Chapter 1 - THE GIRL WHO REFUSED TO BREAKRita stood in her father's enormous kitchen with tears running down her face.
Her right cheek still burned from the slap Maryjane had given her.
Only an hour earlier, she had been a happy young woman, excited that her father had finally returned from his business trip to London.
Now her entire world had fallen apart.
Her mother had left the mansion with a suitcase. Her father had introduced a pregnant woman as his second wife. And that same woman had slapped Rita and ordered her to prepare dinner as though she were a servant.
Rita gripped the kitchen counter and tried to control her breathing.
She couldn't understand how everything had changed so quickly.
For twenty-two years, she had believed her father loved her. Chief Benedict had paid for expensive schools, bought her beautiful dresses, and introduced her proudly to his wealthy friends.
But that afternoon, he had called her worthless simply because she wasn't a son.
The memory hurt more than the slap.
A few minutes later, Maryjane entered the kitchen.
She was wearing a beautiful silk dress that stretched tightly over her pregnant belly. Her gold bracelets jingled as she walked toward the refrigerator.
"Why haven't you started cooking?"
Rita wiped her tears.
"I'm not hungry."
Maryjane laughed.
"Did I ask whether you were hungry? I told you to prepare jollof rice for me."
Rita turned around.
"Maryjane, please leave me alone."
Maryjane's smile disappeared.
"Did you just call me by my name?"
"That's your name, isn't it?"
"You will address me with respect. I am your father's wife."
Rita stared at her.
"My mother is my father's wife."
Maryjane stepped closer.
"Your mother has already left this house. Perhaps you should understand what that means."
Rita felt something tighten inside her chest.
She wanted to scream, but she remembered her father's threat.
If she left with her mother, he would stop paying her university tuition.
She was only two semesters away from graduating.
She had worked too hard to let her education disappear.
Maryjane folded her arms.
"Your father promised me that nobody in this house would disrespect me. If you make my life difficult, I will make sure you leave here with nothing."
Rita looked directly into her eyes.
"You can take my bedroom. You can wear expensive jewelry. You can even sit beside my father at his dining table. But you will never become my mother."
Before Maryjane could answer, Chief Benedict appeared at the kitchen entrance.
"What is happening here?"
Maryjane immediately held her stomach.
"Darling, your daughter is upsetting me. I told her I was hungry, but she keeps insulting me."
Chief Benedict turned toward Rita.
"Have you lost your senses?"
"Daddy, I didn't insult her."
"Then why is she complaining?"
"Because she wants to treat me like a maid!"
Chief Benedict slammed his palm against the doorframe.
"Enough! This woman is carrying my son. You will respect her whether you like it or not!"
Rita stared at him through her tears.
"And what am I carrying, Daddy? Am I not carrying your blood too?"
For a moment, the room became silent.
Even Maryjane stopped smiling.
Rita continued.
"You raised me. You told me I was your princess. You said you were proud of me. Was everything a lie because I wasn't born a boy?"
Chief Benedict looked away.
"Stop being dramatic. Prepare the food."
That was when Rita understood something terrible.
Her father wasn't confused.
He wasn't temporarily angry.
He had made his choice.
And he expected her to accept it.
Rita quietly removed the kitchen apron and placed it on the counter.
"No."
Chief Benedict turned sharply.
"What did you say?"
"I said no, Daddy."
"Then leave my house!"
Rita swallowed.
"All right."
Maryjane's eyes widened slightly.
Chief Benedict laughed bitterly.
"Where will you go? Do you think life outside this mansion is easy?"
"I don't know."
Rita picked up her phone.
"But I would rather struggle outside than be humiliated every day inside."
She walked past them.
Her father shouted after her, threatening to freeze her accounts and withdraw her tuition payments.
Rita didn't turn around.
Upstairs, she packed two suitcases. She left behind the expensive handbags and most of the jewelry her father had bought.
She took her certificates, textbooks, identification documents, a few clothes, and a photograph of herself with her mother.
Then she called Felicia.
Her mother answered immediately.
"Rita? My baby, are you all right?"
For the first time that afternoon, Rita completely broke down.
"Mommy, please tell me where you are."
Felicia's voice trembled.
"What happened?"
"I can't stay here anymore."
Twenty minutes later, Rita walked through the mansion's enormous front doors.
She didn't have a driver.
She didn't have access to her father's credit cards.
And she had no idea what tomorrow would bring.
But she was free.
As she waited beside the gate for a taxi, her phone vibrated.
An unfamiliar number had sent her a message.
Rita nearly ignored it.
Then she saw the words.
Rita, please don't tell anyone you heard from me. I'm alive, but I'm in trouble. Something happened to my baby, and I don't know whom to trust.
Rita's heart stopped.
There was no name beneath the message.
But she recognized the writing immediately.
It was Amanda.
The girl everyone had been searching for.
May you like
And before Rita could reply, a second message appeared.
If James finds out where I am, his mother will finish what she started.
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