Chapter 1

On the day of my engagement, I was kidnapped.

My family kept it all under wraps and made my sister Vanessa Blake take my place at the altar, marrying my fiancé instead.

Everyone thought I'd faked the whole thing myself.

After the engagement party, both families absolutely hated me.

My dad was furious. "Even if she comes back, I won't acknowledge her as my daughter. She might as well die out there."

My mom looked utterly disappointed. "If I'd known it'd turn out like this, I never would've brought her back from the countryside. She's a disgrace."

Even my fiancé said, "This time, she's crossed the line. Even if she comes back, I won't marry her."

The kidnappers put me through hell for a whole month.

In the end, it was my sworn enemy who came to my rescue. After years of fighting and hating each other, he turned out to be the only one willing to help me.

But he made me kneel my way back to Northcrest, one step at a time.

If I wanted to live, I had to do whatever he said.

When I finally dragged myself to the doorstep, battered and filthy, I looked like I'd been living on the streets.

Meanwhile, inside, my whole family was throwing a lavish birthday bash for Vanessa.

She was the center of attention, a princess with everyone fawning over her.

And I was just the outcast, the beggar at the door.

Just like Vanessa once said, "Filthy beggar, you'll never beat me, not in this life."

In a deserted corner where no one noticed, I quietly closed my eyes.

I died.

I died right outside my own home.

I died to the sound of elegant piano music.

I died at the exact moment they placed a diamond crown on my sister's head.

*****

"Are you done making a scene?"

With that angry yell ringing in my ears, I slowly opened my eyes, pain stabbing at the back of my head.

Not far away, Vanessa was huddled against Mom, crying that I stole her boyfriend.

Dad tried to play judge for Vanessa, but when he realized she was the one in the wrong, his anger only grew.

He thought I was challenging his authority as a father, lost it, and shoved me down the stairs.

I reached back and touched the back of my head.

It hurt like hell.

That pain was proof I was still alive.

And it was also a sign that I'd been given a second chance at life.

Dad's voice thundered above me again. "She's your sister! Can't you think about her for once? Why do you always have to be so selfish?"

With a blank face, I pulled out my phone and called my boyfriend.

He picked up right away.

"Vanessa likes you. Go be with her. We're done. From now on, don't ever call me again," I said, my voice cold and flat.

Then I blocked his number.

All three of them froze.

I looked up at my father and asked calmly, "Are you satisfied now?"

He said nothing.

My mother frowned and pointed at me. "You steal your sister's boyfriend and you still have the nerve to act arrogant? Figures. Just like that old hag raised you. Everyone else is always wrong, and you're always right."

By "that old hag," she meant my grandma.

I was raised by my grandmother from the time I was born. I didn't return to my parents' home until middle school.

They always said they were poor back then, that they couldn't afford to raise two children. So they kept my sister with them and dumped me, not even a month old, on my grandmother.

They kept saying they were broke until the villagers found out my father lived in a villa and my mother drove luxury cars.

They were never poor. They just didn't want to raise me. Or my grandmother.

Later, I learned the real reason. My birth chart clashed with my father's. I was bad luck. Not fit to be part of the family.

When my grandmother was dying, she forced herself out of bed, dragged her failing body to my parents, and gave them an ultimatum.

Either they took me in and supported me, or she would slam herself to death right in front of their house.

My parents cared too much about their reputation to let that happen. So they agreed.

I knew they never really wanted me back.

I stayed anyway. And to survive, I turned myself into the most obedient version of a person imaginable.

I would do everything they told me to do.

I swallowed my pride, smiled through insults, tried to please everyone in that house. All I got in return were cold looks and silent contempt.

That was until they found out that my boyfriend, the man I had been with for years, was the heir to the Lockwood Group.