Chapter 2

I smirked at him. "Get lost, lackey. I don't want to see your face."

Charles snapped.

Jade quickly jumped in. "Charles, take it easy. Your sister just got back—she's probably overwhelmed. Try to understand."

Charles said, malice dripping from his words, "She's been hanging around bars since she was 14—what can't she handle? With her experience, Anna wouldn't last a minute against her. I don't want her back in this family. She'll hold a grudge and go after Anna."

I'd heard that kind of talk before. It didn't sting anymore.

I sneered, "Did I ever say I wanted to go back?"

When I was ten, the oldest kid at the orphanage framed me for stealing. The director made me stand outside while everyone called me a thief to my face.

When night fell and a storm broke out, I ran.

I spent two years on the streets before Harlan Lopez, who owned a boxing gym, took me in.

He gave me food and a place to sleep out of pity. I knew pity didn't last, so I begged him to teach me how to fight and promised I'd work for him, no matter what.

I became the most reckless fighter in his gym. Nobody knew what it cost me.

Charles stared at me like I was insane. "You'd rather waste your life in dive bars than come home to the Goodwins? Are you out of your mind?"

He probably expected me to be crying and begging to be the Goodwin family heiress.

But I knew exactly how that story ended.

One of the hostesses I was close to used to be a rich girl. Her family dragged her home, and what did she get? Forced to marry some old creep. Tormented by her sister. Her parents even had her committed to a mental hospital.

When she finally escaped, she was covered in scars from shock treatments and beatings.

After that, she used her whole "rich girl turned hostess" act as her angle and made bank at the bar.

She'd rather drown herself in booze than ever go back to that house.

Whenever she got drunk, she'd say the same thing, "I thought I finally had a family, but it was hell. They never loved me."

I'd just listen quietly and never told a soul.

Seeing the look on his face as he cursed me out, I fired right back at him.

"You're the one who's lost your mind. After I got kidnapped, you didn't look for me right away. You didn't care what happened to me, and you still had time to adopt some other orphan? That shows you never gave a damn whether I lived or died."

Jade rushed to explain. "It's not like that. We were desperate—we had everyone searching for you. But after months with no leads, my health crashed. Your dad was worried, so he adopted a girl who looked like you to comfort me..."

"So people really are just replaceable," I snorted.

Anna burst into tears. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have taken your place and made you sad. I'll pack my things and leave right now."

Charles stopped her. "Anna, we talked about this. Even if she comes back, you're not going anywhere. The Goodwin family is your home."

Anna looked at me, playing scared. "But Scarlett doesn't like me. What if she refuses to come home because of me? Then Mom and Dad will blame me and hate me."

Ryan spoke slowly. "If she won't come home because of you, then she doesn't have to. Home is a place for love, not a dumping ground for her drama."