CHAPTER 2

Amelia froze as the man before her extended his hand. His face was unfamiliar - clean-shaven, handsome, composed. He looked every inch the powerful man he was said to be, yet he was supposed to be her father.

Her father.

The word burned in her chest. This was the man who had walked away from her mother, who hadn’t come back even when her grandmother was sick, who hadn’t once written, called, or asked about her. For years, she had lived with silence where a father’s voice should have been.

And now here he was, standing in a perfectly tailored suit and polished shoes, as if he had never missed a day.

Her throat tightened. How could he expect this to be simple? How could he believe she would just drop everything and follow him, when her entire life had been a string of broken promises?

“I’m not leaving with you.” Her words wavered at the edges, but her stance was firm. “My life is here. You’re a stranger to me. A rich stranger who thinks he can walk back into my life after years of nothing and expect me to obey.”

For a moment, something flickered across Vincent’s face - regret, maybe. His voice lowered, softer than she expected. “I know I failed. I regret not going back for your mother. If I’d known how things turned out… maybe I would have known you, loved you. Amelia, I can’t undo the past, but I want to try now. Please, let me.”

Amelia turned her face away. Her heart was a battlefield, anger clashing with a buried, fragile hope. “I need time. Grandma just…” Her voice broke, “She was all I had, and now she’s gone. Everything feels too fast, too heavy. I can’t think clearly.”

Vincent nodded slowly, his voice gentle but steady. “I understand. But today isn’t a day you should be alone.” He paused and glanced at her, his face full of concern, ”Let’s make a deal. Come with me for a week. If you don’t like it, I’ll personally bring you back. No tricks, no force.”

He said it like a businessman closing in on a deal. Persuasive. Careful. Calculated. It was what he knew best.

“If I can get her into the city,” Vincent thought, “I can make her stay.”

He gestured toward the tall, broad man standing a few steps behind him. “Thomas will take care of everything here while you’re gone.” The man didn’t speak, but his sharp eyes and strong frame radiated authority.

Amelia hesitated, her chest rising and falling in uneven breaths. Part of her wanted to refuse. To run. But exhaustion pressed down on her, the weight of grief and shock too heavy to fight.

Finally, she whispered, “Only for a week.”

Relief crossed Vincent’s face. The proud businessman suddenly looked like a man clinging to his last chance. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

Her heart sank as she walked toward the black sedan waiting at the roadside. Thomas stepped forward, opened the door with a respectful nod, and Amelia slid into the back seat. Her hands twisted together in her lap, her gloves tight across white knuckles.

The car pulled away.

Through the window, the countryside faded, fields, gravel paths, the wooden fence around her grandmother’s yard. They fell behind as the road grew wider, the houses taller. Amelia’s eyes burned. Just hours ago, she had been lowering her grandmother into the ground. Now she was being swept toward a new world by a man who felt more of a stranger, than kin.

The car crossed a long bridge over a restless river. The water churned, carrying everything away with it, as if reminding her she was leaving one life and stepping into another.

Buildings rose around her, taller with every block. The city buzzed with movement, lights flashing, horns blaring, voices rising in the distance.

“It’s… huge,” she murmured, barely aware she’d spoken aloud.

Thomas said nothing. His eyes remained on the road, his face unreadable in the mirror. He was the kind of man who revealed nothing.

The car slowed to a stop in front of a towering glass-and-stone building. Sleek silver letters gleamed across the top: Cole Enterprises. Amelia’s breath caught. The building was a monument of power and wealth, bigger than anything she had ever imagined.

Vincent leaned down to her window. “Thomas will take you shopping. You need something proper before we go home. I’ll see you at dinner. Your sister is excited to meet you.”

The word sister struck like a stone to her chest. A father was already too much to take in. Now there was a sister too, someone who belonged to his world in a way she never had.

Before she could ask, Vincent was gone, striding into the building surrounded by his guards.

The car moved again, weaving through the busy streets until it pulled into the basement of a sprawling mall. The doors slid open, revealing escalators that carried people effortlessly, glass elevators gliding with ease. Amelia hesitated, staring wide-eyed. She had never seen such things in the countryside.

She pressed her hands to the cool glass railing as the escalator lifted her upward. People glanced at her as they passed, at her wet plain black dress, her worn sandals. Whispers followed in their wake.

Thomas ignored them, walking briskly until they reached a glossy department store. He spoke with clipped authority to the manager. “My boss says she gets the latest designs. Everything she needs.”

The manager’s eyes flicked over Amelia. His lips curved with disdain. “Her? Are you sure you’re in the right place?”

Thomas’s voice hardened. “Do what I say if you want to keep your job.”

The man blanched and barked orders to his staff. Soon, assistants flooded around Amelia, holding up dresses, shoes, handbags. The lights, mirrors, and perfumes swirled together until she felt dizzy.

She let them slip dresses over her shoulders, zip up sleek fabrics, adjust straps. She barely recognized herself in the mirror. A red Gucci dress clung to her frame. Black Louboutin heels made her taller, sharper. A Chanel clutch gleamed in her hand. She looked like she belonged to the world Vincent came from.

But inside, she felt like an imposter.

“This isn’t me,” she whispered, brushing the smooth fabric with trembling fingers.

Thomas carried her bags in silence, his arms heavy with boxes and shopping bags, as they made their way back to the car. Behind them, the employees’ whispers floated in the air.

“Poor girl… She doesn’t belong here.”

“She’ll never fit in.”

“Probably just a game to them.”

Each word pierced Amelia’s heart. She clutched the Chanel bag tighter, as though it could shield her from their judgment.

When she slid back into the car, the city lights danced on the window beside her, but she couldn’t see beauty in them. All she saw was a storm of uncertainty, grief for what she’d lost, fear for what she was walking into, and a hollow ache that told her this wasn’t a fairytale.