Chapter 2

Six years ago, my mom was bedridden. Her condition suddenly took a turn for the worse.

I rushed back to the country. When I got to her ward, the ventilator had already been pulled. The machines were screaming with alarms.

Panic surged through me. I grabbed the breathing mask, desperate to put it back on her.

But at the doorway, Philip's voice cut through the chaos, raw and desperate. "Natalie!"

He was convinced I killed Mom.

I was beaten for three days and three nights straight.

I ended up with a broken leg.

But I stubbornly refused to admit to something I didn't do.

Blinded by fury, Philip cut ties with me right there in front of everyone.

The gates of my home slammed shut in my face.

And at that moment, I caught the smug, victorious grin on Dakota's face.

I knew it then. It was her. She killed Mom.

My vision came back into focus.

I struggled to my feet and loosened my tight grip on the ring.

Looking at it, the one I'd managed to grab in all the chaos, I couldn't help but smile quietly.

*****

The next day, I took the ring to a pawnshop and traded it in.

As I tucked the cash into my bag, for the first time in years, I actually felt at ease.

Soon, I'd finally be able to get a new heart.

I was about to turn and leave when a voice from behind made my stomach turn. "Natalie?"

I picked up my pace.

But a few bodyguards stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

I turned around.

Dakota and Philip were coming down from the exclusive second floor reserved for VIPs.

She tilted her head, putting on her usual innocent act.

The pink diamond around her neck, worth millions of dollars, sparkled in the sunlight.

"Natalie, are you here to buy jewelry too?" she asked.

I wasn't about to play along with her childish games.

I met Philip's eyes. I didn't flinch.

I said, "If you don't need anything, Mr. Moore, just let me go. I've got things to do."

His eyes dropped to my shirt. It was faded, wrinkled, and worn so thin that it was almost white.

He reached out, aiming for the scabbed wound on my head.

But I instinctively stepped back, dodging his hand.

His hand stayed there, hanging in the air.

A long moment passed before he finally pulled it back.

There was a hint of compromise in his voice when he spoke, "Come home, Natalie."

My heart skipped a beat.

Then Philip kept going. "Just apologize to Mom and Dakota, and I'll forgive you. You can go back to being the family's heiress. Life can go back to how it was. Safe and comfortable."

"How many times do I have to tell you? It wasn't me!" I shot back.

He said, "Natalie, I've watched you grow up. I know what kind of person you are. If Dakota really did it, you would've never let it go."

I hesitated. I felt all the fight leave me.

He was right.

The old Natalie, the heiress of the Moore family, would have done whatever it took to make Dakota pay.

But that was not me anymore.

After I got thrown out, not a single person reached out to help.

My leg was broken. I sold my earrings just to afford food and medicine. I spent three months stuck in a basement before I could even walk again.

That Ivy League acceptance letter? Might as well have been trash.

With only a high school diploma, I hit a wall everywhere I went.

Even the few places willing to hire me would run the other way the second they heard the Moore family name.

I scraped by, wading through the mess life threw at me, just barely keeping my head above water.

And at the end of it all, the only thing waiting for me was a diagnosis. My heart was failing.

Now, all I cared about was surviving.

I didn't need anything else.

I gave a wry laugh. I couldn't stand looking at those two across from me, all dressed up.

I spun around. I just wanted to get out of there.

Dakota's voice came from behind, her words pointed and full of meaning. "Natalie, what's in your bag? Looks pretty full. You didn't take anything you shouldn't have, did you?"

My heart skipped a beat. I clutched my bag tight.

Then I met Philip's suspicious gaze.

"Hand it over," he demanded.

I bit my lip hard. "Why? It's mine!"

But no matter how hard I fought, the bodyguards still ripped the bag from my hands.

They opened it. The cash I'd stacked so carefully spilled out.

Philip's face went dark. "Natalie, where did you get all this money?"

Where else? I worked three jobs a day.

Washing dishes. Getting pushed around. So exhausted I can't even close my eyes at night. Every cent in there, I bled for it.

"Give it back!" I yelled, lunging for my bag.

I tried to grab it, desperate to get it back.

But they held me down. I couldn't move.

Dakota suddenly turned on the waterworks. "Philip, please let Natalie come home. She's always been a pampered princess. She can't survive out here.

"Look at her now. She's stooping to who knows what just to make some quick money."

Philip actually bought it.

He yanked the stacks of cash right out of my bag.

My heart was pounding so hard that I thought it might burst out of my chest.

"What do you think you're doing? That's my money. I worked for every cent. Don't you dare touch it!" I yelled.

Philip's gaze was cold. No warmth in it at all.

He marched out onto the street.

Then, with a ruthless swing, he scattered every cent I'd scraped together into the air.

"No!" I shouted.

People swarmed in like vultures, grabbing for the cash.

In less than a minute, every single bill was gone. Picked clean.

I heard Philip say in an icy voice, "Why should you get to keep dirty money like that?

"As long as you still carry the Moore name, don't even think about staining it."

I sank to my knees. Everything was spinning.