The Rejected Principessa Returns novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I froze in place, convinced I was trapped in some grotesque nightmare, yet the tearing pain in my chest made it impossible to pretend it wasn't real.

I lunged forward and tore the two of them apart.

Camellias scattered across the ground. I grabbed a rose from the flowerbed and slapped Dominic across the face with everything I had.

Dominic didn't dodge, but the moment I turned on Rhea, he seized my wrist and flung me aside.

I stumbled and hit the lawn hard. Gravel sliced open my palm, blood welling immediately.

All he did was shield Rhea and snap in a cold, clipped voice, "Rhea is your sister. What gives you the right to hit her? Look at yourself, Amelia. You're acting like a lunatic."

Rhea cried into his arms. "I'm sorry, Amelia. But Dominic and I truly love each other. If I hadn't been switched at birth, I would have met him first."

Her lips still glistened with the shine of his kisses.

"I can apologize, but I won't give Dominic back to you."

Whatever remained of my reason snapped. I grabbed a flowerpot and hurled it at them, spewing vitriol until my throat felt raw and tasted of iron.

Dominic only laughed under his breath. "You're unravelling, Amelia. It's becoming... undignified."

When my mother and Vincent rushed over, they took one look at my disheveled hair and dirt-streaked clothes and immediately frowned.

"Amelia, stop making a scene. Rhea is your sister. Must you make everything so difficult?"

"Amelia, have you lost your mind?"

"No! You pinned me against the camellia wall. You possessed me as if I were the very air in your lungs. What promises did you make then? You said you wanted me for life. Your one and only!"

"I forgot! And you stole twenty years of Rhea's life. You owe her. She is the Ravello family's Principessa, not you!"

They locked me in the basement after that. Every day they shoved a nearly spoiled sandwich through the crack under the door.

Darkness and silence worked like sandpaper, eroding the last of my defiance until I was nothing but silt. Then one day, the iron door opened. Dominic stood in the backlit doorway.

"I made a deal with your brother. Consider it a mercy, Amelia. We're getting married."