Chapter 1

My sister always had to take whatever was mine, so when I showed up at home with my boyfriend, I couldn't quite shake this uneasy feeling in my gut.

Sure enough, it didn't take long before I caught them in bed together at our joint engagement party.

I was betrayed by the man I loved and my sister. Everyone was waiting for me to lose it.

Standing outside that door, though, I couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh.

No one knew that this was all part of my plan.

From that moment on, my sister's fiancé, Lucas Hart, was mine.

*****

My parents had trouble having kids, so they went to an orphanage and adopted Anna Summers. But six months after she joined the family, my mom got pregnant with me.

Everyone said Anna was the Summers family's lucky charm, and that her arrival brought the blessing that became me.

So, I'd been told to be grateful to her.

Anna used to have all the love to herself, but after I was born, she suddenly had to start sharing our parents' affection with me, and she couldn't handle it at first.

Out of gratitude and guilt, our parents always taught me to put her first in everything.

Ever since I was a kid, it'd always been like this. From candy to our parents' affection, if Anna wanted it, I had to let her have it, no matter what.

Today was Anna's twenty-fifth birthday.

Mom got up early, dragged the housekeeper to the supermarket, and bought all of Anna's favorite foods. She was determined to cook a big birthday feast herself.

When I got home, she was in high spirits, busy in the kitchen, while Dad was on the other side of the house carefully setting up a birthday surprise.

Seeing the scene in front of me, I felt a pang of bitterness for a moment.

Every year, there was always a scene like this at home, but never once was it for me.

It all started when I turned six. Anna was furious and smashed my birthday cake, shouting that because of me, Mom and Dad didn't love her anymore.

She caused a huge scene that day, yelling that as long as I was in the house, she couldn't stay, and if she stayed, I had to leave.

To keep the peace at home, I never celebrated my birthday again after that.

Mom always told me, "If the family is harmonious, everything else will fall into place. You need to be sensible and always put Anna first."

Half an hour later, Anna came home, her arms loaded with shopping bags from the mall.

Mom rushed over, covered her eyes, and led her straight to the dining table.

Dad thoughtfully pushed the cake right in front of her. "Happy birthday, sweetheart. Blow out the candles and make a wish. Your mom and I have a huge surprise for you."

Anna blew out the candles and threw her arms around Mom, acting all cute. "Mom, what did you and Dad get me this time?"

"You're still like when you were little, so impatient," Mom said, affectionately tapping her forehead.

Then she pulled out a stack of documents from behind her and set them down in front of Anna.

"These are the company's share transfer papers. Your dad and I have decided to give you ten percent of Summers Group's shares. So, what do you think? Do you like this gift?" Mom said.

"Mom!" Anna gasped, covering her mouth in shock.

"You're all grown up now. It's time for you to start learning the ropes at the company. After all, Summers Group will be yours to run one day," Dad said.

As I heard that, I felt my grip on the fork tremble slightly.

Anna and I had always walked completely different paths.

She was never into studying. All she cared about was partying, eating, and having fun. So our parents dropped thousands of dollars to send her abroad to study art, and she barely graduated and came back with a degree.

But me? I knew from a young age that I was never their priority. If I wanted to have a place in the Summers family, I had to make sure I ended up running Summers Group one day.

So, I studied my ass off and finally got into one of the top three universities in the country as a business major.

And for grad school, I secured admission to Vale University, a world-class elite university.

I always thought that if I worked hard enough, they'd let me take over Summers Group.

With a sharp clang, my fork hit the floor, echoing the shock that ran through me.