As Franklin drove off, I found myself wondering who the mysterious girl in the car with him was and why he had even invited her to the mansion in the first place.

To get answers, I ran to Ana Maria, the oldest maid in the house, whom Franklin respected a lot. Surprisingly, I found her in the spacious kitchen with Isabella and two other maids, Sophia and Tina. They froze the moment they saw me and began acting awkwardly. They were probably discussing the issue too.

"Do you guys have any idea who that b*tch was?" I asked furiously.

"Who are you talking about, Miss Caldwell?" Sophia pretended not to know what I was talking about.

"I think she's talking about the young girl in red," Tina chimed in.

"Oh! The one the young master brought home earlier?" Sophia uttered.

I was beginning to lose my patience.

"Will you stop pretending like you don't know what I'm talking about!" I yelled at them.

"Actually, Miss Caldwell, we've never seen the girl before," Ana Maria finally spoke, walking over to me gently. "Young master didn't say anything to me about her. He only came to change into another outfit, and then they both left"

"Did she enter his room? Were they in the same room?" I asked, growing even more curious after Ana Maria's statement.

She glanced at the other maids before turning back to me. "Well, we don't know for sure, but," she began, walking me gently away from the kitchen island, "they left not long after they arrived. She's probably someone he just met. He will ditch her before you know it" she added in what seemed like a whisper.

"What makes you say that, Ana Maria?" I asked, referring to her last statement.

"Because teenagers often go through emotional ups and downs. It's normal for them to change their minds or feelings as they figure things out" she said.

Silence crept upon us for a moment as I pondered. Her words had brightened my mood and brought a smile to my face. "I am sorry I yelled at you guys earlier. I was just..." I began, acknowledging my mistake, but she shushed me gently.

"Come on, Miss Caldwell. We've all been in these shoes before. Just go and get some rest. If you need anything, let us know" she said with a smile that couldn't be quenched by a dictator.

"Thank you," I beamed back at her and left.

When I went to my room, I fell onto the bed and began thinking about Ana Maria's words. What if Franklin was still figuring out how to love me? I smiled as I swiped through his social media gallery. His pictures were all amazing. Even though he hardly smiled, he was still handsome. As I stared at his striking green eyes in one of the photos, a video call came in from Mrs. Hargrove.

"Surprise!" she said the moment I answered. She was standing at the Eiffel Tower with a few men in suits, probably her security detail from Hargrove Division in France.

"Wow, Mom, what are you doing there this time around? And where's Dad?" I asked, smiling broadly as I focused on the screen.

"Surveying Paris once more before we fly to Abu Dhabi. I left your dad at the hotel, he's preparing for our next flight" she said, then turned the camera so I could see the view from the tower.

"Paris is beautiful as always" I commented.

"Yup," she said, turning the camera back to her face. "Where's Franklin? I've tried calling him a few times today, but he's not picking up"

At that moment, I felt like telling her everything I knew about the girl he had brought home, but I decided instead to say he was probably busy in the study room, reading.

"Reading?" she scoffed. "Anyway, I will try again later. Just don't hide anything from me. I know he can be a jerk"

"What can I say?" I sighed, then asked when she and Mr. Hargrove were coming back from their business trip.

"You know we haven't secured our deal with the UAE yet. Once that's done, we will be back as soon as possible" she assured me.

Our conversation ended when one of the men in suits whispered something in her ear. She bade me goodbye and ended the call.

Calling my adoptive parents "Mom" and "Dad" sometimes made me wonder if my biological parents would ever forgive me for giving those titles to someone else. I mean, weren't they supposed to be irreplaceable? Yes, but Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove had done so much for me. They deserved the titles.

Franklin hated it when I did that, often reminding me of my place in the house, as nothing more than a burden or a wide-eyed little girl forced into his perfect world.

His words used to hurt me, but not anymore. Not when we were already engaged. I believed it was only a matter of time before we got married. He would just have to accept that, because I wasn't going to back down.

That evening, while I was eating dinner in the dining room, Isabella ran in, panting. She nearly scared me if I hadn't composed myself.

"What's going on?" I asked, concerned.

"It's the young master. He's back, drunk, and crashing into things outside!" she said, trying to catch her breath.

"What?!" I blurted.

Without wasting any time, I stood and ran outside to see for myself. Drunk? That was odd. Franklin had never been drunk before. But Isabella was right. I saw him being pulled out of the sports car he had driven earlier. The car had rammed into the fountain across from the mansion.

Though Franklin looked okay, he was clearly drunk. As the male servants brought him toward me, he yanked himself free from their grip and yelled at them not to touch him. Then he looked at me and giggled, almost losing his balance. I quickly helped steady him with Isabella and Ana Maria's help.

"We need to take him inside" I suggested, and they agreed.

When we got to his room, we laid him on the bed. He was still in his shoes and suit. The room was about the same size as mine, but everything else about it felt different. The art on the walls, the furniture, even the way the light filled the space, it all reflected who he was.

One photo stood out; a large framed shot of him and Captain Wilson, Hargrove's Chief Flying Officer, sitting side by side in the cockpit of one of the company's business jets. He looked so alive in it, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. That smile reminded me how much flying meant to him, it wasn't just a hobby. It was part of who he was.

Isabella asked if they should take off his shoes and coat and loosen his necktie, but Ana Maria strongly objected.

"That's not our job," she said to Isabella, before grabbing her arm and leading her out of the room.

Not their job? Then whose job was it? Mine? I swallowed hard, my heart pounding as I watched them leave, then turned to Franklin, who probably wasn't even aware of what was going on around him.