My Fiancé Abandoned Me For Don’s Adopted Daughter But I’m Don’s Real Daughter Chapter 02
“Pearl, you’re here already?”
A woman dripping in designer labels walked in on 4-inch stiletto heels.
“Vincent, you haven’t handled this yet? I’m moving in today. Where’s your pathetic little fiancées? Why isn’t she on her knees greeting the new lady of the house?”
So this was Pearl. My father’s adopted daughter.
After I faked my death, my father was consumed with grief. One day he spotted a girl running errands in the lowest ranks of the organization, a girl whose face bore a striking seven-tenths resemblance to mine. He adopted her on the spot and showered her with everything he had.
Vincent scrambled to appease Pearl the second he saw her anger rising. “Miss Pearl, please don’t worry. I’ll deal with her right now.”
“I’m not your trash to toss. You want me gone? Fine. But after three years of everything I’ve given you, you owe me an explanation.”
“And you, Miss Pearl. You haven’t even married him yet, and you’re already calling yourself the lady of the house?”
She wanted me to step aside quietly?
If my father knew about this, he would lose his mind.
Pearl’s face flushed red at being challenged to her face. She snapped her fingers at the thugs flanking her.
“Tie her up!”
Several men in black swarmed me, pinned me to the ground, and cinched plastic zip ties around my wrists.
Vincent’s expression darkened. He walked over and stood above me.
“Rosa, you brought this on yourself.”
“You know too much about my business. And that money? You really think I’m letting you walk?”
A chill shot through me.
So that’s what this was about. The money.
Three months ago, I accidentally discovered that Vincent had skimmed a job. He’d doctored the numbers on a shipment and pocketed a million dollars. He got on his knees, swore up and down it was for our future together, begged me to keep his secret. I was soft. I said yes.
Now I understood. From that moment on, he’d already been planning how to keep me silent forever.
Pearl stamped her foot impatiently.
“Why are you still talking to her? She knows things she shouldn’t know. Either she dies, or she stays. I say we keep her for fun. Dying would be too easy.”
She seemed to remember something. She looked down at the diamond-studded watch on her wrist, then touched the glittering necklace at her throat, and smiled at me.
“Come to think of it, I should thank you. All these pretty things Vincent bought me? They came from that money. You kept his secret so hard, and in the end, it’s all hanging on me. How does that feel?”
I jerked my head up and stared at Vincent.
A flicker of shame crossed his face. He said nothing.
So that was it.
When he knelt before me swearing it was for our future, he was thinking of another woman.
I thrashed against my restraints, glaring at every last one of these parasites riding my father’s name.
When I faked my death, my “suicide note” asked my father to release the loyal guards who had protected me since childhood. He honored my final wish.
Now these new recruits surrounded me. I didn’t recognize a single face.
Pearl still wasn’t satisfied. She ordered Vincent to bring in the lowest men under his command.
“Since you won’t leave on your own, don’t blame me for what comes next. Starting today, you’re the lowest servant in this house!”
“You don’t want to serve Vincent, the underboss? Then go serve the filth underneath him! Call them in!”
A group of filthy men were brought in.
These were the men who handled the family’s dirtiest work. Ex-cons. Junkies. Cripples who’d had their legs broken for failures. Prisoners taken from rival gangs.
They were the most wretched, most disposable people in the entire organization.
She wanted me to serve them?
Their grimy hands tore at my clothes without hesitation, crawling over my skin. I screamed through the gag, thrashing, choking on muffled sobs.
Vincent’s eyes flickered with something that might have been regret. He turned to Pearl.
“Miss Pearl, Rosa was my woman after all. If you let these men touch her, word gets out, it makes me look bad too.”
That only made it worse. Pearl’s face went black.
“Are you still thinking about this little slut? I noticed she looks a bit like me. So tell me, Vincent. Do you love me, or do you love her?”
Vincent stole one guilty glance at me, then clenched his jaw, turned his head away, and poured all his attention into soothing Pearl.
“Of course I only love you, Pearl. It’s our wedding day! We are getting married today! Rosa is just some nobody with no connections. She can’t compare to you. Besides, she knows things she shouldn’t. I can’t let her walk.”
Pearl’s expression softened. But when she looked at me, her eyes were pure venom.
“And that face. She looks too much like me. It pisses me off. Shave her head.”
A thug produced a set of clippers from somewhere and grabbed a fistful of my hair. The blades bit in and dragged downward.
Black strands fell to the floor one clump at a time. I closed my eyes. My whole body was shaking.
“Not done yet.” Pearl sauntered over, crouched in front of me, scooped a handful of dirt and hair clippings from the floor, and smeared it hard across my face. “Every day from now on, smear a layer of mud on her face before she goes anywhere. A face this similar to mine doesn’t deserve to be seen by anyone.”
Cold filth plastered my skin, grit digging into my eyes and the corners of my mouth. I could barely breathe.
Pearl dusted off her hands, smiling brightly.
“From now on, everyone who sees you will think you’re just a crazy bald woman. Even if someone walks past, they’ll mistake you for a stray dog.”
“Well? Aren’t you going to thank me for the makeover?”
Someone ripped the tape off my mouth so I could answer Pearl.
I spat blood mixed with mud, glared at Pearl and Vincent with every shred of hatred I had left, and spoke one word at a time.
“You’re out of line. My name is Rosaline Galluzzo, the one and only daughter of Don Galluzzo. And when my father finds out what you’ve done, he will not forgive you.”