Chapter 1

I was the nanny's daughter.

My gambling-addict dad ran up so many debts that the whole neighborhood called me "little leech."

Mom worshipped boys and beat me like a rug. Bruises were my daily uniform.

Not a single inch of my skin stayed unmarked from childhood to senior year.

Then, three months ago, a billionaire couple showed up with DNA results: I was their real daughter.

*****

That day, I was hauling crates of beer at a roadside diner. Thirty crates in total, all carried by me alone.

The boss was yelling at me, "What's wrong with you? How long does it take to move a few boxes? There's a mountain of dishes piling up in the kitchen. If you weren't cheap summer labor, I'd never have hired you."

I hadn't eaten lunch and felt dizzy from hunger.

Just as I was moving the last crate, a luxury car pulled up in front of the diner.

Compared to the grimy, run-down surroundings, the car was impossibly dazzling. The moment it stopped, everyone turned to stare.

A pair of upscale-looking folks stepped out of the ride.

The moment the woman saw me, her eyes instantly welled up and she rushed toward me, her voice trembling as she called, "Evelyn..."

I looked up.

I froze for a moment. Staring at her, it was like glimpsing what I'd look like years from now.

We looked so alike, it was almost scary.

The boss saw me just standing there in shock and gave me a shove. "Quit daydreaming, get to work!"

I was dead on my feet, just running on fumes. That shove knocked the last bit of strength out of me, and before I knew it, the whole case of beer slipped from my hands.

The bottles hit the floor with a bang, glass and beer spraying everywhere at my feet.

I was stunned. Dropping that case of beer meant losing half a day's paycheck, at least.

Before I could even stammer out an apology, the woman hurried over, clutching my hand with worried eyes. "Evelyn, are you hurt? Did your foot get hit?"

The boss, heartbroken over the spilled beer, snarled through gritted teeth, "Useless! Can't even carry a crate like a normal person. Forget about your pay today."

"Boss, that box is worth maybe sixty bucks tops. There's no way you can dock me a whole day's wages for it," I shot back.

I tried to argue, refusing to let him walk all over me.

Seeing all this, the woman's face twisted with even more worry and pain. Her heart was breaking for me.

Hearing the boss call me useless over just some spilled beer, she turned on him and snapped, "How dare you talk to my daughter like that? From now on, she's not spending another second working here. She doesn't need this job!"

With that, she took my hand and hurried me toward the car.

My mind was still stuck on my wages. All 621 bucks.

I insisted on getting every dime I was owed before I'd leave.

The woman watched me stubbornly stand my ground and fished out a sleek black card from her purse, tears glistening in her eyes as she choked out, "Evelyn, sweetheart, Mommy has money now. Let me take care of you. You don't need to break your back like this ever again..."

I gave her a cool look. "Sorry, ma'am, but I don't know you."

I honestly had no clue who these people were.

In fact, I didn't plan on having anything to do with them.

I went back in time.

In my previous life, I died horribly.

Even though I was the real daughter all along, swapped at birth, when both me and the fake daughter were kidnapped, everyone picked her.

Even these two, the so-called biological parents standing right here, acting like they cared, turned their backs on me.

This time, I was never going back to the Larson family.

I refused to end up sinking to the bottom of the ocean, only to become shark food.

I wouldn't disappear and die like I never existed.

The elegant lady hurriedly pulled out a slip of paper from her purse. "Look, this is our DNA test result. You really are our biological daughter. I'm so sorry you suffered for so many years... From now on, your dad and I will make sure you never have to put up with that kind of pain ever again."

Back then, I really bought it.

I really thought they cared about me.

But the one they truly loved was always the fake daughter.

I shook my head. "Sorry, I still have another job to get to. I'll be leaving now."

The woman stepped right in front of me, blocking the way. The man next to her was teary-eyed, practically begging me to take just one look at the paternity test results.

To be honest, just a second ago, I was drowning in the ocean, as a disembodied soul, forced to watch my body get shredded by sharks.

Then suddenly, I was yanked back into this body, stuck in the same sweat-soaked exhaustion as before, only to come face-to-face with the two accomplices from my previous life.

I didn't even have the patience to glance at that pathetic piece of paper.

Maybe my mind just couldn't handle the whirlwind of everything that had just happened, and my body was running on empty. I barely managed a couple of steps before everything went black, and I hit the floor.

In my previous life, I was brought back to the Larson family in a grand, glorious way.

This time around, I ended up back at the Larson family, completely unconscious.

The doctor ran a bunch of tests on me and said I'd blacked out from being way too exhausted and seriously malnourished. Basically, I'd pushed myself past my limit, and my body finally just gave out.