Chapter 2 Disappointment 💔

"Don't come home expecting me to feed you."

The message from her mother appeared on Jessica's phone just as she stepped out of another job interview.

She read it twice, then lowered the phone with trembling fingers.

She had spent the entire day searching for work. Her feet were blistered, her stomach was empty, and the last money in her purse would barely cover the journey home. Yet Margaret had already decided that Jessica had done nothing.

At twenty-one, Jessica was fighting to survive in a house where her own mother treated her like a burden.

She looked at her reflection in the dark window of a closed shop. Her dress was faded, her hair was untidy, and exhaustion had settled beneath her eyes. She tried to smile, but the expression vanished almost immediately.

She had no job.

No savings.

No one to turn to.

And when she returned home, she knew exactly what would be waiting for her: another accusation, another cruel comparison, and another reminder that she had failed to become the daughter her mother wanted.

Jessica slipped her phone into her handbag and looked up at the evening sky.

"Daddy," she whispered, "I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Five years earlier, her father had been the only person who made her feel safe. He had called her his princess, listened to her dreams, and promised that she would become someone she could be proud of.

But he was gone now.

And without him, home no longer felt like home.

Jessica turned toward the road, forcing herself to walk.

She didn't know it yet, but before the night ended, someone she had never met would make a decision that would change her life forever.

And the man who was about to enter her world had no idea that the girl he would save was already close to giving up.