Chapter 1
On my first day back home, I found my sixth-generation fighter engine blueprints in the trash, shredded to pieces.
Emily Linwood, the girl who'd taken my place in the family for 23 years, took the last sheet and folded it into a paper crane to please Mom.
"She won't be mad. These were just scribbled scraps, perfect for making paper cranes to wish Mom well," Emily said.
Mom smiled and patted her head, then looked at me coldly. "See how kind Emily is? Not like you, coming home with that sour face."
"Just some scraps of paper. Don't ruin a happy day. Apologize to Emily, now," Dad frowned.
I stared at that paper crane. Those were S-Class confidential documents. Leaking even a scrap meant a life sentence in prison.
What they didn't know was that black government sedans were already parked outside, waiting for me.
I didn't lose my temper, picking up my phone to call the National Security Branch.
Under their contemptuous stares, I spoke into the phone.
"Mr. Lambert, the S-Class confidential files were deliberately destroyed by the Linwood family. This is suspected treason. It's time to move in," I said.
*****
My name was Yvonne Quinn, 25 years old, the youngest chief engineer at the National Aerospace Institute.
Three days ago, I was told that twenty-three years ago, my identity had been swapped at birth.
My biological parents were Richard Linwood, the wealthiest man in Riverside City, and his wife, Diana Linwood. The one who had taken my place was Emily Linwood.
Honestly, I didn't really care about it.
I grew up in an orphanage, earned a scholarship through college, joined the research institute at twenty, and led the sixth-generation engine project by twenty-three.
I never needed wealthy parents.
But the NAI told me the Linwoods insisted on taking me back.
To avoid disrupting my work, I agreed to meet them.
The project was at a critical stage, so the NAI granted me special permission to take the blueprints with me wherever I went.
When I arrived at the Linwood estate, I left the briefcase on the desk and went to freshen up.
It only took a moment.
I found three years of my work folded into paper cranes when I came back.
Emily's sugary voice snapped me out of it. "Yvonne, what are you daydreaming about?"
She was wearing a pink dress, her hair in pigtails, looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
But there was a smug little glint in her eyes.
"Those papers were a mess, so I tidied them up for you. You don't need them now that you're back, right?" she said.
She smiled, as if she had done something good.
I looked down at the trash can.
The blueprints had been torn to shreds, some already wadded up.
I had poured three years of effort into those blueprints.
Countless nights of calculations and revisions had gone into those scraps shredded in the trash.
"Yvonne, Emily was trying to help," Diana said coldly. "You grew up in an orphanage. What could you possibly have that's important? Stop acting so wronged."
I looked up at the woman who was supposed to be my mother.
She was well-preserved, barely looking over forty.
But the way she stared at me, it was like I was some stray that had wandered in uninvited.
"Right, the guests for the reunion dinner are almost here," Richard said, waving impatiently. "It's a few scraps of paper. Is it worth it? Apologize to Emily."
I squinted, a cold glint flashing in my eyes.
Apologize? For what?
Me? They actually expect me to apologize?
"Dad, look at her face," someone scoffed.
A young man in a designer suit strolled down the stairs. This was my so-called brother, Ryan Linwood.
He looked me up and down with undisguised disgust.
"Looks like the whole world owes her money. Figures, raised in some dump. No manners at all," he sneered.
I didn't say a word.
They had no idea what those blueprints really were.
Did they have any idea what it meant to destroy S-Class confidential files?
One glance, they'd rot in prison for life.