Chapter 250
“I need to stand on my own two feet first,” I said. “I need to bury Liam and Seraphina with my own hands. When I come to you… I want to come as an equal. Not a rescue case.”
Alistair stared at me for a long moment. Then a slow, dark smile spread across his face. He took my hand and kissed my knuckles.
“My Queen of Vengeance,” he murmured. “Fine. I’ll wait. But keep the ring. Wear it on a chain. Let it burn against your skin so you remember who you belong to.”
Before I could answer, Felix Carter, Alistair’s head of security, ran toward us holding a tablet.
“Boss! Ms. Sterling! You need to see this.”
We huddled around the screen. It was a live news broadcast.
BREAKING: Thorne Family Miracle.
The screen showed the massive iron gates of the Thorne Estate—a place even more secretive than Kensington Manor.
Dominic Thorne, Alistair’s cousin and rival, stood at a podium. He looked smug.
“For years,” Dominic spoke into the microphones, “our family has mourned the loss of our beloved Eleanor. We thought she was gone forever.”
The doors behind him opened.
A woman stepped out. She wore a modest white dress.
Her hair was dyed a soft brown. She looked humble, shy.
It was Seraphina.
My jaw dropped. “How? She’s in jail! The FBI arrested her for the baby trafficking!”
“She’s claiming mistaken identity,” Alistair hissed, his eyes narrowing as he read the ticker tape. “Dominic’s lawyers filed an emergency injunction. They’re arguing that the woman arrested as Seraphina Miller is actually the long-lost heiress Eleanor Thorne, suffering from amnesia. They posted a fifty-million-dollar bond and moved her to a private medical facility under protective custody pending a DNA hearing.”
On the screen, Seraphina stepped up to the mic. She touched a necklace she wore—a silver locket.
“I didn’t know who I was,” Seraphina said, her voice trembling perfectly. “I had amnesia. I was raised by a poor family… the Millers. But when I saw this locket… I remembered.”
Dominic put an arm around her. “We have conducted a private DNA test. It is a match. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Eleanor Thorne.”
“It’s a lie,” I whispered. “Eleanor is dead. Seraphina killed her.”
о𝘳і𝘨𝘪𝗻𝖺𝗅 сo𝘯𝘵𝗲𝗇𝗍 𝗳𝗋оm b𝘦𝗅𝗻𝗈𝗏е𝗅𝗌.с𝘰𝘮
“Dominic knows it’s a lie,” Alistair said, his eyes cold as ice. “He doesn’t care. He needs a puppet to challenge my claim to the Thorne inheritance. If Eleanor is alive, she has a claim to half the estate.”
Seraphina looked directly into the camera. A small, triumphant smirk played on her lips.
“I’m just happy to be home,” she said. “And I forgive everyone who tried to hurt me. Even… the jealous ones.”
She meant me.
“She’s playing a dangerous game,” Alistair said, his eyes like ice. “Impersonating a Thorne? The punishment for that isn’t prison. It’s death.”
“She thinks she’s untouchable now,” I said. “She thinks Dominic will protect her.”
My phone dinged. An email.
It was an invitation.
The Thorne Family formally invites Ms. Skye Sterling to the Welcome Home Ball for Eleanor Thorne.
“They’re inviting me?” I asked.
“It’s a trap,” Felix said. “A public humiliation.”
“Or an opportunity,” I said. I looked at Alistair. “If she wants to play the long-lost princess, let’s go see if the slipper fits.”