Chapter 3

My mom's hometown was a sleepy little town nestled in the southern region.

Following the trail of my memories, I found the old house. As I pushed open the dusty wooden door, a wave of stale, forgotten air rushed out to greet me.

Everything inside was frozen in time, exactly the way it had been before my mom passed away.

I searched every nook and cranny, desperately hoping to find any clue connected to the Lynn family.

I rifled through every drawer and pored over every old photo album, but came up empty-handed.

Just as I was about to give up, I discovered a locked diary hidden away in an old wooden box under the bed.

The lock was so old that I managed to pop it open with a hairpin.

When I opened the faded pages, I saw my mom's graceful handwriting staring back at me.

The diary began with her younger days, telling the story of how she met my dad, and how thrilled she was when she found out she was expecting me.

I flipped through the pages, and as I reached the latter half, one name began appearing frequently, the Lynn Group.

My heart started pounding.

My mom wrote that when she was young, she worked as a clerk at the Lynn Group, the biggest company in the city.

The last entry in the diary was written on the day I was born.

It read: [Today, Olivia was born. Seeing her wrinkled little face, my heart melted. But whenever I think about the accident at the hospital, my heart tightens with worry.

[That child from the Lynn family... I feel so sorry for her, and for Olivia, too. Maybe I'll have to keep this secret to myself forever. All I want is for Olivia to live a safe and happy life.]

What did she mean by an accident at the hospital? Who was the Lynn family's child?

My mind went completely blank. A crazy, terrifying idea began to spiral out of control in my head.

I immediately pulled out my phone and searched for the Lynn Group.

The search results popped up, and there was a photo of the chairman, a commanding middle-aged man named Richard Lynn.

Scrolling through the related people, I saw a name I recognized, Emily.

The news headline read: [Emily Green, Heiress of the Lynn Group, Returns Home After Studying Abroad, May Take Over the Family Business.]

In the photo, Emily was smiling sweetly, holding onto Richard's arm, looking like the picture-perfect daddy's girl.

My blood turned to ice, inch by inch.

I thought about my mom's final words, the secrets in her diary, and Emily's real identity...

Every clue pointed to one shocking truth. Emily and I had been switched at birth.

I was the one who should've been the Lynn Group's heiress.

And Emily was the kid of the Lynn family, the one my mom felt so guilty about in her diary.

Wasn't that hilarious?

I spent five years helping Charles rise from nothing to a billionaire.

And then he kicked me to the curb, running straight back to his so-called first love. She was not only his old flame, but also the impostor who stole my entire life.

Leaning against the cold wall, I let out a rough, broken laugh.

What kind of joke was this? Was this fate playing tricks on me, or the cruelest joke for all my foolish devotion these past five years?

I had no idea how long I kept laughing. Until tears blurred my vision, I stopped.

I wiped away my tears, my gaze growing steely and determined.

If fate dealt me a lousy hand, then I would turn it into a royal flush myself.

Emily, Charles, everything you owed me, every last penny, every ounce of pain, I would make you pay it back, with interest, one piece at a time.

Instead of heading straight back to Southview City, I spent the night in the small town.

*****

The next day, I did something even I thought was crazy.

I pulled out one of my own hairs, then found one of my mom's hairs tangled in her old comb.

I sealed them in a ziplock bag, then booked a flight straight to Capitavia. I was going to get a DNA test.

I did it not with my mom, but with Richard, the Lynn Group's chairman.

I needed the most direct, irrefutable proof.