Rain hammered the world as if the sky itself wanted to wash the Carter name off the earth.
Samantha stepped out of the car, face unreadable, black coat whipping in the storm wind. The mansion stood in front of her—grand, cold, unforgiving. The same house she entered seven years ago full of hope, leaving shattered and nameless.
Tonight, she came not as Ally Miller.
Not as Samantha Bradley.
But as the woman who now owned everything they thought she never deserved.
The door flew open before she could knock.
Naomi.
Her hair disheveled.
Eyes swollen.
Breath trembling.
When she saw Samantha, her knees buckled instantly.
She fell—literally collapsed—onto the marble floor.
"Please…" Naomi's voice cracked, hands shaking violently. "If you ever loved my son—if there is anything left of that girl—spare what's left of him... Please I'm begging you as a mother"
Samantha froze.
The storm raged outside, but inside it was Naomi who was drowning.
