Chapter 1

On my eighteenth birthday, I was kicked out of the Davies mansion.

The true heiress, Tiffany, smugly watched me, her arm linked with the parents who once showered me with affection.

Mrs. Davies scoffed, "Stella, the DNA results are in. You're Maria, the nanny's, daughter. Tiffany's back now, so get lost. You make me sick."

I stood at the villa gates, soaked to the bone.

Tiffany ripped off my jacket, a cruel smile playing on her lips as her fingernail dragged across my cheek.

"Fake is fake, always will be. I'd rather shred this jacket and use it as bedding for a stray dog than let you wear it."

Right after I was thrown out, Maria, the nanny, casually took off her apron, got into a luxury car, and drove up to me.

"Sweetie, don't you dare be sad! The business empire I built? It's all yours now!"

The surrounding guests burst into laughter, but I turned my head to a corner.

There, crouched low, was a middle-aged woman in a filthy apron, her hair matted with grease.

That was my biological mother, Maria, the Davies' lowest-ranking housekeeper.

She'd worked for the Davies family for twenty years, notorious for her greed, crude manners, and constant scheming.

At this very moment, she was clinging desperately to Mr. Davies' leg, weeping hysterically, snot and tears streaming down her face.

"Sir! Ma'am! You can kick this good-for-nothing out, but why fire me too?!"

"I haven't even gotten this month's pay! And what about the five bucks overtime from last month, for washing her undies?!"

"You can't be this heartless! Twenty years, even if I didn't contribute, I put in the hard work!"

Mr. Davies shoved her away with a disgusted kick.

"Get lost! Take your bastard with you! Or I'll unleash the dogs!"

Maria was sent sprawling, tumbling twice on the ground like a greasy bowling ball.

Watching this, my heart felt utterly dead.

This was my biological mother.

During my twenty years as Miss Davies, she never once gave me a kind look.

Whenever no one was watching, she'd viciously pinch my arm.

She chopped off my beloved long hair and forced me into boyish shorts.

I wanted to learn piano, but she'd secretly scatter thumbtacks on the keys, forcing me instead into grueling financial calculations.

I dreamt of dancing, but she'd beat my legs with a feather duster, pushing me to learn combat from a retired security guard.

I always thought she was jealous of my good fortune, trying to ruin me.

Now that I was tossed out, all she cared about was a few measly bucks of overtime pay.

A tidal wave of shame washed over me.

I walked over and forcefully pulled Maria up from her pathetic display on the ground.

"Stop begging! Can't you leave me some dignity?!"

Maria wiped the snot from her face, then slapped me across the cheek.

"Dignity?! What good is dignity?! Can it buy food?! That's three hundred bucks! Enough for how many loaves of bread?!"

I covered my face, tears mingling with the rain streaming down.

Tiffany stood on the steps, a triumphant smirk plastered across her face.

"Oh, what a show! Like dogs fighting over scraps, tearing each other to pieces."

"Maria, take your useless daughter and get out! Don't you dare dirty our property!"

The security guards roughly shoved us, tossing us out of the ornate iron gates like garbage.

The heavy gate slammed shut.

It sealed off the glittering party lights, and with it, twenty years of my life.

I collapsed into the muddy puddle by the roadside, sobbing uncontrollably. I hated the Davies family's cold cruelty, but I hated Maria's humiliation even more.

My future felt pitch black, like my life was utterly over.

Maria was still pounding on the iron gate, cursing incessantly.

"Mr. Davies, you bastard!"

I yelled at her, "Stop cursing! Haven't you embarrassed us enough?!"

Maria stopped. She turned, looking at me.

The rain was still falling, but I noticed her eyes had changed.

It was a gaze I'd never seen before—deep, icy, and full of mocking amusement.

Slowly, deliberately, she straightened her perpetually hunched back.

Her meek, submissive demeanor vanished in an instant.

She reached out, tore off her filthy apron, and casually tossed it into a nearby trash can.

Then, she ran a hand through her rain-matted hair, a scornful smile playing on her lips.

"Alright, stop bawling. There's a three-hundred-billion-dollar empire waiting for you to inherit. What's there to cry about?"