Chapter 1
During the year we were dead broke, my grandma fell severely ill.
Clive Goodwin and I were working three jobs a day, living in absolute misery.
That was until the Shepherds, a top-tier billionaire family, showed up at our door claiming he was their long-lost heir.
I hugged him, sobbing tears of relief. "Thank God! We can finally pay for Grandma's treatments. Things are actually looking up for us."
Suddenly, a barrage of glowing holographic comments flooded my vision.
[Ugh, please. Can the toxic girl just stop acting up? Her relentless clinging is exactly why Clive gets treated like trash by the Shepherds.
[All his rightful shares and trust funds get snatched by the fake heir because of her!]
[Gotta thank her, though. If she wasn't such a nightmare, he'd never meet Eva, the actual the female lead, who saves him.
[They literally team up to take back the Shepherd empire, tie the knot, and live happily ever after.]
[Lmao! This chick has no idea her little schemes are going to blow up in her face. In the end, she begs on her knees, but he doesn't even look back. He just leaves her to rot.]
Clive's expression darkened. He subtly pushed me away. "Eleanor, let me secure my spot in the Shepherd family first.
"I'll come back for you and Grandma later, okay?"
Seeing the obvious guilt flashing in his cold eyes, I suddenly felt completely drained. The fight left me.
I just nodded. "Okay."
*****
Clive froze at my response. His jaw tightened, a flicker of surprise breaking through his stoic expression.
"If you're mad, just say it. Don't go crying behind my back again, yeah?" He tapped my nose playfully, his tone affectionately scolding.
For the past two decades, he could always tell when I was saying the exact opposite of how I felt.
But this time, he guessed wrong. I was done being his little shadow.
What he didn't know was that I had overheard him talking to his buddy a few days ago.
*****
Grandma's condition had tanked. I took the medical bills to the courier facility to find Clive.
I was standing behind a pallet of boxes, about to call out to him, when I caught their conversation.
"Clive, the Shepherd family's DNA test is official. It's only a matter of time before you go back and claim your billionaire lifestyle.
"Are you seriously dragging your sick grandma and Eleanor back to the estate with you? Rich people only care about leverage. A guy with your new status needs to marry a proper heiress.
"A nobody like Eleanor doesn't deserve you. She's just gonna drag you down. You're not actually stupid enough to throw away all that wealth and power for her, right?"
My heart violently clenched, my palms instantly sweating.
Back when we were kids, a local bully mocked me for being an orphaned stray. Clive overheard and beat him black and blue.
Through gritted teeth, he had warned the kid: "Eleanor is not a stray. She has me and Grandma. Run your mouth again and I'll break your jaw."
But this time, the explosive defense I expected never came.
He just casually lit a cigarette, his voice muffled by the smoke. "Marry her? Hell no. She's stubborn and a total crybaby. Once she starts crying, she never stops. It's honestly exhausting.
"And bringing her and Grandma back to the Shepherd estate? I haven't even entertained the idea.
"Look, I admit it wasn't easy for Grandma to save me from those traffickers and raise me.
"But I've delivered food, worked construction, and hauled packages for years. Every single penny I bled for went toward her medical bills. That's more than enough to pay her back.
"I refuse to go back to the Shepherds and get treated like a joke because of my pathetic past.
"I deserve a better life. I'm not letting them drag me back into the gutter."
I stood there frozen. It felt like a piece of my chest had been carved out, bleeding freely.
I refused to believe that the boy who once promised to protect me forever now saw us as burdens keeping him from high society.
But right now, looking straight into his guilty eyes and seeing those glowing comments, the truth finally sank in.
The boy I had loved for two decades was long gone.