The Rejected Principessa Returns novel Chapter 106

Chapter 10

How could it be Sienna?

The woman he thought came from the slums, who had nowhere to go without him, who relied on him to survive…

The woman he deemed unworthy of marriage because of her “background,” someone he allowed others to belittle and trample on…

She was… the heiress of the Sloane family? The sole successor to a vast financial empire?

The very girl now standing above them all, dazzling and exalted, the queen of the night?

Shock hit him first, pure and paralyzing.

Then came the panic. A suffocating fear-cold, crushing, absolute-wrapped around his chest like iron chains. The kind of fear that whispered you’ve lost her forever.

He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

Instinctively, he took a step forward, wanting to rush to her side, to grab her, to ask why, to hold her close, confirm she was real, that this wasn’t a cruel hallucination.

But before he could move, the crowd surged.

A wall of sharp-eyed men in black suits had appeared from nowhere, silent and stern, blocking his path.

Like a lone boat in a storm, he was pushed back, adrift in a sea of strangers, helpless to do anything but watch as that glowing figure walked slowly, gracefully, to center stage.

Step by step, she moved farther and farther away from him.

The friends standing beside him were just as stunned. Their teasing grins had frozen, expressions morphing

into disbelief and humiliation.

They looked from the radiant woman onstage… to Adrian, who stood pale and shattered.

The memories of how they used to mock the “poor little girl from the slums” burned their cheeks with

shame.

Celeste’s face turned deathly white.

No amount of makeup could hide the panic creeping into her bones.

Her greatest weapon-her so-called “pedigree”-now looked pathetic in comparison to the real daughter of

high society.

She dug her nails into her palm, hoping the pain would keep her from breaking down in front of everyone.

She whipped her head toward Adrian, desperate for reassurance, only to find him staring, as if in a trance, at

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the woman onstage.

His eyes were filled with shock, with disbelief, with a tidal wave of regret. And something else, something so raw and terrifying it made Celeste’s stomach drop-fear.

True, soul-deep fear.

The ceremony continued with solemn grandeur.

Sienna stood tall, poised as ever. In front of lawyers and Sloane family elders, she signed the final documents and accepted the official seal of power.

She looked like she had been born for this. She was calm, radiant and commanding.

Occasionally, her gaze swept across the room.

When it passed over Adrian’s direction, it paused. Just for a second.

But in that second, there was no hatred. No bitterness. No gloating revenge.

Nothing.

Only the indifferent glance you might give a stranger passing on the street.

That glance cut Adrian so deeply, he nearly bent over from the pain.

Then she stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply as she approached the microphone.

Her voice rang out, cool and steady, clear through every corner of the room.

“Thank you all for attending today’s ceremony. I’m honored to officially inherit the Sloane Group.”

“In keeping with tradition, I will also take this opportunity to select a partner-someone who will walk alongside me and the Sloane family into the future.”

A partner.

The word hit Adrian like a blade. His head shot up. His eyes were bloodshot, disbelief flooding his entire

body.

What did she just say? A marriage match? She was choosing someone-tonight?

No.

No!

She belonged to him. She was his. She couldn’t-shouldn’t-choose someone else.

The room erupted.

Elite bachelors straightened their ties, smoothed their suits, their eyes gleaming with desire and ambition.

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Each man hoped he’d be the one chosen by the Sloane heiress-the woman who had just shaken the entire city.

But for Adrian, the world tilted. His vision darkened, and his ears rang.

Everything around him blurred.

His carefully maintained pride, his unshakable control-all of it was shattered, completely destroyed, by one sentence from her lips.

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