𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰 - 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙭 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙣

⊹ prologue ⊹

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Katerina Sullivan never had an easy life. She was the bastard daughter of the great Sir Philip Sullivan, a third cousin to the Queen of England. He came from wealth and only gained more by becoming a ruthless businessman, who owns a ton of different establishments all over the world.

Sir Philip spends his time in important meetings and attending lavish parties to lure in new clients. He simply has no time for anyone that he couldn't make a profit off of, especially if that someone happened to be born out of wedlock.

Katerina's mother, Amelia Lennox, was a breathtakingly beautiful woman, but she didn't come from money like Philip. She spent her days working multiple jobs to barely be able to pay her bills.

When Amelia met Philip at a club she waitresses at, she could just tell from his clothes and the way he carried himself that he came from money.

Philip was, like any wealthy man, not opposed to having affairs on his wife Mariam. The only reason he even married her was to keep up appearances. She came from a nice family and kept herself looking good, but she was dreadfully dull and self absorbed. She knew her husband wasn't faithful but it was okay because she herself had some fun on the side from time to time as well but she'd never had any children out of wedlock.

Amelia was simply looking for someone rich to take care of her and give her the things she'd never had before.

And so an affair was born between the two. But there was no love or even lust between Philip and Amelia. Their relationship was one out of convenience and opportunity.

Philip got to sleep with an attractive woman who half the age of his wife while Amelia got paid.

This relationship or should I say business deal went well for many months. That was until Amelia Lennox fell pregnant.

She wouldn't admit it but she also wouldn't deny that she got pregnant with Katerina on purpose.

What better way to become rich than to have a child with an esteemed businessman who wasn't against paying hush money to keep a pregnancy hidden?

Philip naturally wanted Amelia to get rid of the baby, but she wasn't dumb. If she kept the child then Philip would be stuck supporting it and indirectly her for the next eighteen years.

Amelia did get money from Philip but it wasn't nearly as much as she was hoping for. Philip being the generous man he was and desperately needing his infidelity kept hidden from the public gave her a half of a million dollars. In exchange Amelia was ordered move far away and never contact him or anyone close to him again. He figured the amount would be more than enough for the two to live comfortably.

However, Amelia ran through the money fairly quickly. She bought a home that was far too big for a mother and a newborn, and decorated with the most expensive decorations she could find. All Amelia cared about was having a nice home and clothes that she could show off.

And show off she did.

The Lennox woman befriended all different types of people, most who were using her for her money. She would throw wild and lavish parties, not sparing any expense on drugs and alcohol.

While Amelia spent her years partying and throwing money at the most useless things, her daughter was being raised by a nanny.

Katerina loved her nanny, Mary, she was an older women of fifty and treated the young child like her own. Mary did everything for Katerina to the point where the Sullivan girl even started to call her mom, because she was the only mother figure she knew.

Amelia could care less for her daughter. She looked at her as an extra expense that she would be better off without. The woman avoided her child at all costs leaving the young girl secluded in the west wing of the house with only Mary to talk to, but Mary wasn't going to be around forever.

She was already fifty when she first began caring for the girl and by the time Katerina turned thirteen Mary had died of a heart attack at sixty three. This naturally left the teen feeling crushed and utterly alone in the huge house.

As the years went by this feeling of loneliness didn't go away in fact it only grew stronger.

At home, she learned to care for herself and stay out of her mother's way. Amelia wasn't so heartless to not provide her child without the basic necessities like food and clothing but for everything else Katerina was on her own.

She had no support in during the most important and difficult years of her life.

At school, Katerina was made fun of for how small she was and it also didn't help that she was incredibly smart. The nerd and loser title was almost automatically placed upon the girl the second she entered year one and excitedly answered all of the questions the teacher asked.

Mary knew how important education was and wanted the Sullivan girl to be able to make something of herself when she was older so she spent many hours teaching the girl and encouraging her to take schooling seriously.

And that's what Katerina did. She didn't have friends or any boyfriend so she spent all of her time reading and studying to be able to get good grades. She knew that she would only be able to attend college if she got a scholarship seeing as there was no way her mother would pay for it, not like she had the money anyway.

The Sullivan girl was ecstatic when she received a full ride scholarship from Oxford University because of her outstanding grades. She of course always dreamed of this but she didn't think it would ever come true seeing as she had little to no luck in life.

But this made Katerina feel like her luck may be starting to look up. She couldn't wait to get away from her mother and meet new people, Katerina decided that she was going to completely reinvent herself at Oxford.

She was no longer going to be the shy and lonely nerd who no one wanted anything to do with. She was going to make friends and make the best out of this new experience.

Katerina couldn't wait to see what Oxford had in store for her.

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