Stupid and Vicious

Pearl looked delighted.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve spent the last two days researching everything she likes. Stella just got lucky. Sneaked off on a cruise, happened to end up on the same ship as the duchess, and was lucky enough to be caught in a shipwreck. That’s the only reason she got to save her.”

She sounded supremely confident.

“I’m a real heiress. Surely the duchess will like me more than an orphanage bastard?”

The disaster that almost killed me, the disaster that took three lives, was good luck to her.

I almost laughed in anger.

She really was stupid and vicious.

The shipwreck had happened without warning.

The ship struck submerged ice. Then a sudden gale drove towering waves against us, nearly rolling the whole vessel over.

Everyone panicked.

In the confusion, I saw a woman fall into the sea.

I didn’t know she was a duchess.

She couldn’t swim. She struggled in the water, screaming for help, sinking and resurfacing.

She was going to drown.

There was no time to think.

I took the only lifebuoy available and jumped into the freezing water.

I slipped it around her and fought to push her toward a lifeboat.

By the time I got her aboard, I had no strength left to climb in myself.

My waterlogged clothes were heavy and bitterly cold, weighing me down like shackles made of ice.

She tried desperately to pull me up.

But her pampered hands weren’t strong enough.

I thought I was going to die at sea.

The only person I couldn’t stop worrying about was Julian.

“Please give this to Julian Whitmore. In Fairhaven.”

With the last of my strength, I passed her the talisman I had kept close to my body, guarding it like a treasure.

“I went to a master to have it blessed. It’s supposed to protect him during his operation.”

That was why I had secretly traveled to that remote island nation.

To get a protective talisman for Julian.

He told me they had found a suitable heart. The donor was terminally ill and didn’t have long left.

All he needed to do was wait.

I had been so happy for him.

I never imagined the donor he meant was me.

When I learned the surgery carried risks, I worried something might happen to him.

So I endured a seven-day voyage to seek out the most powerful protection I could find.

After I gave the duchess the talisman, I couldn’t hold on anymore.

My hands slipped.

I sank into the sea.

Cold salt water closed over me from every direction.

I truly thought I would die there.

Fortunately, rescuers arrived in time.

Someone pulled me out.

I was too dazed to see the face of the person who saved me.

“She’s here!”

The excited voices around me pulled me out of the memory.

The duchess’s private jet was called Princess Alice.

Alice was her name, the one she had borne as a princess before marrying the duke. Supposedly, the aircraft had been one of his wedding gifts.

A helicopter brought her from the airport to the rooftop helipad.

As it landed, Richard hurried to have the waiting red carpet rolled out.

“Your Grace. I hope your journey was comfortable.”

He greeted her with a broad smile and immediately began flattering her.

“You look even younger and more beautiful than you do in the news. It’s an honor to welcome you.”

She was nearly fifty, but she was so well cared for and radiant that she looked barely thirty.

Everything about her was elegant. Every movement carried effortless dignity.

She briefly shook Richard’s offered hand, then looked around.

When she didn’t see me, disappointment crossed her face.

“Stella…”