Chapter 1

The real heiress Charlotte Sinclair's scandals were exposed online for everyone to see.

But my foster brother, Lucas Sinclair, made me the scapegoat, just because I had stolen Charlotte's life for over a decade.

His tone was as gentle as ever, but his words were merciless. "Mia, you need to pay the price for stealing Letty's life."

Pay the price... Yes, to him, I was the sinner.

While I was being torn apart by the internet, Lucas stayed by Charlotte's side, never once caring about me.

After everything blew over, he came to me with a ring, wanting to propose.

I smiled and lifted my right hand, "Sorry, I'm already married."

There was already a ring worth a fortune on my ring finger.

Charlotte Sinclair, the hottest star in the industry, was thrown into a media storm after a scandalous rumor broke out.

All her old dirt was dug up, and the endless flood of insults and cyber-bullying pushed her to end her own life.

On the night of her attempted suicide, Lucas Sinclair was busy hosting a birthday party for me.

Just as I closed my eyes to make a wish, a call from Charlotte suddenly shattered the peaceful mood.

When Lucas answered, he heard a woman's frail sobs. She said, "Lucas, maybe in the next life, I can be your sister again."

Those words made Lucas lose his cool in an instant. His usually calm face was filled with worry as he gripped his phone tightly, his voice trembling. "Letty, where are you?"

Charlotte replied, "I'm sorry, Lucas. Please forgive me. I didn't want things to turn out this way, but I really can't go on anymore."

After hanging up, Lucas angrily knocked over my birthday cake, not even sparing me a glance before rushing out.

I stood there, staring blankly at the cake on the floor, my eyes starting to burn.

The people around me started whispering. "She really thinks she's a Sinclair? She's just an adopted daughter, and she actually dares to fight Charlotte for Lucas."

"Oh, you didn't know? She not only wants to snatch Lucas away; she even wants to sleep with him."

"Lucas only treats her as a plaything. When it comes down to it, the one he really cares about is Charlotte."

*****

The mocking and sarcastic comments felt like knives stabbing into me, making it hard to breathe.

On my twenty-third birthday, Lucas' action finally extinguished my last trace of affection for him.

Charlotte had taken an overdose of sleeping pills and was rushed to the hospital.

In the video, Lucas, with red, tear-filled eyes and a face full of worry, cradled Charlotte in his arms as he rushed into the ambulance.

Everyone who had enjoyed the drama had left, leaving me alone in the empty banquet hall.

I crouched amidst the wreckage on the floor, picked up the candles from the shattered cake, and quietly lit them one by one. Staring at the flickering flames, I choked out, "Happy birthday, Maya Foster."

The candlelight in front of me grew hazy, its shape blurring—just like how I could never see through Lucas' heart.

To him, I was neither a sister nor a lover.

So after all these years, what was I to him, really?

The next day, just as news of Charlotte being out of danger started trending, another topic blew up online at the same time.

Soon, it shot straight to the top.

When I saw the news, my heart skipped a beat, and I looked at the screen in utter disbelief.

The one who got caught in a hotel with a guy was suddenly me, and the high school bully was also me.

And as for Charlotte, she'd become the innocent little princess—so gentle and kind—quietly taking the fall for me, even though I wasn't even her real sister.

My hands shook as I scrolled through the endless stream of scandalous posts. Just then, my phone buzzed with an incoming call from Lucas.

"Mia, about last night..." he began, but I cut him off, my voice trembling with anger.

"That trending topic—you forged it, didn't you?" I demanded.

There was a brief pause on the other end before Lucas answered, "Yeah."

"Why?" I demanded, feeling disappointed.

He spoke in a low, serious voice. "Mia, this is what you owe Charlotte. You have to pay the price."

My anger broke through my reason. I just couldn't keep it together anymore.

"Lucas, I don't owe her anything! Not a damn thing!" I screamed into the phone like a lunatic, nothing like the quiet, obedient girl I used to be.

"Who gave you the right to make me take the fall for her? What am I to you, anyway?

"I wasn't the one hooking up with some guy in a hotel room. I wasn't the one bullying people in high school. I wasn't the one stealing someone else's boyfriend. It wasn't me, Lucas, it wasn't me..."

Lucas replied, his voice impatient, "Not now, Mia. Calm down."

Through my sobs, I shouted, "Not now? So when is it, Lucas? When they all start cyber-bullying me? When they all tear me apart?"

"Lucas, I'm scared..." Charlotte's soft, trembling voice came through the phone.

Her weak sobs cut right through, bringing our argument to an abrupt halt.

"Charlotte's awake. I gotta go." And just like that, he hung up.

Frustrated, I kept calling him repeatedly, but he just rejected my calls. In the end, all I got was that cold, robotic voice telling me his phone was powered off.

While I was drowning in my own misery, the cyber-bullying was already crashing down on me.

All my social media accounts were overrun—my inboxes bursting at the seams with endless insults and threats pouring in nonstop.

My explanations were dismissed as nothing but excuses, which only fueled even nastier attacks.

When Charlotte first debuted, the Sinclair family cleaned up every bit of dirt from her past. But this time, the scandal hit out of nowhere—evidence that was supposed to be gone for good suddenly popped up everywhere, and no matter how much cash the Sinclair family burned, they just couldn't bury it.

My fingers had gone numb from scrolling, and after staring at all those filthy words for so long, they just stopped making sense.

Charlotte couldn't take the cyber-bullying—so why should I be able to?

''Lucas, what am I to you, really?' I thought to myself.

That night, Lucas came to see me.

He pulled me into his arms and said gently, "Mia, this is the last time. Help Charlotte out of this mess, and you'll be free of her for good."

I closed my eyes in despair, my voice raw. "Tell me, Lucas, what do I even owe her, exactly?"

He stared at me with icy, unfeeling eyes. "You stole the life that should have belonged to Charlotte. Your real parents abused her for twelve years. Whatever your family owes her, it's on you to make it right."