While Lilith and Moses were talking, Lara turned to Dante.
"Mom said you've been here all day," she said, sitting on the chair beside him.
He nodded. "Since you're here now, I'll go home to shower."
"Mom wanted me to go home first to freshen up and then come back, so you can go home and spend as much time as you need," she said. "You know I just got back from school. I haven't even been home before coming here."
"Alright. You're leaving now?" he asked.
She heaved a sigh. "Yes."
"Don't take long," he said, standing up from the chair and walking to the window.
She followed him. "Alright. Have you eaten?"
"Yes. Mom brought food for me. Enough with the questions—start leaving now."
"Why is it always difficult to have a conversation with you? Anyway, aren't you going to say hi to Lilith?" she asked, wiggling her brows.
"Lara," he said with controlled harshness.
"She's cute, Dante. If you want, I can help you talk to her," she said, winking at him.
He turned to face her. "I can see you're not ready to go home. I'm going."
"I'm going now," she said, walking toward Lilith.
"Lilith, it's time to go. Moses, I'll come back soon."
"So soon?" Lilith asked.
"Yes. I have to go home to freshen up and then come back, so Dante can go home. He's been here since last night."
"Oh, I forgot. Your mom really told you that."
"I'm not ready to go now. Moses is so happy to see me; I can't just leave so soon. Since you won't be spending much time at home, I'll wait for you. Later in the evening, I'll go home."
"Okay. But what about your mom? Won't she worry that you're not back from school by this time?"
"Don't worry. I'll call her."
"Lilith, are you leaving?" Moses asked.
"No. I'm still here," she replied.
"Since you want to stay, it's alright. I'm going. I'll be back before you know it."
Lara left the hospital and took a taxi home. When she arrived, she rushed to the bathroom to shower. Afterward, she dressed up and went to the kitchen to serve herself some food. She also packed food into two flasks for Lilith and Moses.
She went to Vicky's room to check on her and found her sleeping.
Vicky had been a house help in the Williams mansion since Lara was five. She was an orphan who lost her parents at fifteen when the building they were in collapsed. After her parents' death, her paternal uncle, Alfred, took her in.
While living with him, he made her life a living hell. He, his wife, and their children forced her to do all the house chores, beat her for the slightest mistakes, and always gave her the smallest portion of food.
Before her parents died, Uncle Alfred often visited them and usually bought chocolates for her whenever he came around.
When Uncle Alfred took her in, she was happy because, after her parents, he was the only other person who seemed to care about her—without knowing he was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
She was shocked when he and his wife started maltreating her. Even their children, who were kind to her at first, later joined in.
The day Vicky gathered the courage to ask him why he treated her that way—why he changed after her parents' death—he told her he had never liked her or her parents, and that it had all been a pretense.
She asked what their offense was. He told her that when he and her father were young, her father always had all the good things and was loved by everyone, while nobody gave a damn about him. That hatred grew so deep that he vowed to make his brother pay.
He said that when his brother died, he rejoiced because he finally found a way to fulfill his vow—by taking Vicky in and maltreating her.
At eighteen, after Vicky finished high school, her uncle told her he couldn't continue her education. She decided to leave his house and look for work as a house help. Since she was good at household chores, she believed she could earn a living and finally be free from her uncle and his family's abuse.
That was how Vicky began working in the Williams mansion.