Chapter 1
I had been in a coma for three years, a sacrifice I made to save my brother and his three best friends.
When I finally woke up, my parents, my brother, and the three boys who were my childhood protectors swarmed my bedside, their excitement a frantic whirlwind. But I met their joy with a cool detachment.
I knew the truth. I knew that when the hospital called to tell them I was awake, they didn’t rush to my side. They stayed to finish celebrating their adopted daughter’s birthday party first.
In the three years I was gone, a new girl had quietly taken my place, inheriting my life, my family, my everything.
A whisper of a memory, a premonition from my long sleep, had warned me of this. It told me I was destined to become the villain of this story, a girl consumed by jealousy, fighting to win back the affection of my family. A girl who would be despised by everyone and ultimately bring about her own tragic end.
A cold smile touched my lips. Fight for them?
No, thank you. A family and friends like that? I’d rather have nothing at all.
1
The television in my hospital room was broadcasting live from the lavish birthday party of the Rhodes family’s new “little princess.” The young heirs of the city’s most powerful families–the Reeds, the Greys, the Shaws–were all in attendance. Four handsome, scene straight impeccably dressed young men surrounded a beautiful girl, singing to her, a perfect portrait of adoration. It was
of a fairy tale.
out
I stared at the familiar faces on the
creen. My father, my mother, my brother, and the three boys who were once my entire world.
They already knew I was awake. The
nurs
had called them from my room, right next to my bed. My father had answered.
Yet, there they were, their smiles
seren
their focus entirely on the party, ensuring it reached its perfect, sparkling conclusion befo-
re they even thought of me.
य
The nurse had just finished a round of physical therapy with me, and I was settling back into bed to rest when a frantic pounding of footsteps echoed from the hallway.
The door to my room burst open, shattering the quiet.
“Rory!”
“Rory, you’re finally awake!”
A sea of emotional faces, a torrent of relieved words, all painting a picture that my waking was the world. If I hadn’t just seen their gentle, devoted gazes fixed on another girl on that television screen
long to get here.
most important event in the
If they hadn’t taken so damn
vis boys ing
Maybe then I would have believed they were still the same parents, the same brother, the same boys
My expression remained flat. I shifted my gaze to the girl standing hesitantly in the doorway, still wearing the beautiful white dress
from the party on TV.
My mother noticed my stare and quickly, gently, beckoned her forward.
“Rory, darling, this is your sister, Celine. She’s the daughter of your father’s dear friend who passed away. We adopted her three
years ago.”
“These past three years… if it weren’t for Celine keeping us company, I don’t know how I would have survived the grief,” Mom said,
her voice thick with emotion.
05:52
05.52
Chapter 1
“That’s right,” Dad added with a heavy sigh. “Celine was like a gift from heaven during our darkest time.”
My brother, Alex, smiled warmly at her. “Celine, now you have an older sister. Go on, say hello.”
Celine looked at me, her eyes shining with what looked like genuine emotion. “Sister, I’m so happy you’re finally awake. Mom, Dad,
and Alex have been so worried. I’ve always said, if my sister waking up meant I had to leave this family, I would do it in a heartbe-
at.”
“Celine, don’t say such silly things,” Mom chided, pulling her into a tight hug. “You are never to talk about leaving the Rhodes family,
do you hear me? You are a part of this family. And now you have a sister to look out for you.”
“She’s right, you silly girl. No one is ever making you leave,” Dad added, his voice full of affection.
“You’re always talking about leaving. Don’t you want us anymore? You’d break our hearts,” Alex said with a mock–pout.
“Alex, of course I want you all!” Celine blushed, stamping her foot playfully, which made everyone chuckle.
“And if anyone in the Rhodes house gives you a hard time, you come straight to me. I’ll still treat you like a princess,” said Caleb
Reed, one of my three childhood friends.
“Hey, what about me? Why does she have to go to you?” Julian Grey chimed in with a huff.
“Celine likes me best, so obviously she’d come to my place,” Leo Shaw declared.
“Get lost, who said she likes you best!” the others jeered.
પારકર કામ કરવા મ
“Alright, you can all stop dreaming. Celine is our family’s princess. No one would dare bully her,” my brother, Alex, announced proud-
- ly.
My parents just smiled and shook their heads. Celine, blushing, leaned against my mother.
And just like that, in my hospital room, the universe shifted to revolve around her. I, the girl lying in the hospital bed, was a mere
afterthought.
I turned my head away, bored, just in time to catch the look Celine shot me over
Iterated triumph.
my
‘Mother’s
MHINI Ulder. It was a look of
pure, unadu-
