Chapter 2
Whenever Bella mentioned me, she'd get this ridiculously smug grin on her face.
She sneered, "That useless brat? I sold her off and didn't think twice. She was just extra baggage.
"She's not even my real daughter. Back when I gave birth, Victoria went into labor early, too. We ended up in the same delivery room, and wouldn't you know it, both of us had girls.
"My own daughter was wrapped in cast-off feed sacks, while Victoria's baby lay swaddled in silk embroidered with gold thread. She looked so fragile that it seemed impossible.
"We are both women, so why should Victoria's kin hoard riches beyond imagination? Why should my girl not claim a share?
"I traded that cursed infant for my own flesh and blood, then starved and beat the child daily, certain she would die.
"Yet the wretch clung to life. When she was three, I left her fevered and unfed for three days; still, she breathed. She even limped to the baker, begged a biscuit, and carried it back.
"She whispered, 'Momma, I ain't hungry. You eat it.'
"Tell me, is that cursed brat not impossible to kill and lowly beyond words?
"Thank heaven I finally sold her to the trader. By now, she is likely worked to death and gone for good. This time, she will never block my daughter's rise to fortune."
I found myself crying again.
I looked at the scars all over me and my skinny, bony hands, and suddenly it hit me: my whole life was just one big joke.
Turns out, Bella was never my mother. She was my worst enemy.
No wonder she never loved me.
No wonder she just watched from the sidelines, smirking, whenever her man tried to touch me or push me around.
That day, I killed two more people: Bella and her man.
After they passed out drunk, I grabbed the knife from the trader's stall and started slicing strips of flesh off them, one cut at a time.
That knife was supposed to be used on me, but now it was only fitting that they got what was coming to them.
After that, I made my way north.
It took me a long time, but I finally managed to find my real family, the Sterlings.
With the keepsake I got from Bella after confronting her, I proved who I really was and finally got accepted by them.
But when I finally returned to the Sterling household, I realized they were just like Bella.
They didn't care about the hell I'd endured or how I had survived Bella's twisted games.
All they feared was that their precious Nora, the girl they had indulged every day of her life, might feel wounded now that their real daughter had appeared.
They handed me the title of Lady Sophia, yet every ounce of affection and every privilege stayed with Nora.
It was not fair at all.
Both of us got swapped as babies, but Nora got to live like a princess, while I ended up nothing but a dirty street rat.
But so what? At least now I could eat my fill and stay warm. No more standing in the cold, begging for scraps just to stay alive.
And I didn't have to worry about filthy hands creeping toward me in the dead of night anymore.
My dream was simple: just to survive, to live like a real human being.
But Nora wouldn't allow it, and neither would the rest of my so-called family.
The day before my wedding with Prince William, Nora slipped something into my wine and dumped me unconscious in the stables.
She was out to ruin me, and my parents and Nathan went right along with her, all of them set on destroying me, too.
I stared at them, my eyes stinging with so much rage and heartbreak that I felt like crying tears of blood.
Was I ever really their daughter? The question burned in my chest.
But before I could say anything, my maid, Amy, spoke up first.
She rushed forward, voice cracking with grief, and begged, "Mr. Sterling, Lady Victoria, please, show some compassion for Lady Sophia.
"None of this is Lady Sophia's fault. It was Lady Nora who caused all this, and now Lady Sophia is the one suffering. Shouldn't she be the one you feel sorry for?
"Why aren't you punishing the real culprit? Instead, you're handing Lady Sophia's rightful marriage to her rival. Lady Sophia saved Queen Mother Isabelle, and it was Lady Sophia whom the Queen Mother favored and granted this marriage.
"Now, because of Lady Nora's mistake, you're forcing Lady Sophia to take the fall, even to die for it. How is that fair? She's the one who's truly suffering."
Amy flung herself forward, pressing her forehead to the parquet and pounding it against the wood, each impact echoing through the room.
With every slam, her forehead split open, blood pouring down her face.
Amy was an orphan I rescued from the streets, and the only person in this whole family who ever showed me any real kindness.
She kept slamming her head against the floor, hoping her own blood would be enough to beg for justice on my behalf.
I clung to Victoria's sleeve, my voice shaking as I begged, "Mother, please, give me justice! It was Nora who did this to me.
"Her birth mother tormented me back then, and now Nora is every bit as cruel as she was."