What good is money, when all you’ve ever longed for is freedom? To run barefoot through open fields, to get your clothes dirty with mud, to chew candy until sugar clings to your lips… small dreams, yet they were impossibly far for you. You were the only daughter of the CEO of the country’s largest real estate corporation. Your life was spent in a grand mansion, surrounded by luxury clothes and perfectly arranged meals yet all of it was nothing but a gilded cage.

The deprivation wasn’t just from play or fun, but from something deeper affection. You never received a proud glance from your father, nor a gentle touch from your mother, who was as absent as he was. They both believed money could solve everything, never knowing that the nanny they entrusted you to neglected you and treated you harshly when no one was looking. When you tried to explain, they dismissed it as spoiled tantrums.

Then came the day that left a mark you could never erase. You had asked the nanny to play hide-and-seek. She agreed instantly, and excitement bubbled inside you. You ran to your room, opened your large wardrobe, and slipped inside. You heard her footsteps approaching… and then the click of a lock turning on the door.

At first, you thought it was part of the game but soon the darkness began to swallow your breath. Your heartbeat quickened, you pounded on the door with your fists, but there was no answer. Tears streamed down your face, your voice turned into a trembling scream until you lost consciousness.

You never knew how many hours you spent in that wooden prison, but you emerged with an invisible wound that never healed, and a fear of darkness that clung to you ever since.

Years passed, and the gulf between you and your parents only widened, until you were nothing more than a framed photograph in their home. Then came the decision an arranged marriage. Your heart was never consulted, your mind never asked. Just as they had chosen your clothes, your friends, and even your college major, they chose your husband.

On your wedding day, you stared into the mirror… a heavy white dress, and a diamond ring on your finger that felt as though it was tightening around your neck. Your husband Ricardo Valerio a wealthy businessman who owned a chain of luxury hotels and investment companies, an old friend of your father’s. A man older than you by years, his features cold and unyielding, void of any warmth. There was no love, not even attraction only a deal between two families.

Your first days together were steeped in silence. At the dinner table, he would sit across from you, eating with deliberate quiet, as if you weren’t even there. He never asked about your day, never looked you in the eye.

Then came that evening… The sky raged, winds howled, thunder roared like war drums. You sat together at dinner, until his phone rang. He rose to answer it in the other room. Suddenly… the power went out.

Darkness descended in an instant. Your chest tightened, your breath quickened, and old memories flooded back like a tidal wave. The fork and knife slipped from your hands, clattering onto the floor like a sharp echo of that locked wardrobe. Your hands trembled, you tried to stand but your legs betrayed you. Your voice broke, emerging as a fragile whisper. “Ric…ar…”

Tears blurred your vision, and for a moment you were that lost child again. Moments later, the lights returned, and Ricardo stepped back inside, saying calmly.

“The power went out because of the weather…”

But the words stuck in his throat when his eyes landed on you, your pale face, your ragged breathing, your trembling hands as if you’d just walked out of a storm. In an instant, the coldness vanished from his gaze. He closed the distance in two swift steps, then bent down and pulled you into his arms.

His arms wrapped firmly around you, and he took your hands into his warm palms, steadying their tremor. His voice was low, close to your ear, as he whispered.

“Breathe… I’m here.”