Chapter 1
1
I was the mistake the Sterling family brought home. When the truth came out, everyone treated me like a disease.
Only Julian, the boy I grew up with, looked at me the same. He even invited me to his birthday banquet.
But that night, compromising photos of me were taken and blasted to every screen in the room.
Julian and my adoptive brother, Ethan, knew the truth. Neither said a single word to defend me.
They just wanted to vent their anger on behalf of the Sterlings' real daughter.
Those photos made me an outcast. Ostracized by my colleagues, humiliated by my boss, left with absolutely nothing.
I jumped from the eighteenth-floor window of the Sterling Holdings building.
As I fell, I saw the Sterlings' real daughter.
I never expected her to be the only one who cried at my funeral.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the night of the birthday banquet.
Too late.
By the time I regained consciousness, the intimate photos had already spread like a virus to the phones of every guest in the room.
I scrambled to my feet, searching the crowd for Ethan.
"Ethan, I didn't take those. It wasn't me."
He looked down at my wrinkled sleeve. His brow furrowed in disgust before he shoved my hand away.
"Then who did?"
"I didn't think you'd stoop this low just to keep your place in this family."
I turned to Julian, the one who had invited me tonight.
"Julian, we grew up together. Tell them."
The moment he saw the desperation in my eyes, he turned his face away.
"You've gone too far, Ava."
"You drugged my drink. You hired the photographer. Have you no shame at all?"
"Even if you don't care about your own dignity, think about the Sterling family who raised you for twenty years!"
I let out a bitter scoff and stopped talking.
Even with a second chance at life, I had no way to prove my innocence.
"This family spoiled you rotten."
My silence only earned me a harsher reprimand from Ethan.
"If it weren't for your selfish tantrums, Nora wouldn't have left home without a word."
"You're the one who should have left. I said it from the start. Mom never should have kept you."
The aftereffects of the drug surged back up, making my head spin.
Every word Ethan said pressed down on my chest, suffocating me.
My vision blurred. The room went black, and I collapsed to the floor.
"Playing this card again?"
Julian sneered. He nudged my face with the tip of his shoe and ordered a nearby waiter, "Splash her."
Three glasses of ice water hit my face. I didn't move.
Losing his patience, Julian grabbed a bowl of hot soup from the dining table.
"You're putting on quite the show, Ava."
"I'm going to count to three. Drop the act."
"Otherwise, let's see how you handle this."
"Three. Two. One."
"You asked for this."
The countdown ended. With a deadpan expression, Julian poured the scalding broth directly onto my face.
A bloodcurdling scream tore from my throat.
Searing agony exploded across my skin. I thrashed blindly, reaching out, hoping to grab onto someone who could save me.
No one reached back.
The guests leaned in to watch the spectacle. No one stepped forward.
In the eyes of Ethan, Julian, and these wealthy elites, a fake daughter was nothing but a joke.
I had to save myself.
"I know where Nora is!"
"I can bring her home!"
Ethan immediately lunged toward me, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"You know where she is?"
"So it was you. What did you say to make her leave?"
Fighting through the excruciating pain, I didn't argue with him.
"Take me to a hospital, or I swear you will never see her again."