Chapter 2

Dominic hadn't expected my sharp retort. His eyes widened, throat bobbing as he choked back words.

His face flushed red as he finally spat out a few scathing lines.

"Eliza, is money all you care about?! They lost you for years and didn't even care! Now they casually ask about you, and you go running back, all eager and pathetic? Have you no pride? No shame at all?"

In my previous life, he used to speak to me just like this—always with contempt, always finding ways to belittle me.

Back then, I would've wilted under his questions, already convinced I had done something wrong.

But not anymore.

I'd suffered through one lifetime.

Every creaking joint in my weathered body, every ache that came with the rain, whispered the same question: Why did I give up a future handed to me on a silver platter, only to swallow hardship for a man who never deserved it?

I shook off his hand coldly.

"No matter what, the Rodneys are family," I said. "And my family affairs are none of your business."

With that, I stepped into the car without looking back.

Behind me, Chester shot him a glance full of reproach, while Dominic shouted after me, refusing to let it end.

"Eliza! I'm giving you one last chance! Get out of that car—right now! Or we're through!

"You think you're fit to be the Rodney family's heiress? Look at yourself. You're uncultured and uneducated! Just wait till they kick you out! Don't come crawling back to me, begging for another chance!"

I simply rolled up the window, cutting off his shouting mid-curse, and turned to the driver without missing a beat.

"Please take me home. I'd like to see my parents."

Even though I knew the Rodneys were wealthy, the reality of the mansion and the luxury car left me speechless.

Chester glanced at me, lips curling in disdain at what he deemed my lack of sophistication.

"This villa was a birthday gift for Alicia when she turned eighteen."

For her eighteenth birthday, Alicia received a private estate.

At eighteen, I was washing dishes in a greasy kitchen sink, my hands raw from labor, scrubbing my way to fund Dominic's critical final year of high school.

"She used to call herself a little princess," he said, momentarily lost in the memory. "So the house was designed to resemble a castle."

He smiled faintly, but the second his eyes landed on me, the coldness returned.

"Since you've chosen to come back," he said coolly, "as the future heiress of the Rodney family, I have a few things to make clear."

Alicia had no talent for business or academics, but Chester had entered the company early. No one ever promised him he'd inherit the family fortune—but clearly, he'd already crowned himself the heir of my family.

"You may be related to us by blood," he continued, "but maybe your boyfriend was right. Our parents probably reached out on a whim.

"But Alicia is different. She grew up in this home. She's always been our little princess. She was switched at birth too, but she knows nothing of it. She's innocent. She owes you nothing."

His every word landed like a blade. I looked up at him and said, evenly, "Thank you."

He blinked, startled.

I didn't wait for him to respond. I walked past him, my steps steady.

'Thank you…for spelling it all out, for confirming that everything you described was supposed to be mine,' I thought inwardly.

In my past life, even after refusing to acknowledge my birth parents, I once considered sneaking into the Rodney house—not for wealth, but just to see where I came from.

But at the gates, I was stopped by Chester.

"You chose your boyfriend over your own family," he said coldly. "Our parents are deeply disappointed in you. Now you come crawling back? You're pathetic.

"You've lost your chance. Leave, and don't return. We don't want Alicia disturbed—her birthday's coming up. She doesn't even know you exist. Do the right thing, Eliza. Don't hurt my sister."

That day, I was shoved away by security like a stray dog. Through the narrow gap in the door, I caught a glimpse of my parents in the garden, doting on their precious daughter, Alicia.

Back then, I didn't know Chester was adopted. I thought he spoke for the whole Rodney family.

It wasn't until the end of my life, when everything replayed before me like flickering lights in the dark, that I realized—

My parents had wanted to see me. But Chester blocked them at every turn. He painted me as unstable, a troublemaker.

He had told them, "She said the only time she'd acknowledge the Rodney family is when we're all dead and she's here for the inheritance. She wants nothing to do with us—not even a glance."

People are emotional creatures.

My parents had no deep feelings for me. Listening to those words while looking at Alicia's innocence and sweetness, all they could do was sigh and let me go.

In my previous life, I believed in fate. I didn't understand that if you weren't born into a life of sweetness, you had to fight for what you wanted.

Be it love or money.

That's why, in this life, when I knelt before them in tears, trembling with grief and longing, they pulled me into their arms, eyes glistening.

"Our poor baby girl has suffered so much. Don't worry—Mom and Dad will make it up to you tenfold."

Buried in their embrace, my vision blurred with tears. Peering behind them, I saw the youthful face of Alicia watching from a distance.