The enormous Shaw Mansion loomed ahead as the gate opened and Sam drove the car into the driveway. A magnificent water fountain stood in the middle as the driveway curved into a circle showcasing the wealth of the Shaw family. Sam parked the car next to the huge glass door entrance and quickly came to open the door for her, but Camellia, being used to helping herself, had already opened the car door. So, Sam closed the door after her and retrieved her luggage from the trunk. A beautiful woman in a sleek black dress pant came out of the mansion. She glared at the modestly dressed woman at the bottom of the stairs and sneered.

"So, you are Miss Quintana?"

Camellia nodded her head coolly.

"I can't imagine how you have the guts to come into this house," she replied arrogantly. "Just to tell you, but everyone works in this house. Nobody gets anything free from my Father's wealth." She eyed Camellia from head to toe, then finished, "Especially someone hated."

Camellia gave her an icy stare.

"You must be a Shaw?"

Amy looked away arrogantly.

"How funny of you to say that, when you look as if you've never worked in your life," Camellia remarked disgustedly, looking at how neat and straightened Amy's dressing was. "As they say, there are people who talk but never do the walk. You must be one of those people. How shameful for the Shaws."

Amy glared at her as if wanting to scratch her eyes out.

"My brother may have no choice but to bring you here, but you will never see a fortunate day here! We'll make sure of it!"

With that threat, she immediately turned and walked down the stairs to get into an attractive red sports car and drove away. Calming herself, Camellia followed a nervous Sam into the house. Sam had brought her luggage, and she thanked him kindly as he turned to leave. Then she turned to observe the enormous building and stared in awe at the beautifully designed house. A cascading stairway lead upstairs, an immense family room loomed to her right, and a glittering dining room loomed to her left; above hung a crystal chandelier, perfect for a princely entrance.

A maid came up to her.

"Miss Quintana, I'll bring you to your room."

Camellia smiled in relief and followed the maid up the magnificent staircase to a huge hallway. They passed many doors before the maid opened a door for her to go into. Inside was plainly decorated compared to the rest of the house, but for her, it was good enough. She found that the room had its own bathroom and shower, a modest-size bed, and gigantic windows that overlooked the huge backyard and pool.

She thanked the maid in kindness as her luggage was brought in.

"Where is Mr. Shaw?" she asked the kind maid.

"Which one, Miss?"

Camellia looked confused.

"Mr. William Shaw's son?"

"Mr. James Shaw or Mr. Mark Shaw?"

"Mark?" she whispered, not knowing that James had another brother.

"Mr. James Shaw."

The maid smiled.

"He doesn���t come home until six," she remarked.

Camellia nodded in comprehension and the maid left her in her new room. She turned to regard the place before her. How beautiful the place was if everything came with warmth and love. But she knew these vast homes only contained emptiness and coldness… and the residents would be no difference.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was afternoon when Camellia came down the cascading staircase to look for a maid. She was hungry and wondered where the kitchen was. It surprised her that a big house like this had no one around. Curious, she went into every room and found no one, but beautifully decorated, empty rooms. She finally heard a dog bark and pursued the noise into a room. To her relief, it was the kitchen and four maids were there cooking. One of them, whom must have been the head cook, ordered the rest around.

On the ground, Camellia saw a medium-sized beagle dog wagging his tail and eating from a tray placed on the ground. He barked at her twice, then came up and sniffed her. Her face brightened up as she bent down to rub his neck. He seemed happy and encouraged her to rub him. Camellia smiled and picked him up in her arms and look at the maids.

"Do you need any help?" Camellia asked kindly, hoping to make friends.

Three of them gave her a curious look, while the head cook looked at her unkindly.

"What are you doing here?!" the head cook questioned harshly.

"I came to see if there's anything I can help you with," Camellia remarked.

"Who do you think you are to come here?" the head cook replied again.

Camellia frowned, annoyed that the head cook was being unkind to her for no reason.

"I live here now. I can come here if I want to. Who are you to question me," Camellia finally remarked firmly back at her.

"Ooh," the head cook started, "You must be the girl from America who's come to take over this house?"

Camellia unhappily looked at her.

"I'll have you know that I can replace you if you speak like that to me again," Camellia spoke, knowing she was lying. She had maids once, she remembered, and none of them spoke to her like this. Is this how the Shaw maids behave, she wondered? Or were they intentionally being unkind to a rival's daughter? She frowned. She would not allow them to bully her.

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To her satisfaction, the head cook looked to the other three maids, fearfully wondering if that could be true. They timidly stayed away.

"You can't," she began, "Mr. Shaw likes me too much to allow you to do that."

"This house also belongs to me," Camellia threatened. "As you've heard, the late Mr. Shaw is now my guardian… so if you want to question my presence, you better be prepared to leave."

The head cook gave her an ugly stare.

"You couldn't. I do not believe you. The Shaw…they do not even like you. They wouldn't give you that much power in this house."

Camellia flinched at having her feelings hurt from knowing the Shaws' feelings toward her. Though she knew, hearing it made it worse.

"They despise me, and I despise them. But I will throw you out of the house the next time you speak like that to me again," Camellia remarked.

Camellia looked around as if observing the kitchen, then she slowly replied, "I see that the Shaw Mansion needs a lot of changes."

She turned and glared at the head cook icily, and remarked, "And one of them may be you!"

The head cook looked in mute horror and disbelief. The other three maids whispered and giggled among themselves until the head cook gave them a threatening stare. Camellia patted the puppy's head and left the kitchen with a triumphant look, leaving the head cook to stare in mute horror

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camellia came out of the house to cool her angry heart. The puppy wiggled adorably in her arms. She knew life in this mansion would be terrible, for the residents hated her. So why did her father wanted her to like them when he knew they would hate her? Must she stay here until she was twenty-five?

She walked up to the fountain and settled the puppy on the ground. Sitting down, she laid her arms against the fountain and stared at the flowing water. Though the mansion was beautiful and the fountain captivating, her heart was lonely and battered. She had no friends and no one who cared about her. Her father had been wrong. This house would not give her warmth, not when the residents were so cold and cruel.

Her thoughts wondered to the late Mr. William Shaw. Was he cold like his home or a father whom she had long for? Why had he helped her father, and would he had been like the father she had always wanted? She sighed and laid her head down to rest on the fountain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The head cook, Blanche, quickly came out of the house to greet James as he walked up the stairs into the house. He was dressed in a blue suit.

"Mr. Shaw! Mr. Shaw! That girl from America threatened to fire me!" she blurted out crying.

James looked annoyed.

"Where is she?��

"She's out in the back. She's also taken your dog and not allowed us to feed him," Blanche continued with tears in her eyes.

One maid, Sara, came out nervously to take his briefcase. James took off his shoes and entered the house. He knew she would be trouble, but he did not know that she would threaten his employees on her first day in his home. He took off his suit jacket and strolled to the back room. He walked over to the windows and saw her outside with his dog. He looked irritated. She was with his dog. And his dog seemed to enjoy her company, as he followed her around, while she looked at his flowers in the backyard.

He opened the sliding door and stepped out, slipping into an outdoor sandal to step onto the grass. He watched her in annoyance as she seemed to be happy and in place, as if this was her home.

"Bow," he called out, and hearing his name, the dog turned from Camellia and ran towards its master. Camellia turned around in surprise at James's presence. She had been busy looking at all the flowers in the back that she had forgotten the time.

The dog ran up to him and James knelt and rubbed the dog's neck with gentle words. After a moment, he looked up to her and narrowed his eyes. She stood across the lawn as he stood up and walked toward her with his hands in his pant pockets.

"Bow seems to like you," he began, looking down at the cheerful dog beside him.

She looked at Bow, who seemed happy next to his master, and a light smile crossed her face. But when she turned back to look at him, her eyes turned cold.

"You seem to get along well in this place. Do you like it?" he asked sarcastically.

She looked around to acknowledge the place and nodded unkindly.

He raised one eyebrow.

"Does it go with your lifestyle?" he questioned abruptly, "I'm sure you must have had more enjoyment in America with all the freedom and partying. My servants are rather conservative if you find their services to be unlike what you are used to."

Camellia's eyes darkened as he insulted her.

He turned away in disregard.

"Must I make it clear to you, Miss Quintana, that you are here as my father's guest. As the head of the household, I will not tolerate any aggression from any guests."

"What are you implying, Mr. Shaw?" Camellia asked firmly, anger slowly building up in her.

He turned back to look at her coldly.

"I am implying, Miss Quintana, that you are welcome to roam this place as you like, but my employees will only answer to me. I will not tolerate any threats you plan to make in this house, which is my responsibility."

Camellia's heart filled with anger.

"I plan to make no intentional threats in your house, Mr. Shaw. If a man of your stature taught your employees manners and respect for those they serve," Camellia began, "Even if they don't serve me, a person alone knows how to greet someone when they first meet them, especially if they are an employee greeting a guest!"

Camellia smiled cruelly from a thought.

"But then, their manners must come from their employer," she slowly replied. "For he also has no manners to greet a guest with hospitality. Like they say, an employee is only as good as the employer…"

His eyes narrowed unhappily from her words. She lifted her chin to meet him and then turned away to leave in triumph. He followed her impatiently.

"I don't care what threats you make here, Miss Quintana, but I will not tolerate you cowering my employees."

Camellia stopped and looked at him.

"Why do you worry so, Mr. Shaw? In your eyes, I am not your guest. In fact, you view me no different from them, am I not correct?" she asked with a disgusted look on her face.

His eyes narrowed angrily.

"If that is how I view you, then I would have ordered your luggage to be placed in the employee's corridor," he remarked.

"But you can't because of your father's Will."

"I don't care about my father's Will, or what he wanted me to do. I only want to know why my father helped your father. And if I must take you in for two years to wait for that damn Will to be read, then I will patiently allow you to step into this house as a guest!"

She coldly returned his uncaring gesture.

"And what happens when you have real guests over, Mr. Shaw? Will you hide me like an unwanted guest, or will you blend me in as one of your maids?" she questioned boldly.

He stared at her blankly. The thought never came to him.

"What would you want it to be?" he asked suddenly, a twist to his lips. His eyes looked at her mockingly.

She looked away almost regretfully.

"I wished my father never did a favor for your father, so I wouldn't need to wait two years here in this cold house of yours just to hear his last words. And I wished that my father had never rivaled with your father, so that we wouldn't be here hating each other."

James looked surprised. He did not expect her to say these words. He did not expect her to have some sensitivity. It seemed as if she almost hated her position here, a position where she could be owning millions of his father's wealth.

She was the first woman in his life who had told him that this house was cold, something he had felt at times. He had thought she would be a common, wasteful talker, annoying, perhaps bossy. He actually felt sorry for her now as her face turned away from him as if troubled and depressed. And suddenly he felt regretful of his unkindness to her.

She quickly dismissed her thoughts and faced him bravely.

"I am glad that your father has this huge house, Mr. Shaw, for I can hide when I don't want to be in any of your presences."

She turned away from him and walked back into the house, leaving him stunned and a bit vexed.