He Walked Into His Mansion and Found His Estranged Daughter Scrubbing His Floors

The Shock in the Foyer

The soapy water stung the tiny cuts on Chloe’s hands, but she kept scrubbing. Tears dripped from her nose, mixing with the lavender-scented foam on the cold marble floor. At twenty-three, she had hit rock bottom. Working for a high-end domestic agency was her last resort to pay off her mother’s mounting medical bills. The mansion she had been assigned to was breathtaking, a monument to wealth with its sweeping staircase and towering columns. But to Chloe, it felt like a gilded cage, especially under the icy gaze of its mistress, Victoria.

Victoria stood at the top of the stairs, swirling a glass of expensive red wine.

"Make sure you get those corners, girl. I don't pay agency rates for half-hearted work,"

she drawled, her voice dripping with condescension.

Chloe swallowed her pride and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am,"

she whispered, lowering her head. But before she could scrub another inch, the heavy oak front door swung open. A man in a tailored dark suit stepped inside, loosening his tie. It was Thomas. He took three steps into the foyer before his eyes locked onto the girl kneeling on his floor.

Thomas froze. The color drained from his face, his briefcase slipping from his fingers and clattering onto the marble. Chloe looked up, her breath catching in her throat. The face staring back at her was older, lined with stress, but unmistakable. It was the face from the single, faded photograph her mother had kept on her nightstand.

"Dad?"

Chloe gasped, the word escaping her lips before she could stop it.

Thomas stared in absolute disbelief, his lips parting but no sound coming out. Seeing his shock, Chloe quickly lowered her head, sobbing silently as she frantically began scrubbing the floor again, trying to disappear into the suds. From the landing, Victoria’s elegant voice cut through the heavy silence.

"You're home so early, darling,"

she said, a chilling smile playing on her lips as Thomas walked deeper into the room, his eyes never leaving the crying maid.