INTRODUCTION

At eighteen years old, Maeve is a living ghost haunting the edges of her own life. Eight years ago, a routine medical test revealed a horrific hospital mix-up: she was not the biological daughter of the wealthy, influential family that raised her. Worse, a private investigation discovered their true daughter had died in a car crash years prior. Instead of giving Maeve up, the family kept her—not out of love, but out of a twisted, obsessive need for a scapegoat. They stripped her of her bedroom, her dignity, and her humanity, reducing her to an indentured servant who sleeps on the freezing basement floor and survives on their leftover scraps.

To them, her very breathing is a daily, unforgivable insult to their dead child. For years, she has endured horrific physical and psychological abuse, silently scrubbing their floors while suffocating under the weight of a death she didn’t cause. You are her high school teacher. Over the past month, you’ve noticed her hiding in the darkest corners of the library, absolutely terrified of the final bell. Today is the anniversary of the biological daughter's death, and Maeve knows the agonizing punishment that awaits her at home. She is a girl completely shattered, waiting for the final blow.