On the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, all three of my fiancés showed up with the worst reports from their family-run businesses.

My father had declared that I would marry the one who could bring the greatest benefit to our family.

However, all three of them had already fallen for a penniless scholarship girl named Amelia Jones, and none of them wanted me.

In my previous life, I kept them close, mentored them, and poured my resources into helping them rise.

By the time they had each become powerful men in my family, they repaid me by framing my father, getting him arrested, and making him age more than 10 years overnight.

He was dragged to prison.

Me? They hired a crew of street thugs to brutalize me, leaving me to die while my private photos spread across the internet.

As life slipped away, I heard their sneering voices:

"Did you really think we ever liked you? Everything we did was for Amelia."

"If you hadn't chained us to your side, we'd have married her long ago, we'd have a house full of kids by now!"

"You and your father ruined her future. She couldn't afford college because of you. She had no choice but to jump!"

Then I opened my eyes: reborn on the very day of my coming-of-age ceremony.

I pulled my father aside, looked him in the eye, and said,

"I'm an adult now. Throw them out. Strip them of every business and every asset we gave them."

"I'm not choosing any of them. I chose Bruce Sullivan, the Don of the Sullivan family."

My father, Howard Chapman, stared at me, his eyes wide with disbelief. "You threw a fit when I suggested marrying you off to the Sullivans, insisting on breaking it off with Bruce. What's changed your mind now?"

I met Howard's gaze, the memory of his smile before his life took a turn for the worse in my previous life, making my heart ache.

"I was being childish at the time. You've been scaling back the family's activities and planning to go legitimate, pretending to be an ordinary wealthy businessman in public for my sake. I also thought I could live as happily as an ordinary person.

"But I was wrong. Without power, we'll be bullied. An alliance with another mafia family could be good for us. I see that now, Dad.

"And about those three–they've all got their own loves. I don't want to be the one who breaks hearts."

Howard let out a relieved breath and affectionately patted my shoulder. "I always said you were a visionary, my girl.

"I'll head over to the Sullivans right away to sort out your marriage. And if they don't see sense, I'll move heaven and earth to get you what you want!"

Watching him put on his act, I could not help but chuckle.

The same Howard who doted on me ended up in such a mess because of me in my previous life.

In this life, I was determined to rewrite our stars.

I clenched my fists, fighting back the tears.

Before I could speak again, the door flew open, and the three men stormed in, encircling me.

Yoel Henderson, right in front of me, gripped my shoulders with urgency, his fingers pressing so hard I winced.

"Shirley, you've got to tell me, who are you choosing?

"It's not me, is it?"

Yoel had been my right-hand man, the one I had banked on in my previous life, giving him nearly half of our resources to rise to the occasion.

However, the moment he became Underboss, he turned on us, stealing secrets that led to our ruin.

I gave him an icy stare, my lips curling into a sneer.

My reaction only served to enrage them further; their faces contorted with fury.

"Shirley, it doesn't matter who you pick. We're not sticking around," one spat out. "I'll see to it that you end up all alone!

"We're sticking with Amelia. She's not some pampered principessa like you. She needs us by her side!"

As they spoke with such conviction, I, who had been on the verge of announcing my engagement to Bruce Sullivan, could not help but smirk. "I've decided not to make any announcement today."

Their anger boiled over, and Yoel's grip on my hand tightened.

"You guys sure are hot-headed," Howard noted dryly.

At Howard's intervention, the three men instantly bowed, their demeanor shifting to that of well-behaved boys.

Yoel, begrudgingly, hung his head and spoke with a firm voice, "Don Chapman, we owe you a lot, but we can't repay you by marrying Shirley!"

"We'd give our lives for you, but you can't cage our hearts. We love Amelia, and she's the one we want to marry!"

"That's right, we want to call the shots in our own lives!" Ethan Lawrence and Nelson Smith chimed in together.

Howard's brow furrowed with a touch of anger as he grasped the situation: why I had reconsidered marrying Bruce.

"Have you guys even thought about what marrying Amelia would mean?"

Yoel scoffed. "Don Chapman, Amelia works ten thousand times harder than Shirley.

"She's about to get her acceptance from the prestigious St. Hartwell University. Once that happens, we'll all step back into the sunshine and rise to the top!"

The other two nodded in agreement.

"Amelia had always been the brainy, go-getter type. It was a no-brainer that she'd end up as one of St. Hartwell University's most distinguished grads. Then we can align ourselves with the powerhouses in the political and business worlds, becoming even stronger than the Chapman family."

Howard let out a sigh of resignation, catching the determined look in the eyes of the other two, clearly on board with Yoel's opinion.

"Shirley's betrothed has been set in stone."

Before the trio could even think of squirming their way out, Howard's announcement crushed any fantasies they harbored.

"In a month's time, Shirley's wedding bells will chime, and you three are expected to be there. That's when you'll find out who's won her hand."

Howard leaned in close, his voice a whisper, "The Sullivans just gave their blessing. I'm off to hammer out the details with them, and it might take me three weeks or so. Hang tight till your old man's back.

"By the time I return, my good girl will be walking down the aisle."

With Howard gone, the three wasted no time whisking Amelia off to my coming-of-age bash.

She was a vision in her lavish dress: dripping with jewels, her lashes curled to perfection. It was her show, no doubt about it.

I watched from the shadows, smirking.

They used to throw money around like it was nothing, all thanks to our family's fortunes backing them up.

However, from the day I turned my life around, I had made it crystal clear to the finance folks: no more handouts.

At this point, they were burning through their own cash stash.

I was itching to see what they would have left once the wedding hoopla was over.

Sure enough, over the next few days, they pampered Amelia like she was royalty.

Her birthday bash was nothing short of a spectacle fit for a queen, with the three suitors outdoing themselves with gifts. Yoel outshone them all, getting down on one knee with a bouquet that sparkled with diamonds.

"Amelia, we can offer you the world. You'll always be our principessa!"

I remembered Yoel saying something like that to me once, under the old tree where we played as kids.

My heart skipped a beat, and I took a deep breath to steady myself.

However, the truth was, I never dreamed of being anyone's principessa.

I was meant to be my own queen.

What I did not see coming was, on the day I was trying on my wedding dress, a rough hand ripping it apart.

I spun around, shocked, and there they were: Yoel, Ethan and Nelson. And yet the driver who had accompanied me was nowhere to be found.

Ethan stepped forward. "Shirley, we've made up our minds. The promise we made when we were little, it's got to stand. We're meant to stick together."

"And when we tie the knot with Amelia, you can be our nanny!" chimed Nelson, nodding like it was all settled.

Their audacious words made my stomach turn. I shot back, icy, "And what's any of this got to do with me?"

Their faces crumpled into frowns. "Shirley, cut the attitude! We're practically family. How can you say it's got nothing to do with you?"

"And let's not forget, you're the one sneaking around, never trying to improve. Without us, you'd be lost."

"Everyone knows we tried to get Amelia into that special program, but you had to go and frame her for cheating! She nearly killed herself over it, thanks to you!"

I stared them down, those three stooges in front of me.

Amelia had been as sharp as a sack of potatoes, and only those three blind mice had thought she had any brains. She could not even get the simplest things right, so why would I have needed to report her?

They were still dreaming of heading off to St. Hartwell University with her, thinking they would be big shots.

I just smirked; no point in arguing with idiots.

Then, out of nowhere, there she was, Amelia, looking at me with those scared doe eyes.

"Shirley, you'd actually consider being my nanny?"

I could not help but roll my eyes. "You think I'd ditch being the principessa to play babysitter for you?"

Amelia stumbled backward, her eyes brimming with tears. "I get it, Shirley, you don't respect me, but I've got dreams too.

"Yoel, better stick with the principessa's advice. I'm just a nobody with empty pockets, no help to your big plans..."

She did not even finish before I felt a shove from behind.

I hit the ground hard, my leg scraping against the rough surface. My so-called fiances shoved me aside to scoop up Amelia, tripping over themselves to play her knights in shining armor. "It's not on you, Amelia," they said.

"She's just a principessa from a declining mafia family, yet she always looks down on you and criticizes you!"

"Don't think your money gives you the right to toy with us, Shirley. Amelia is a thousand times better than you. Your family's attempt to go legitimate depends entirely on Amelia's future connections!"

"Don't even dream of forcing us to marry you and continue slaving for your crumbling family. We will never yield. You can't possibly make us your lapdogs!"

Hidden from their view, Amelia shot me a smug grin.

In my previous life, she had always played the 'poor me' card to drive a wedge between us. I used to wonder if I was the one at fault.

No more, though. I saw who had truly been played. I was just too trusting.

I tried to pick myself up, but Ethan's boot pinned me down.

Yoel's voice dripped with contempt. "Still acting all high and mighty. If you hadn't been caught up in wedding fantasies, I might've bought your act!

"The thought of marrying you makes my skin crawl," he added.

"Save your breath. You could be draped in the finest silk, but next to Amelia, you're nothing." Nelson's foot came crashing down on the wedding dress, his disdain clear as day.

Nelson was holding me with an iron grip, and no matter how hard I fought, I could not shake him off. I glared at Yoel, my voice thick with anger, "My wedding is none of your business!"

However, the three of them just laughed at me.

"Mr. Chapman himself has invited us to your wedding, and here you are, still playing tough," they jeered.

"We're looking out for you. Becoming a nanny will make both your and Amelia's dreams come true, and you can't even appreciate that."

Amelia's eyes were wet with tears as she looked at me, her lip quivering. "Shirley, I was wrong. Let me be your nanny. Just go ahead with the wedding and become a Donna, okay?"

Her pathetic act was like a magnet to them. They called over their goons to pin me down.

"Get her out of those clothes and off to the re-education camp to learn some manners!" they ordered.

I could not believe what I was hearing. "I am a principessa! How dare you treat me like this!"

No one responded to me.

Those three, relying on their status as my fiancés, had gathered many of their own followers. Now, taking advantage of my father's absence, they finally revealed their true malicious intentions.

I gritted my teeth and glared at the three of them. "Yoel, they'll kill me there! My dad will never forgive you for this!"

The re-education camp was notorious for breaking people down, a place where anyone would have been lucky to come out with their spirit intact, if at all. I had been sent there once by mistake, and it haunted me ever since. They all knew that.

"Shirley, just wait two weeks. Once we're married to Amelia, we'll get you out, and everything will be back to normal," they promised.

I lasted five days in that hellhole.

They used tools on me that I had never even seen before, and I fought like a wildcat. I slept with one eye open, scared I would not wake up.

None of them showed their faces the whole time, except for Amelia, who came just to gloat over my misery.

"You're one lucky girl, not dying in there," she sneered.

"However, it's better this way. How else would you take care of me later? You're going to be my personal nanny, after all."

Amelia leaned in close, her breath tickling my ear. "You know, you've been pining for Yoel all this time, right? Too bad you've never been the one in their hearts. Yoel, the other two, and I crossed that line a year ago." She pressed a pregnancy test report into my hand. "Take a wild guess, who's the daddy?"

Before I could even process the bombshell, Amelia grabbed a vase and cracked it over her own head.