Chapter 1

I'm not too happy about having to work on Halloween. Not that I have a party to go to or friends to hang out with, anyway. But one of the few joys in my life is handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters who show up at the door, especially the really young ones. It reminds me of a time when I was innocent and oblivious to the cruelties of reality. But mostly, it reminds me of my father.

My mother died when I was a baby, so I have no memory of her. For years it was just my dad and I. We did everything together and he gave me anything my heart desired. The neighbors joked that I was his 'little princess', since every year I would dress up in a fancy dress, sparkling tiara and ornate slippers for a fun night of knocking on doors and asking for candy. My father would always dress up as my dashing prince and we'd go to as many houses as we could until my feet refused to carry me to another door. At that point, my father would lift me up and I would ride on his shoulders all the way home, leaving a trail of candy wrappers in our wake.

That all changed shortly after my eleventh birthday, when my father met a woman named Jeanine Matthews. They dated for a short time, and though my father admitted to me that he wasn't in love with her like my mother, they married anyway because he felt I needed a mother now that I was becoming a young woman. The day they were married, I lost my status as an only child as she had two daughters of her own. I would miss being the only child my father cared about, but having two sisters was an exciting prospect.

Our first week as a new family was amazing. We moved into a new house, large enough for each of us to have our own bedroom. It came complete with a large garden and a huge stable just waiting to be explored. We had a chef to prepare all of our meals, a gardener to maintain the land, a maid to clean up after us, and a butler who waited on us hand and foot. It was a fairytale come true.

Jeanine owned a temporary employment agency, and it brought in quite a bit of money. Once her money and my father's own large savings accounts were combined, we became one of the richest families in town. My two new sisters, Molly and Nita, were not overly interested in playing with me, but I was sure the newness of our situation would wear off with time and we'd become inseparable.

Little did I know, this new life would be over before it had even started. Just a week after we'd settled into our new home, my father became ill. Each morning I'd run in to see him, hoping he'd be better, only to find him in worse condition than the day before, and after ten days of being sick, he passed away in his sleep.

That was the day my entire world fell apart. I was devastated and yet, the rest of my family continued on as if nothing had changed. My grief wouldn't subside and shortly after the funeral, Jeanine moved my room up to the attic because she couldn't stand the sound of my constant sobbing.

After that, things went from bad to worse. It turned out my stepmother's business was not nearly as profitable as she'd led us to believe, so she and her two daughters went through my father's savings in just a few short months. One by one, the help was laid off until we were on our own. The duties of cooking and cleaning then fell onto me, as I was the only one too young to get a job. Jeanine and her daughters worked at the temp agency and for a while, we made it work.

Jeanine pulled me out of school when I turned twelve, insisting she could do a better job homeschooling the three of us. But after spending most of her time with her own two daughters, she never had the energy to work with me. She said I was too stubborn and too stupid to learn what she was teaching my stepsisters, so my time was better spent on housework, insisting that the real-life experience of keeping a home would be the only education I'd ever need.

As time slowly crept by, she became more and more cruel towards me. Giving me more work than any one person could handle in a single day and threatening to withhold my meals, or even to throw me out on the street, if I didn't comply.

Every day was the same and I'd cry myself to sleep almost every night feeling completely trapped.

It wasn't until my sixteenth birthday that things improved. At that age, I could finally be hired as a temp and so Jeanine agreed to give me a job through her agency. As long as I continued to do my chores at home and hand over a huge portion of my paycheck, I was given the freedom of working outside the house. The chores at home had become so routine that I barely thought much of them anymore and my new job was as an office building cleaner, one of the few things I was really good at. Despite most of my time being spent cooking or cleaning, I was very happy to be out in the world working now. Well, I was until tonight…

I never work evenings. I usually get up before sunrise to go to work so I can be back home before the first employees of the building even show up. I rarely run into anyone, other than a few other cleaning personnel. I'd gone out of my way, spending my own money on several large bags of candy for the trick-or-treaters, only to find that Jeanine had gotten me a job for the night cleaning up after a Halloween party at a hotel ballroom. She made it crystal clear that I had to be on my best behavior since some of the city's most important people would be there. I was even given a brand new uniform for the evening. Since it was a Halloween party, I was required to dress up and my stepmother thought it would be hysterical to put me in a French maid costume for the night.

I look at myself in the full-length mirror one last time. The plunging neckline and fishnet stockings are definitely going to make my job harder, but the hardest part will be having to work around the party guests. I'm not very good with people and try to avoid them as much as possible. Other than a small handful of business owners who consider me a regular, I hardly talk to anyone. If I screw up tonight, Jeanine will be upset and would most likely take my entire paycheck for the week.

"Well, don't you look adorable," Nita calls out as I head for the door.

I do my best to ignore her comments, knowing that anything she says to me will only be an insult. "Are you staying in tonight?" I inquire.

"Maybe. Why?"

I frown. "There are a few bags of candy on the kitchen table. I picked them up for the trick-or-treaters. Would you mind handing them out for me?"

Nita snorts. "You're joking, right? I'm not opening the door for a bunch of snot-nosed brats."

"I'll do it." I look up to see Molly enter the room, eyes glued to the phone in her hand.

"Thank you, Molly. This party runs till 2AM, so I won't be home till really late."

"Whatever." She replies as she throws herself onto the couch next to Nita. I hear the two of them giggle as I walk out the door, knowing well that the candy will never make it into the children's bags tonight.

Even though the hotel is only a short bicycle ride from our house, I'm chilled to the bone by the time I get there. The evening air is colder than usual for October or maybe it's this stupid uniform made of thin costume-quality fabric, cut high and low in places where it shouldn't be. I pray it will not fall apart before the end of my shift.

As soon as I walk through the worker's entrance, the smell of coffee beckons to me from the employee lounge and I pour myself a cup as soon as I hang up my coat. I've worked at this location before. No matter what time of day it is, they always have hot coffee available for the employees, another of the tiny things that make my life bearable.

I finish my cup and place it in the sink before getting to work. The party is already in full swing and a written list of instructions has been left on the table detailing what is expected of me. It looks like I am the only one working the party, but since the event is catered it shouldn't be too much work, the majority being the cleanup afterwards. I am expected to serve coffee, remove dirty dishes and clean up any messes caused by the partygoers. Other than that, I don't have too much to do till 2AM when the party is over.

I let out a long sigh, mentally preparing myself for the large crowd, and head for the ballroom with a fresh batch of coffee. Once I pass through the doors, I realize, coffee may not be all that popular tonight. The ballroom is equipped with a full bar, and waiters are already walking around serving alcoholic beverages of every color. I set the tray of coffee and cups on the hors devours table before weaving my way around the other tables, collecting discarded and empty plates at the half occupied tables. A large majority of the guests are on the dance floor, throwing their arms and legs in directions that would cause me to fall, while others are gathered at scattered tables chatting. No one seems to notice me, despite the inappropriate costume, and I'm relieved by this.

The entire evening goes pretty smoothly. I spend my time alternating between dishes and coffee with only a few spilled drinks to clean up in between. Although as the hour gets later, the party is getting rougher despite the crowd thinning out. The alcohol must be to blame and I hope it doesn't get too out of control before the party breaks up.

I finish washing a load of dishes when the music suddenly stops. I hear the DJ thank everyone for coming out and the sound of chairs sliding along the floor is amplified as people get up to leave all at once. With my tray balanced on my left hand, I head back out to the dining area to collect more dishes. The lights are on now and a majority of the guests are either gone or making their way to the doors. A few groups of partygoers linger in circles, talking and laughing, but I ignore them and continue with my work.

My tray is nearly full when an older man approaches me from behind.

"Nice costume?"

I jump since his sudden appearance startled me. I glance over my shoulder to see him looking me up and down. He pauses at my behind that is barely covered by the mini dress I was forced to wear.

"It's not a costume, it's my uniform." I reply, feeling uncomfortable. "I'm working."

"You mean you really are a French maid?" he laughs out load.

I turn to him with a sour expression as I add a final two wine glasses to my collection before turning to head for the kitchen. "Excuse me," I murmur as I walk past him, Jeanine's warning bouncing through my head.

I think I'm safe once I push past the swinging doors leading into the kitchen, but as I set the tray down, he appears through the entryway.

"French maids are only good for two things, ya know." He's wearing a sick smile as he takes several steps closer to me. "Cleaning."

My heart begins to pound in my chest as he closes the gap between us. There's a falter in his walk and his pupils dance as he tries to focus on me. I've never seen someone so drunk in my life.

"And…"

He's only a few feet away now and I am trapped between him and the sink. I have nowhere to go.

"Fucking!" He laughs like a maniac as he reaches for my waist. His breath reeks of hard liquor and his intent is clear. He's much bigger than me. I have little hope of escape once he gets hold of me, so I do the only thing I can think of. I grab one of the half-empty champagne glasses off the tray sitting on the counter and throw the contents in his face. This gives me just enough time to slip away and head for the ballroom where others will be, hoping he wouldn't be stupid enough to try something in front of a crowd of people.

"You bitch!" he yells from the kitchen before slamming through the double doors. Every conversation stops and all eyes are now on us as he runs toward me. He's holding his hand out to the side and I know now he's too drunk to think rationally. He's going to hit me in front of all these people.

The last five years of abuse flash before my eyes. Every time my stepmother struck me, she had the same look of hate in her eyes that this man has now. I never dared fight back out of fear of losing my home, but this time, I have to. I will not put up with a complete stranger hurting me. I've finally had enough.

He's running toward me, fist out beside his head, ready to strike. As he draws nearer, I extend my own fist and throw the first punch of my life. I connect with the side of his face and his form bounces away from me, landing on the floor in a heap three feet from where I stand.

I huge gasp escapes the remaining group and several people run to his side, kneeling beside him.

"Is he ok?" one person asks.

"He's out cold," another replies.

"Call an ambulance!" someone else screams as blood begins to poor out of his nose.

Before I can react, another man is beside me, holding my arms down by my side while he slaps a pair of handcuffs around my wrists. "Ok, you're coming with me." I pull my eyes away from the motionless form on the floor and look up at a badge on the man's uniform that reads 'Security'.

"What? Am I in trouble?"

The security officer looks at me as if it was a stupid question. "You just broke the mayor's nose. What do you think?"

I swallow hard as the dark-haired man leads me out of the ballroom and talks into the speaker mmic attached to his shoulder. "I've got her in custody now, sir. What should I do with her?"

A deep voice from the other end of the conversation answers, "Bring her to my office. I'll deal with her myself."

"Yes, sir." The guard looks at me again. "You are in for a really shitty night." He pushes me outside to a car idling by the curb and forces me into the back seat.