Chapter 3
The handsome guy was William Foster, who'd "stolen" my life all these years. And now, he was the adopted son of the Foster family.
With a clouded face, he gently draped his black trench coat over my shoulders and softly wiped away my tears.
His voice was unexpectedly gentle. "Don't let this mess with your head. That guy's total trash. Go home and take what's yours at the company—I swear, I'll make him grovel and beg for your forgiveness."
Then he put his arm around me and helped me get in the car.
He even brought me a hand warmer. "Warm up. Don't want you to get sick."
He was so thoughtful, and I thanked him without thinking.
Soon, we arrived at the Foster residence.
I'd barely stepped into the foyer when Grandpa rushed over, his face lighting up. "Sophia, my girl—you're finally home."
His voice cracked with emotion, hitting me right in the heart.
I'd been just another orphan, bouncing between foster homes, never having a real home.
But after the Foster family found me, I became their one and only princess.
And William became their adopted son.
For the past six years, I'd been killing myself for Charles. William had been the one running the Foster family and looking after Grandpa.
"Grandpa, I'm so sorry for coming home so late. From now on, I'll do exactly what you say," I said, my voice heavy with guilt.
"It's fine, sweetheart," Grandpa said softly. "All I care about is that you're alright."
Grandpa really cared about me.
Before I returned home, my room was already packed with all kinds of designer bags, fancy clothes, and stacks of high-end shoes.
But I couldn't care less about any of that.
All I could think about was how to make Charles pay—and pay big—for what he did to me.
Suddenly, my phone lit up with a notification.
It read: [My wedding's on the 9th next month. You're all invited.]
It was in our class group chat.
And the sender was Charles, who'd been cheating on me for six years and ditched our wedding to take his mistress and their kid to the hospital.
He even posted photos of himself and Olivia in their wedding outfits in the group chat.
Someone exclaimed: [Wow, you two really look great together!]
Another chimed in: [I'll totally be there. Can't wait to see you both tie the knot—wish you a loving baby!]
[Olivia and I already have a baby,] Charles dropped casually.
Everyone in the group chat knew I'd been with Charles for six years.
But no one scolded him. Instead, they were all showering him with congratulations.
They saw Charles was about to hit the big time—his company was about to go public—so they all started kissing his ass.
I didn't expect that these people, to kiss up to Charles, would drag me in.
[Sophia, why are you even here? Aren't you embarrassed, lurking in this chat?]
[She spent six years as Mr. Morton's personal doormat. She's the last person who should talk about being pathetic.]
[Pity is never love, understand? Just do us a favor and disappear.]
[Guys, don't be so hard on Sophia. She put in so much effort for Charles over six years, and that couldn't have been easy,] someone named Ollie cut in.
Ugh, Olivia was playing the sympathy card again.
She sent the wedding invite and said: [Sophia took care of Charles well these past six years. I'm honestly grateful.]
She even tagged me: [Hope you can make it to our wedding. I really want to thank you.]
Olivia and Charles were already so close, with a baby and everything. Still, she wouldn't let me go, using the gentlest words to cut me the deepest.
Before I could even blink, the bunch of brown-nosers in the group started throwing shade.
[Olivia took "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" way too seriously.]
[Dating isn't supposed to be about playing mommy.]
[It's Mr. Morton's big day. We don't need Sophia hanging around and making things awkward.]
As soon as that message popped up, I was kicked out of the group chat.
I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it all was.
Everyone treated Charles as some big-shot CEO, and Charles totally ate it up.
Getting booted didn't faze me, and their snarky comments didn't even sting.
I just couldn't wait to see those guys' reaction when they found out they'd been sucking up to the wrong person.