The Princess Lives in a Truman World Chapter 09

The Princess Lives in a Truman World Chapter 09

I had been in Germany for a little over two weeks and had already settled in.

I was fluent in English, but I did not speak German, so I was teaching myself the language as well.

I also found a part-time job at a restaurant. It gave me a chance to learn my way around the city, practice my German, and earn some extra money.

Classes would not begin for another two months, and I was looking forward to the new life waiting for me.

I thought my days would remain peaceful.

Then Mom, Dad, and Aria appeared outside the restaurant where I worked, looking exhausted from their journey.

I stayed calm when I saw them. Their arrival was not entirely unexpected.

They must have gotten the details from my academic mentor.

So what if they knew I was in Germany and which university I would attend? Germany was huge, and I had been certain they would never find me.

But I had underestimated their resources and determination, because they had somehow tracked me down to the restaurant where I worked.

Mom and Dad looked at me pleadingly, hoping I would step outside and talk to them.

Aria stood off to one side, looking distinctly unhappy.

I did not want them causing a scene and creating trouble for the restaurant, so I stepped outside.

“What do you want?” I asked coldly.

Mom and Dad looked at me with guilty expressions.

“Sofia, we were wrong,” Mom said. “Please come home with us.”

Go home?

Did they expect me to go back and suffer with them, or were they planning to sell me?

I was not stupid.

Dad hurried forward and grabbed my hand.

“We’re sorry, Sofia. We made a terrible mistake.”

“Please forgive us and come home. You’re alone in a foreign country where you don’t know anyone. We’ve been worried sick about you.”

They spoke as though they were apologizing, but I saw no sincerity in either of their eyes. There was nothing there but pretense and hypocrisy.

Neither of them could produce so much as a single tear.

I yanked my hand free, my expression cold. His touch made me feel dirty.

“I’m doing perfectly well here. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Dad pulled Aria in front of me.

“What about Aria? She’s been so lonely back home.”

“She really misses you.”

They were actually trying to use Aria to soften me.

Apparently, they had no idea what she had done to me.

In a way, I should have thanked her.

She had sent me the livestream link and flaunted her life in my face. Without her, I might never have learned the truth or found the resolve to leave.

I looked at her with faint amusement.

“Aria, do you really want me to go back?”

She nodded quickly.

“Yes.”

Now she wanted me back because it meant I would have to suffer alongside them.

When she locked me in the restroom and had her friends beat me, had she not told me I would never be allowed back home? She had never wanted to share the good times with me, but now she expected us to suffer together.

How ridiculous.

I looked at all three of them calmly.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Mom signed a written agreement cutting all personal and financial ties between us.”

“I will not ask any of you for a cent, and do not ever come to me for money.”

It sounded ruthless, but it needed to be said.

I had survived the past six years alone.

Nothing waiting for me in the future could be worse than what I had already endured.

I could take care of myself.

Mom and Dad grew agitated.

“Sofia, how can you be so heartless?”

Then call me heartless.

“Don’t even think about forcing me to leave. I’m here on a student visa. You’re only visitors, so how long can you even stay?”

I refused to believe they could force a grown woman onto a plane against her will.

The standoff dragged on.

Once Mom and Dad realized there was nothing they could do to change my mind, all pretense of concern vanished.

Their tone turned cold.

“Fine. Then we’ll pretend we never had a daughter.”

Only moments earlier, they had looked at me with manufactured warmth.

Now something dark and threatening lurked in their eyes.