Dahlia and the Garden of Light - Chapter 1: Chapter 1

In a city of glass towers and silver streets lived a little girl named Dahlia, just four years old. She had soft brown curls, eyes like honey, and a secret she had never shared — flowers grew wherever she touched the ground, blooming fast and full, and glowing softly when she sang.
She didn’t know why. It had always been that way.
She had lived in a quiet orphanage on the edge of the city, where the days were long and the nights were a little too quiet. Until one chilly spring afternoon, everything changed.
The Anderson family — wealthy, powerful, and famously private — arrived at the orphanage in a sleek black car. Antonio Anderson, a tall man with silver-streaked hair and eyes like storms, walked in holding the hand of his youngest son, Theo, age 10, with a crooked grin and boundless energy. Behind them were Eliot, 16, calm and thoughtful, and Christian, 14, always one heartbeat away from laughter.
They weren’t there for business.
They were looking for her.
That very afternoon, Dahlia went home with them, dressed in a soft pink coat Theo insisted matched her name.
The Anderson mansion was enormous — more castle than home — with marble floors, tall windows, and a garden the size of a park.
That’s where the truth began to show.
On her second day, Dahlia tripped in the garden and scraped her knee. She sniffled, put her tiny hand on the ground to push herself up — and suddenly, the earth bloomed. Bluebells, daisies, golden poppies burst from the grass, glowing faintly. The air turned warm. Her cut vanished.
Unseen from the window above, Antonio watched, eyes wide.
He knew. And in that moment, his world shifted.