The morning sunlight slipped gently through the curtains of Maya’s room, painting golden stripes across the soft cream walls. She opened her eyes slowly, still feeling the weight of sleep on her lashes. 

For a moment, she lay there, listening to the faint sounds of the estate waking up — the soft hum of a vacuum somewhere down the hall, the muffled voices of maids talking in the distance, and the faint clinking of dishes coming from the kitchen.

Today was the day of Elias’s family dinner night.

She wasn’t going yet — that would come later — but her mother had made it very clear the night before: Maya...