure that Rachel and my stepmother and others would pay for their cruelty.
I smiled at Erica as the last tears and my breath stopped. Then she took over.