#Chapter 1: The Fallen Sister

Rita’s POV

The rain poured over me, the cobblestones reducing my knees to bloody pulp.I had been forced to kneel now for a full day and night, bleeding and shivering, all for a crime I didn't commit.

Caspar and Cedric, my twin brothers, snapped at me through the mindlink.

“Confess your wrongdoing, Rita,” Caspar commanded.

“I didn’t do it!”

“Running your mouth won't save you,” Cedric tutted. “If you could see Olive right now, you’d just own up to it.”

I knew that wasn’t the case, and I didn’t need to see Olive to know I didn’t do anything wrong.

I was once the only younger sister of the Alpha family, and my twin brothers treated me like a princess.

But everything has been wrong since my biological mother—a call girl—suddenly appeared.

My mother revealed that I had been swapped at birth. That Olive was the true Lopez heiress and not me!

Olive had grown up with this woman, suffering greatly from abuse and neglect. Of course, the twins were heartbroken by the story.

Once the DNA tests were confirmed, Cedric and Caspar imprisoned the woman and took Olive in.

Olive made my life hell for the next years. My brothers had tossed me aside for the young girl who was their true sister. I was moved out of the suite I’d grown up in and was dumped in one of the servant’s rooms. That is what I became, a servant.

To make matters worse, yesterday, Olive suddenly fell ill, vomiting uncontrollably and slipping into a coma.

According to the doctor, Olive had been dosed in small amounts in her afternoon teas for over three months. And who was it that brought Olive her afternoon teas?

None other than me.

Only then did it dawn on me that this was a trap. Olive spent months orchestrating a scheme, even landing herself in the ER, just to ensure I was painted as the villain.

She resented me—I grew up with the life she was supposed to have with a loving family. She wanted me out of the picture from the very beginning.

But when I told my brothers about my suspicions, they didn’t believe me. In fact, my accusations only made them think I was more guilty.

“I’d rather die than confess to something that I didn’t do.”

“Very well,” Caspar replied. “Ten lashes.”

Suddenly, a male servant emerged from the house, holding a lash that was ugly and brutal. It had barbs on it, like the thorny stem of a rose, ensuring that my skin was torn as much as possible during each lash.

Ironic, considering the fact that Cedric and Caspar used to gently suck on my thumb if I so much as pricked it on one of the roses in the garden.But now…

I grit my teeth as the servant pulled his arm back and hit me again and again.

Each lash seared across my skin, streams of blood ran down my back, and it kept running as every strike erased Caspar and Cedric’s love for me.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I repeated in my head. I couldn’t let them win.

I dug my nails into the spaces between the cobblestones and counted.

One.

Two.

Three…

The tenth lash sent me sprawling across the ground. And the last thing I saw before everything went dark was the blood pooling around me.

I woke to the sound of a car pulling up. The rain had stopped, turning the blood on the ground sticky and thick, and a fly was buzzing around my head. I blinked my eyes open to see Caspar helping someone out of his expensive sportscar.

Olive was beautiful, even when she looked thin and frail. She was slender and pale and had luscious blonde hair that matched the twins’ perfectly, unlike my own, which had always stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Thank you, brother,” she said gently as Caspar scooped her into his arms, carrying her princess-style toward the house. Cedric shut the car door behind him and followed.

“What are you doing still laying out here?” Cedric lifted his chin, glaring down his nose at me. “You’re dirtying the pathway with all that blood.”

My heart clenched. I looked at Caspar, but he just wrinkled his nose in disgust and smoothed a golden strand of hair out of Olive’s eyes. “Don’t look at her, sweet sister. She’s filthy, covered in flies and her own piss.”

Without another word, Caspar turned, carrying Olive away. I didn’t get a look at her face, but I knew she’d be suppressing a smirk.

“Pick the traitor up,” Cedric said, snapping his fingers at a nearby servant. “And clean up that blood while you’re at it.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The servants roughly hauled me to my feet, dragging me inside. The tops of my feet scraped against the stone steps and my head lolled as they pulled me along.

Finally, they threw me down on my bed—if one could even call it that. It was really just a pile of ratty blankets in the utility closet.

I must have fallen asleep from my wounds, because at some point, I woke to the sound of voices. I cracked my eyes open to see the twins standing over me, looking down at me like a wet dog they’d found on the street.

Cedric clucked his tongue. “She made a mess all over her bed. Look at all that blood standing the sheets!”

Caspar turned his head away in disgust. “She should have confessed before it had to come to that. Once she can walk again, we should make her scrub it.”

“Olive’s room needs a good scrubbing first.”

“Yes, of course.” Caspar stepped aside, revealing the same servant who had whipped me before, a bottle of ointment in his hand. “Smear it on thick,” Caspar ordered. “Hopefully it’ll cover up the awful smell.”

The servant nodded and knelt, rolling me onto my side. The blood on my back had turned tacky, making the fabric stick to my skin. I cried out as he peeled it away.

“Calm down,” Cedric said, rolling his eyes. “You’re lucky you have such a kind sister. Olive saw you dragged in. Despite everything, she asked us to give you this.”

“No—” I try to push the servant away, begging for them to listen. “No, she—”

The servant began smearing the ointment on my back, sending more pain shooting through me. It was supposed to soothe me, but it just stung even more. It was burning like someone had put hot peppers in it.

“P-Please… Stop…”

“Quiet,” Cedric growled. “Do you want to get better, or not?”

I couldn’t speak as the servant continued to apply the ointment. Caspar crouched in front of me. “Now that we’ve been so kind to you, are you going to confess, or are you going to keep being difficult?”

“Our sister suffered greatly because of you,” Cedric added with a tilt of his head. “You should be grateful we didn’t just leave you out on the front path for the crows to peck at.”

Caspar leaned in so close, yet his voice was cold.“Confess, Rita. We all know you did it.”

My throat bobbed. With much effort, I managed to force out one word.

“No.”

My brothers’ matching handsome faces hardened. Caspar stood and glared down at me. “Stubborn wretch,” he snarled.

Cedric’s blue eyes gleamed angrily in the dim light. “You’re making this so much worse for yourself, Rita.Think hard!” He says my name like it’s filth.

“Wait,” I called out weakly. “The ointment—it’s burning! Someone tampered with it! Please…”

Caspar frowned and picked up the ointment jar.

But he just threw the ointment jar at me with a look of disgust.

“I’m tired of your games. Rita.”

“Putting on a show, as usual,” Cedric sneered.

They slammed the door, cutting off my screams like a guillotine.

Naively, I hoped they might return, if only to wipe off the burning ointment. But then I heard their laughter, and the sound of their shoes clicking on the tiles as they walked away.

“She’ll be ready to confess in the morning,” Caspar replied.

Cedric grunted. “I hope so. Come on, let’s check on Olive. She has really suffered.”

Tears pricked my eyes as I writhed in pain. One spilled out and I gave into the body wrecking sobs. That was it. They had won.