The Heiress No One Wanted

Rosalie's POV“What?” Vanessa asked impatiently.“You’re coming to the hospital with me.”“You’re going to visit your biological mother.”Vanessa’s face twisted with disgust immediately. “WHY the hell should I?”“It’s a small thing. Shouldn’t be hard for you.”The image of Diane lying weakly in that hospital bed a few days ago flashed through my mind, and my chest tightened. She’d treated me like her own daughter for over twenty years. Raised me by herself, worked multiple jobs, ran her health straight into the ground just to keep us afloat.Ever since the families found out the babies had been switched, she’d only seen Vanessa once—just once, briefly. Lying in that hospital bed, weak and pale, she kept murmuring Vanessa’s name over and over.Every time I told Vanessa Diane wanted to see her, she’d either say she was too busy or claim she wasn’t ready yet. In the past year, she hadn’t agreed even once.Diane’s only wish was to see Vanessa one more time before going into surgery.I jus

Rosalie's POVRight after Vanessa hung up, my phone rang again.This time it was my mom, Helen. Her voice sounded worried. “How did you just happen to run into Lucian like that? Do you know why he came back so suddenly? Did you know beforehand?”“No,” I said. “I didn’t.”She sighed. “Just… come home for a bit.”“Okay, Mom.”I didn’t even wait for my stuff to finish being unpacked. I left the apartment and grabbed a cab back home.The moment my mom saw me, she looked stressed out. “Alright, tell me what happened.”So I told her everything—how I ran into Lucian at the hospital, step by step.Only then did she notice my injured right hand. She carefully lifted it, her face tightening. “Oh my God… why is the bandage so thick? How deep is this cut? Does it hurt?”The concern in her voice warmed something inside me. I couldn’t help acting a little spoiled for a moment. “Yeah… it kinda hurts.”“Nessa really went too far this time.” Helen kept frowning.Just then Mrs. Moss stepped forward and

Rosalie's POVI waited up in the living room till late, figured Lucian would come back to quiz me on whether I'd memorized everything —but he never showed.Mrs. Ford came over. “Mr. Ravenscroft sometimes comes back late because of business dinners. Would you like me to let him know you’re waiting?”I switched off my tablet. “No, It’s nothing urgent.”She gestured for me to follow her into the walk-in closet. “You’ll be meeting Mr Ravenscroft’s grandparents tomorrow. Let me pick out something for you.”Somehow the closet had filled up without me noticing — racks and racks of clothes. Everything I'd brought with me maybe made up a tenth of it. The rest was new, all sorted neatly by color and type.Proper tweed suits, elegant floor-length skirts, long-sleeve and short-sleeve options, a whole row of coats — leather, fur-trimmed, cashmere. And then an entire section of shoes and bags, with a glass display case in the center island showing off earrings, necklaces, all kinds of accessories.

Rosalie's POVI'd said everything according to Lucian's script and done my best to make our interactions feel natural — but we weren't actually a couple, and on top of that, this was only the third day we'd ever spent in the same space since the wedding. No matter how well you fake it, some things just don't hold up next to the real thing.I didn't even notice I'd been gripping the hem of my skirt with both hands the entire time, white-knuckling it in my lap. My head was already filling up with worst-case scenarios. Especially what my mother had said on the phone earlier, playing on a loop."I’m learning from you right now, aren’t I?" Lucian said suddenly, breaking the silence.At the same time, he reached over and took my hand. The warmth hit the back of my hand and I nearly jumped out of my seat — but his palm closed firmly around mine and settled it flat on the table."Grandpa, don't you think you're being a little hard on a couple of newlyweds?" he added.And unless I was hearing

Rosalie's POVIt was always like this. Whenever I brought up something that was bothering me, my mother would reach back and pull out something I'd once said I wanted — dangle it in front of me like that would fix everything. Like it was enough to shut me up.She'd probably learned it from dealing with Vanessa. Whenever Vanessa threw a fit, she'd buy her something she'd had her eye on, and Vanessa would settle down. Maybe she figured I worked the same way. That this was just me being difficult.By the time I looked up, Helen had already drifted off and was holding dresses up against herself, figuring out what to wear to tomorrow's dinner. She didn't come back down until it was time to eat — and by then, my father had come home too.He walked in smiling, and the moment he saw me, it froze. "Oh — you're here.""Dad." I said it quietly.He nodded, then glanced around the room like he was looking for something."Where's Vanessa? Out again?" he asked Helen."Dinner with friends, I think."