Chapter 4: Welcome Home, Stranger

Celine’s POV

The big black car finally slowed down. The heavy iron gates of the Blackwood estate swung open slowly, making a loud, scraping sound.

I looked out the dark window. The long, winding driveway was lined with massive, old oak trees. At the very end of the smooth road sat the main house. It was a giant stone mansion, easily big enough to fit three normal families inside it. The tall windows glowed with warm, yellow light against the evening sky. From the outside, it looked like the perfect home. It looked like the kind of place where rich people were happy and safe.

What a complete joke.

Lucia was already waiting at the front door when our car pulled up. She wore a tight red dress and too much expensive diamond jewelry. She had her thin arms open wide. A giant smile was stretched across her face. It was stretched so tight it actually looked like her skin hurt.

But that warm smile was not for me. It was never for me.

"Jia!" Lucia cried out before the car doors even fully opened. "Oh, my baby girl, come here right now. Let me look at you."

She ran down the stone steps and pulled Jia into a tight, desperate hug. She rocked the teenage girl back and forth like she was holding a tiny newborn baby. Jia immediately buried her face in Lucia's neck and sobbed loudly. She was playing her sweet, innocent part perfectly.

I stepped out of the car. I stood behind them on the gravel with my heavy leather bag over my shoulder. I just waited. I didn't wait because I expected a warm hug or a kiss on the cheek. I waited because I wanted to see exactly how long it would take for Lucia to acknowledge that I even existed.

Fourteen seconds. That was how long.

Lucia finally pulled back from Jia and looked at me. Her warm smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, hard stare.

"Celine, why are you just standing there like a statue?" she snapped. "Take Jia's dirty coat and bring her bags inside the house. Do not be rude on her very first day."

In my first life, I would have dropped my own heavy bag on the dirt. I would have scrambled fast to do exactly what she asked. Because that was what I always did back then. Whatever Lucia wanted, I gave her. Whatever she demanded, I obeyed blindly. I was like a sad, hungry dog that keeps crawling back to the angry person who kicks it.

I looked at Lucia's demanding face, and then I looked at Jia's fake, teary eyes.

"No," I said smoothly.

Lucia blinked hard. She looked at me like I had just spoken in a foreign language. "Excuse me? What did you just say to me?"

"I said no, Mother," I replied. I let a slow, teasing smile touch my lips. "She has two perfectly good hands, doesn't she? She can carry her own coat."

The shocked look on Lucia's face was completely worth seven years of my past suffering. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. She looked exactly like a fish someone just pulled out of the water.

"How dare you speak to me like that," Lucia hissed, taking a step toward me.

"Let's go inside, Mom," Jia said quickly. She tugged gently on Lucia's bare arm and sniffled loud enough for the driver to hear. "It's so cold out here. Please, don't worry about the coat. I can carry it myself. I don't want to be a bother to anyone in this house."

And just like that, Jia won the little game. Without raising her voice, without making a single angry demand, she made herself look like a sweet, suffering saint. And she made me look like the cruel, jealous villain.

Lucia shot me one last poisonous, hateful glare. She turned around and swept inside the massive house with her arm wrapped tightly around Jia's waist. They left me standing all alone on the cold stone steps.

Fine. Let them play their little games. I was going to change the rules anyway. Power was all that mattered in this house, and I was finally ready to take it.

Dinner that night was the exact same dramatic performance it always was.

The long wooden table was loaded with rich, steaming food. But nobody asked me what I wanted to eat. There was braised lamb, which was Lucia's specialty, simply because my brother Marco loved it. There were roasted root vegetables cooked exactly the soft way my father, Enzo, liked them. And right in the center sat a brand new dish, some kind of fancy French pastry, because Jia "mentioned" in the car that she had a sweet tooth.

Not a single thing on that massive table was for me. Not one bite.

I sat back in my tall chair and watched them. It felt like I was watching a scene from a movie play out right in front of me.

"Celine, serve the food," Lucia commanded. She didn't even bother to look up from her red wine glass.

I didn't move a muscle. I just stared at her.

Jia immediately reached for the large silver serving spoon. "Oh, I can do it! I want to help out. I have been cooking for myself since I was a little girl, so I am very used to serving people."

The whole table melted at her sweet, humble words. Enzo nodded his head approvingly. Lucia dabbed at her dry eyes with a white cloth napkin.

I picked up my silver fork, tapped it loudly against my crystal water glass, and looked directly at Lucia.

"Are you serious right now?" I asked, keeping my voice bright and mocking. "It is her very first day here, and you are already ordering me around in front of her like a common maid? What does that look like to a stranger walking through the door? Is this how rich families behave?"

Lucia's face went bright red with sudden anger. She slammed her wine glass down on the table. "You ungrateful little brat. How dare you."

"I am just asking a simple question, Mother. You care so much about your perfect image."

"That is enough."

Enzo's deep voice cut through the large dining room like a sharp blade. He didn't yell. He never yelled. He just spoke, and everyone in the room immediately shut up.

Jia quickly lowered her dark eyes to her empty plate and whispered, "Please don't fight because of me. I really don't want Celine to be upset today. This is her home too."

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. She managed to look like the sweet peacemaker and the bullied victim at the exact same time, all in one short sentence.

I smiled at her across the table. "Don't worry, Jia. I am not upset at all. I am actually having a wonderful time."

After the long, quiet dinner finally ended, I walked upstairs. Lucia followed me and cornered me in the dark hallway near my bedroom.

"Jia needs a proper room tonight," Lucia demanded, pointing her finger at my chest. "You will move your things out of the master suite tonight and she can have yours."

I leaned my back against the expensive wallpaper and crossed my arms over my chest. I looked her slowly up and down.

"No."

"This is not a negotiation, Celine," Lucia snarled.

"You are right. It's not a negotiation," I said softly, stepping a little closer to her so she could see the cold fire in my eyes. "Because the answer is no."

Lucia stepped closer too, and I could clearly see the blue vein in her temple throbbing hard. She wanted to hit me. I could see it in her hands. She wanted to grab me by the hair and throw me down the long wooden stairs.

But she didn't move. Because somewhere in the back of her head, a little, quiet voice was reminding her of the truth. Don Vittorio's iron-clad will gave me direct rights to this house and this massive inheritance. Without my legal rights, I was useless to them, but they could not touch the money without keeping me around.

I smiled a hot, teasing smile at her angry face.

"You know, Lucia," I whispered, my voice dripping with fake sweetness, "if you treat me too badly, people in town might start to talk. They might wonder why you hate your adopted daughter so much. And Enzo would absolutely hate that, wouldn't he? A powerful man who cares so much about what the rich neighbors think."

Her jaw clenched so hard I could actually hear her teeth grinding together in the quiet hall.

"Enzo!" she screamed suddenly.

She turned on her high heel and marched toward his private study. Two minutes later, Enzo appeared at the bottom of the stairs and sighed heavily, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Give Jia the guest room on the second floor," he ordered loudly. "The blue one."

Lucia stared down at him in total shock. "But Enzo, Celine should give up her room for her sister."

"I said the guest room." His cold tone left absolutely no room for any argument. "We will discuss it later tonight."

I pushed myself off the wall. I walked slowly past Lucia, making sure my shoulder brushed roughly against hers. I headed up the last few stairs to my bedroom.

At the very top, I paused and looked back down. Lucia was still standing frozen in the dark hallway, watching me with a nasty look that could curdle milk.

I gave her one more smile, the kind that said I know exactly what you are, and disappeared into my room.