Her hurried paces echo through the walls as she glances nervously over her shoulder, conscious of being followed.

When the pressure overwhelms her and unease seizes her chest, Heidi breaks into a run.

She doesn’t look back. And doesn’t stop until she reaches the stair flight.

There, she bends over; hands on the knees, gasping for air but stands alert when she hears gentle footsteps approaching from the lower stairs.

At first, Heidi thinks it’s just an officer. Not until the brown-polished shoes appear on the steps below.

Her eyes travel upward—looking over the black pants to a leather belt, then the red tie over a crisp white shirt; tucked neatly into a black vest. And finally, the masculine, inked neck that introduces the face bearing a darkened eye.

“Hunter…” Heidi muttered, now exhausted.

She lets out a hollow laugh as the man stops halfway up the stairs and looks at her, cocking his head to the side.

“Come now, love,” he says flatly. “Time to go home.”

~

TWENTY-EIGHT HOURS AGO.

It’s ten in the morning, and Heidi has spent the past eight hours preparing for the most talked-about event in the country.

She stands on the balcony, clutches the handrail, and inclines on it before sniffing the fresh, crisp air; late-morning dews kissing her pretty face.

She smiles and stares at the distant foggy mountains, pleased with how the snowflakes drop slowly.

“Fuck!” Heidi curses when her cell phone dings in her apron pocket.

Her composure vanishes into thin air as she hastens to put the phone to silence so as not to piss off the person in the bathroom.

His ears are the sharpest, and so is his tongue.

He’d stroll into the room wearing underpants while slinging a towel over his shoulder.

‘The hell are you doing on my balcony, Heidi? And throw that bitch device of yours somewhere that’s not my room, will ya?’ The bugger would say with a raspy voice, just before yanking her out through the door.

Heidi unlocks her phone and reads the message:

‘When I gave you my address it was to come over, not send presents.’

Another pops in:

‘*crying emojis*’

Heidi can’t help but giggle as she types quickly:

‘Happy birthday, love xx’

The reply comes within seconds:

‘I want only youuu *crying emoji*’

‘We’ll see each other soon…’ Heidi hesitates to send it, thumbs lingering on the screen as she stretches her lips into a sad smile.

She’s been texting with her first-ever romantic partner for over a year and is certain she made the right choice, except, they haven’t met face to face.

It’s all just texts, voice calls, and video calls.

She can’t tell him she’s a servant, who can’t go out or receive visitors, as she fears it might put him off.

Hell, who’d tell their lover that?

Her strongest excuse has been that she works as a caregiver and has little or no time for herself.

Heidi erases the message. There’s no use leading him on when she may be trapped in this mansion for life.

‘You cheeky, cute thing. Do u like the gift though?’ she types as she steps into the room, but doesn’t get to send it before she hears footsteps approaching.

Heidi pretends to be busy, stealthily sliding the patio doors shut while tucking away her phone.

As she takes Morton’s well-ironed, brown Vicuña pants from the ironing board to put them on the hanger, Dad Tad opens the door and pushes his head in.

The girl heaves a sigh of relief; thankful he didn’t catch her sneaking on Morton’s balcony.

“Where’s Morton?” he inquires after glancing around the room.

“No idea,” Heidi lies.

She may be Morton’s servant, but she isn’t his bloody body camera.

The late-middle-aged man watches as she neatly puts the Vicuña pants on the hanger alongside a matching vest, a jacket, and a blue dress shirt.

Then she pats the clothing and dusts her apron with a teasing motive, standing at attention while facing Dad Tad.

Ironing Morton’s clothes is the last of her duties before she can finally have time for herself, or so she thought.

“I guess I can join the party now?”

“Hm…” The man scrunches up his face. “I say you join the kitchen maids instead.”

“But I’m no fucking housemaid.”

“I say you are today,” he insists. “Go on, run along! And be quick about it. Your first brother arrives in less than an hour, and we can’t have him witness your clumsiness,” he adds as he leaves without closing the door. His last sentence echoes down the hallway. “It’s enough that I have to tell him what a failure you are.”

Right!

“Some things don’t just settle, do they?” Heidi says beneath her breath.

She can’t seem to understand why they keep pushing the matter as if she isn’t serving enough punishment as it is.

She, Morton, and Saturn were adopted in the same year, at the same age, and lived in separate mansions for twenty years.

Being tutored on company management, the three were given shares from the almighty White Group at fifteen with the rights to manage a company of their choice.

They were to submit a report of their profits five years later.

Whoever gained as much profit as their first brother did in his time was to keep their shares and position, while the loser would end up serving the winners.

Heidi’s cruel fate lands her in the latter option. She ended up stripped of her shares, position, dignity, and last name.

“Bloody arseholes!” she spits. “You might as well lick a blobfish’s ass with your disgusting habits.”

“Shut up, woman!” Morton yells from the bathroom.

Heidi rolls her eyes as she exits the room, hitting the send button of her previous message.

She stumbles upon a group of servants running to and fro the hallway, which isn’t a surprise since no one is to be seen slacking on a day like this.

The First heir of White Group, as everyone calls him, will reveal himself for the first time. And he chose his birthday as the perfect date.

Today, the world will know his name and appearance, the company he manages, and his activities for the past twenty-seven years.

These facts are more than enough to drive the public insane, especially the ladies who are already queuing with their steezy looks.

After all, who wouldn’t want to seduce the heir of a billionaire group?

Certainly not Heidi.

She can imagine herself sitting in a corner, scrunching her face as she watches them have their fake laughs and forced chatter during the party.

They’re all bullshits.

~

Heidi’s phone buzzes as she moves in a rather slow line of maids heading to the kitchen.

‘It’s perfect, mama. Thank you. Did you see my recent post?’

She’s about to hop to his profile to see what post he refers to before he sends a video.

‘I took it for you. *video*’

The thumbnail is his addictive smile, showing a set of well-aligned white teeth—a smile Heidi can’t help but fall for every fucking time.

He wore a black eye patch over his right eye, which usually made him look mysterious. And even though he talks about letting his beard grow, he never does.

Without playing the video, Heidi could tell he was in an ice rink. That’s his preferred place to be, aside from by her side.

If he isn’t bike riding, he’s ice skating.

Sometimes, she even worries about whether he ever gets bored by it.

She decides to play the video later when she’s alone.

‘U look gud btw. Did u take d vd now?’

‘Nah. That was yesterday. I’m now heading somewhere outside rinks and helmets.’

‘?’

‘It’s just private family matters with the troubles they come with.’

‘That’s somthin I can relate to.’

When Heidi hears the maids greeting someone from the back of the line, she realizes what’s coming.

‘Can we talk later?’ She sends but doesn’t have the time to hide her phone before Saturn shows up near her.

“Oo, will you look at that; sexting a random dude while working as the perfect maid? Let me see.”

Saturn grabs the phone. Still, unluckily for her, Heidi had already pressed the power button to put it in lock mode.

Now all she sees is the handsome dude saved as Heidi’s lock-screen wallpaper with the words ‘Hunter love’ indicated at the top.

She stands contrapposto, her blonde ponytail dangling to the side when she tilts her head. Smirking, she drawls. “Hunter, spiiicy… How did you hook this man, huh? Or is he your celebrity crush?”

“Kindly fuck off,” Heidi retorts.

But the other girl is too invested in the image to be fazed. “Mhm mm. He’s gorgeous,” she moans. “What’s his username?”

“Won’t tell.”

“Great! Say farewell to this baby while I figure out the password.” Saturn waves the phone in front of Heidi’s face, giggling as she walks away. “And I’m giving you five minutes to be done with that and come doll me up.”

“Your daddy asked me to do this!” Heidi shouts after her.

If only Saturn were even a little bit shaken by that. “My daddy has no say in how you serve me, gurrl,”

“Bitchy motherfucker.”

Forgetting about her phone with the assurance that Saturn will never know her password, Heidi gets to work.

There is lots to do in the kitchen. Yet she chooses the easy one—food tasting.

After all, Dad Tad asked her to help in the kitchen and didn’t exactly say what.

Dressing up her sister is the hardest, but she’s already used to Saturn’s tantrums.

When the first brother finally arrived, Heidi hadn’t found the time to bathe, so she had no option but to join the queue of servants.

In front of the huge mansion, a convoy of dark luxurious cars stops beside the queue, each with bodyguards walking at the sides.

Dad Griffin and the rest stand eagerly at the main entrance as Paparazzi charges at the cars; crowds pushing, uniformed men doing their best to protect the White family.

Dad Tad likes the drama, while they disgust Dad Griffin. Left to the latter, this event would be safe from the glare of the day.

As the car owners step out and are escorted into the building, Heidi only notices the man who alights from the vehicle in front of her.

The dashing man tugs at the edges of his black Tuxedo jacket quarters.

Then he shoves his left hand into his pocket, which brushes back a jacket quarter to reveal his toned waist area.

Heidi’s heart races, as she can’t believe who she’s looking at.

The way this man is smiling looks too familiar to be true.

And then there’s his shiny, silver-blonde hair styled in a slicked-back pompadour with undercut.

The black leather eyepatch on his right eye can’t be overlooked either, as it’s the one she sent to her lover as a birthday gift the day before.

If this fine man isn’t her Hunter, Heidi doesn’t know who else he could fucking be.