Her Uncle Stole Her Education and Treated Her Like a Servant, Turned Her Into a House Slave—Not Knowing She Was Quietly Teaching Herself to Become Someone Powerful.

Wash the plates from last night.

Boil water.

Pack lunch boxes.

Iron school uniforms.

Clean the bathrooms.

Scrub Madam Ezinne’s bathtub until the woman could see her own face in it.

Wake the children.

Stand at the gate with school bags while Uncle Boniface’s children climbed into the air-conditioned car in clean uniforms, carrying the future Adaeze had been promised.

Some mornings, fourteen-year-old Kosi looked at Adaeze and smiled with careless cruelty.

“Aunty Girl, you missed a stain on my shoe.”