Chapter 1: Ruthless
When Claire Prescott walked out of prison, she was wearing the same white dress from four years ago. It was all she had, because it was all she came in with.
The frigid winter wind howled, whipping around her thin body, pulling at the now–tattered dress. She looked like a ghost.
Harrison Prescott almost didn’t recognize his sister when he first saw her. The once stuck–up, prim princess of the Prescott family now stood shyly at the door, head down, meekly thanking the prison guard.
Once the guard was gone, a familiar, cold voice cut through the * air, demanding both of their attention:
“So… you’re finally out,” it boomed.
Years past, filled with deep love, rushed back to her. Claire couldn’t help but look up at the man who seemed almost godlike. Frederick Hawthorne.
He stood there sternly in his dark green army uniform, tall as ever. Under his cap was a face so handsome it could stop time. His sharp features and deep, piercing eyes sparkled in the
winter sun.
The general’s new badges gleamed brightly on his shoulders.
Chapter 1: Ruthless
He’s a general now?
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“Fred, I’m sorry we had to bail Claire out,” Harrison said. “Grandma’s got late–stage stomach cancer and she won’t have surgery unless Claire’s released.”
Claire detected the resentment in his voice and knew he meant every word. He didn’t want her out of prison any more than Frederick did.
“I get it. Claire, don’t think you’re off the hook just ‘cause you’re out. In fact… it’ll be easier to make you pay, now. You’ll wish you were dead,” Fred replied, his voice dark and threatening.
Another sentiment Claire was positive he sincerely meant.
Intimidation had always been his strong suit, but not always against Claire.
All of a sudden, she felt that old fear come back, and it made her head spin.
She nearly fell over as memories from before came rushing back to her, swirling around her mind with nothing to cling onto. She tried silently and desperately to focus her breathing.
As she slowly came to her senses, Fred had already made his way to the car. She suppressed her feelings and walked wobbly towards Harrison, her cold lips trembling.
“Harrison…” She called out her brother’s first name, out of habit. She quickly realized she had made a grave mistake.
Chapter 1: Ruthless
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“I don’t want to hear you calling me by my first name!” he seethed. “Have some damn respect. Allowing you to keep the Prescott name is already too merciful, in my opinion. You better remember your place. Do you understand me?”
Harrison’s voice was somehow colder and more detached than Frederick’s, and the hatred in his eyes had only deepened over the course of the four years she’d spent imprisoned.
“Yes, Mr. Prescott.” She corrected herself, and her entire body trembled as she looked down. She sounded so humble, and visibly shrunk herself, turning inward.
Once in the car, she nervously grazed her fingers on the soft leather seat, scared it might all be a dream. If the dream ended, she’d no doubt find herself in that awful place again.
She lifted her rough, scarred hand and wiped the window, observing the view outside.
For four years, she’d been dreaming of this day. Dreaming of freedom.
She knew the only reason she got out was because of Elizabeth Prescott, the matriarch of the Prescott family. If it wasn’t for Elizabeth’s stomach cancer and her pleading, Claire would never have left that prison alive.
The two men in the car were her brother for twenty years, and “, the man she’d loved for sixteen. She’d known them her whole
life. She’d seen every phase of their very existence.
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Chapter 1: Ruthless
But it wasn’t like that anymore. They may have well been
strangers.
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Four years ago, the story of two rich girls; one real and one fake, rocked Kingstown.
And Claire was the fake one.
Her selfish, overly–ambitious mother had moved, swapping Anna and Claire’s identities when they were babies.
Claire ended up as the stuck–up Prescott princess, while Anna became some lazy gambler’s daughter. Claire got to live a lavish life, while Anna went mostly unnoticed and unimportant to her conniving stepmother.
Later, however, Anna’s brother died saving Frederick in battle, so he took Anna in, treating her like his own little sister.
Then, the truth came out: that Anna was the real heiress, and that Claire had stolen her glory, her fortune, her identity, and her life. The town truly sympathized with Anna, gossiping and demanding retribution for the wrongdoing.
But the very next night, Anna got jumped by some gangsters in an alley who had presumed she was carrying some of her fortune with her. She ultimately died in the hospital just hours later.
*, Harrison and Frederick had Claire locked up, suspicious that she had grown jealous and threatened by Anna’s rise to her
Chapter 1: Ruthless rightful place.
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They’d even seen via text message that Claire had been at the Redsun that night, the bar that Anna was mugged by. They were certain that Claire had murdered her in cold blood to secure her
position as the Princess of the powerful family.
Frederick called her guilty himself, while Harrison personally made sure that she was locked up.
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