The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella) novel Chapter 1633

In the living room, Erik watched Serena's crying her heart out was utterly useless. Scrambling up, he began, "Mr. and Mrs Collins."

"You'd better not plead her case, or you're out the door with her." Louisa snapped, her temper flaring, "I actually thought she was sorry this time. She's been playing us for fools, putting on an act, pretending to apologize. Then behind our backs, she's spewing vile insults like 'trash,' 'freak,' and 'slut'. What happened to the manners we've spent eighteen years instilling in her?"

Kenneth, too, felt a chill of disappointment, "I never thought she'd become such a stranger to us." He followed Louisa upstairs, "I don't think she's going to change. Once she apologizes to Bella, we'll have her move out."

"There's no keeping her here," Louisa agreed, having seen through Serena's facade after these recent events. The girl wasn't going to change.

Serena felt as if the entire world had abandoned her. She knelt in the snow, her body numbed by the cold until she lost all feeling; she simply couldn't believe her parents actually meant to kick her out.

Eighteen years of pampering flashed before her eyes, as vivid as yesterday's memories. Although Erik had warned her that after the New Year's festivities, her parents might ask her to leave the Collins family, but when she heard it from them and felt the sting of their slaps, it was all too different.

She was discarded. Cast aside by the very parents who once doted on her the most! All those promises to cherish her as their own, to treat her fairly, they were all lies!

Her tears flowed unchecked, her body shivering uncontrollably in the freezing cold. Erik, witnessing this from inside, felt a pang of distress.

Serena had no idea how long she knelt in the snow until she collapsed, consciousness slipping away.

Erik, frantic, approached Louisa, "Mrs. Collins, Ms. Serena's been in the snow for three hours. She's passed out from exhaustion."