Category: English

I came home for the holidays, and as I pushed open the door, I was still imagining the surprised expressions on Mom and Dad’s faces when they saw the gifts I brought. But the house was empty, with only the faint sound of snoring coming from my room. I thought my mother was taking an afternoon nap and tiptoed to push open the door, only to find a strange woman lying on my bed. I was so startled I stepped back and bumped into the doorframe. The woman woke up with a start and looked at me impatiently. “Who are you? Why are you barging into someone else’s room?” “This is my room,” I said angrily. She sneered. “You must be Erin, right? Your parents said this room is mine now.” Just then, the door opened and my parents walked in carrying groceries. When they saw me, they showed no surprise. Instead, they said in unison, “Why did you come back?” My mother set down the groceries, walked over to the woman’s side, took her hand, and her first words left me completely frozen in place.

“Erin, have you gotten acquainted with Rosie?” My mother spoke with a gentle expression, her gaze falling on the woman behind me. I was furious. “Acquainted with what? How could you rent out my room without my permission?” What was even more suffocating was that she was even using my sheets and blankets. The thought made me shudder. When I first fell asleep groggily and smelled the perfume scent on the blanket, I thought it was from the laundry detergent, but it turned out to be… But my mother suddenly took my hand and placed it on the woman’s hand, smiling as she spoke. “You two are going to spend your whole lives together anyway, so it’s good for Rosie to get to know you in advance.” I looked at the woman’s scrutinizing gaze and quickly pulled my hand away in alarm, staring at my mother in disbelief. “What are you talking about?! What do you mean spending our whole lives together?” My father, sitting on the side, took a sip of tea and glanced at me. “Is this how you talk to your mother?!” There was even a hint of disappointment in his tone. “If you hadn’t been fooling around out there all this time and refusing to find a partner, would your mother be this anxious?” “Rosie has promised us she’ll treat you well. Just get along with her and don’t make your mother and me worry.” I finally understood. This wasn’t a tenant at all—they had taken it upon themselves to find me a girlfriend! I spoke with some exasperation. “The company is at a critical stage right now. Where do I have time to date?” “Can you stop making decisions for me?!” Since college, I had teamed up with classmates to start a business. Over these years, it had developed rapidly and had already become a leading force in the city. The woman’s scrutinizing gaze swept over me from head to toe as she spoke with understanding. “Mr. Collins, Mrs. Collins, don’t be angry. Erin just needs some time to adjust.” Hearing her form of address made my vision go black, but my parents couldn’t stop smiling. However, when their gaze turned to me, it instantly darkened. “Look how sensible Rosie is?! You should be grateful she’s interested in you!” “And she’s a big boss at Sterling Corporation, a major company in the city! Not like you, making three thousand a month and acting all proud about it!” I suddenly laughed and began examining the woman’s face carefully. How did I not know that the company’s CEO had changed from me to her? She mistook this for a change in my attitude, and her spine straightened noticeably. “Erin, I heard from your mother that you just do odd jobs—lots of work for little money.” “After we get married, you won’t need to work anymore. I’ll transfer money to you on time every month.” I was completely baffled. How could someone shamelessly take credit like this? I didn’t have time to argue with them and spoke calmly. “I don’t care what you’ve agreed to between yourselves. I’m giving you two choices right now.” “First, have this woman get out of my room and I’ll pretend nothing happened. Second, I’ll call the police to have her removed from this room, and I’ll never come back to this house again.” Before I could finish speaking, my father suddenly stood up and slapped me across the face. My cheek instantly burned with pain. “You bastard!” “We found you someone with such good conditions and you dare chase her away?! I’m telling you right now—you’re getting married whether you like it or not!” I stared at my sister’s and brother’s rooms and suddenly spoke. “Fine, then can you explain why you’re only pressuring me to get married quickly?” “Is it because my good-for-nothing brother Brian needs money to get married and buy a house? Or is it because my sister Sophie, who has absolutely no artistic talent, needs more money for her living expenses abroad?” Just that one sentence left my parents speechless, their faces turning the color of liver. “Erin, are you asking for a beating?!” A familiar roar came from outside the door.

Brian kicked the door open wearing thousand-dollar designer shoes and kicked me in the stomach. I didn’t have time to react and fell to the floor. The pain in my abdomen made me instinctively frown. Brian sat down on the sofa with a swagger, looking down at me. “What do you mean freeloading? Don’t you know you were born to be my servant?” “What’s wrong with me spending the money you earn? Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?” “Even though you won’t get to use the title ‘brother-in-law,’ Rosie is doing you a favor by being interested in you. Don’t be ungrateful!” I felt nothing inside because I had already become numb over the past dozen years or so. Everything changed completely from the moment Brian was born. At first, my parents were always afraid of neglecting Sophie because of my birth, so they put more attention on her. I understood that. But after Brian was born, the favoritism I expected never came. Instead, both Sophie and Brian received equal love. Only I became the person who shouldn’t exist in this family. They could spend tens of thousands enrolling Sophie in piano lessons she had no talent for, but wouldn’t buy me a pair of fifteen-dollar shoes. They could take Brian to the Maldives on vacation, but made me give up the top high school I got into to attend a suburban school with cheaper tuition. I fought, I made a scene. The result was not getting lunch money for a whole week during my school days. The four of them dined elegantly at five-star restaurants while I split one bun into three meals. After starting college, all the money I earned from part-time jobs was taken to buy game credits for Brian and new dresses for Sophie. So I never mentioned a word about my startup to them. Yet to outsiders, I became the most antisocial, least promising son in their mouths. Seeing how my parents didn’t refute anything Brian said, I knew that keeping it hidden back then was absolutely the right choice. “Great, since you like her so much, why don’t you marry her?” “You really today…” Brian’s veins bulged instantly as he stood up to hit me, but my mother stopped him in time with a look. Rosie looked at me on the floor with disgust that my mother easily caught. She immediately ordered me. “Erin, you’ve really gone too far today. Apologize to Rosie right now.” Rosie glanced at me on the floor and spoke indifferently. “It’s fine, Mrs. Collins. You all explain things to Erin first. I’ll come back another time.” The change in her form of address instantly made my parents’ expressions change. With that, she went straight back to the bedroom to pack her things and left. “Erin! Are you satisfied now?!” My mother was so angry she grabbed the glass beside her and threw it at me. I dodged by tilting my head. “This is a catch you couldn’t find with a lantern, and you had to drive her away to be happy?!” “You’ve gotten bold after mixing around outside for a few years? If you’re so capable, don’t come back to this house! This house was bought by your old man!” My parents sang the same tune, glaring at me furiously. I stared at their rage and realized I could no longer find even a trace of the memories from my childhood. The mother who used to tell me bedtime stories, the father who would run several miles to bring me my favorite cupcakes—they were all gone. Never to be found again. “Fine, I’ll leave right now.” With that, I turned and went back to my bedroom to pack. Looking around, even I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. In this tiny bedroom converted from a storage room, the things that belonged to me could be counted on one hand. The textbooks on the desk were Sophie’s hand-me-downs. The desk lamp was one Brian had thrown to me after buying a new one. Even the few scattered pieces of clothing in the closet were all hand-me-downs from them. My bedroom was dark. It wasn’t spacious and bright like Sophie’s room, which could fit an expensive piano. It wasn’t customized like Brian’s room with floor-to-ceiling windows. The only thing that kept me from seeing cement walls when I turned over in bed was the cheap stickers I had put up for a few dollars during my school days. Erin, oh Erin, how pitiful you are. As I simply gathered some of my few personal belongings, an expensive handbag suddenly appeared before my eyes, and a voice so gentle it could drip water spoke in my ear. “Erin, if anyone bullies you, tell Sophie. Don’t be impulsive.”

Sophie’s pretty little face appeared before me, her eyes full of concern. This was her usual tactic. She never played the villain in front of me, yet time and again left me mired in trouble. In middle school, when local thugs cornered me in an alley demanding protection money, Sophie walked past the alley without batting an eye, completely ignoring me. When I got home, I was beaten severely by my parents. The reason was that Sophie saw me bullying classmates at school instead of studying. That night, she cried and begged me to forgive her. “I’m so sorry. I just saw it wrong that day and shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” I thought it was really a misunderstanding and didn’t take it to heart. Later in high school, the night before tuition was due, she suddenly proposed wanting to study abroad on an exchange program. My spot at the top city high school paved her way across the ocean. She always cried saying she didn’t know, she never expected it. She always smiled saying, “I’ll protect you.” Later still, my college application was secretly changed from the capital to this city. She hugged me with understanding. “It’s okay. At least this city is close to the port. Sophie will fly back to see you whenever she has time.” So under her protection, I was left battered and bruised. It wasn’t until these past few years that I belatedly realized how foolish I had been. Now, I had no interest in playing along with her act anymore and spoke coldly. “No one’s bullying me. I want to leave on my own.” “Please move aside.” In just an instant, her eyes filled with tears as she spoke pitifully. “Do you hate even Sophie now?” Hearing her crying, the whole family instantly rushed in. Brian frantically began wiping Sophie’s tears. “Erin, are you sick? My sister shows concern for you and that’s wrong?!” “As expected, people like you were never meant to be loved!” “My sister”—those two words instantly separated me from this family. Or rather, I had never been part of it to begin with. “Oh Sophie, don’t cry. My precious daughter, it breaks my heart.” My mother lovingly wiped Sophie’s tears, her movements as gentle as if handling porcelain. My father’s accusations arrived on schedule. “Nothing good happens when you come back!” My face was expressionless. No more tears would flow from my eyes. I spoke coldly. “You’re all right, so please move aside. I need to leave.” Just as I reached the door, my mother’s weary voice came from behind. “Stay one more night. We’re attending someone’s wedding tomorrow.” I didn’t look back. “You can go without me.” My mother’s lips moved slightly as she spoke that person’s name. My shoulders trembled violently. After a long moment, I made my decision. “I’ll stay at a hotel tonight.” Back at the hotel, I called my assistant. “Bring me a formal suit to the York Hotel.” Her life event—I didn’t want to treat it carelessly. Looking at the things I’d brought from home, I added another sentence. “Also, help me investigate something. As soon as possible…” Inside the Grandview Hotel, Sophie held her mother’s hand with a worried expression. “Do you think he’ll come?” “Don’t worry. For that person, there’s no way he won’t come.” Brian also chimed in. “Exactly. He’s obligated to come, Sophie. Stop worrying about him.” Indeed, I arrived at the banquet as expected, though my heart was filled with anxiety. Would she still be willing to see me? Was she doing well? When that familiar face smiled and took my hand, all my nervous emotions finally relaxed. “How have you been lately?” Claire sat in her wheelchair, her warm body temperature transmitting from her palm. “I’m really fine now. You really don’t need to blame yourself for what happened back then.” If my adolescence was dark, then my cousin Claire was undoubtedly a ray of light in my dim times. Back then, everyone said I was no good, said I was antisocial, said I was rigid. Only she would smile and stroke my hair comfortingly. “No, I think Erin is great, really great.” But later, the school equipment room caught fire for no reason. I was trapped inside, and she rushed into the flames to push me out. She herself was pinned down by falling shelves, crushing both her legs. Later, she transferred away from my hometown, and I never saw her again. All these years, I persisted in transferring money to her family every month to make up for my mistake. The day after she transferred, I received a message. “Erin, don’t blame yourself. I don’t hold it against you.” My thoughts returned to the present. She was still as gentle and virtuous as she had been through the years. I couldn’t help but wonder who was lucky enough to marry her. Unexpectedly, her first question left me dumbfounded. “Erin, is the bride treating you well?”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “401065”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

The day before the company’s promotion qualification exam, Chloe closed the conference room door with a mysterious air. “I have a way to make sure everyone on our project team passes the exam!” “Personal hygiene products brought into the exam room won’t be inspected if they’re unopened.” “We just need to copy the key points onto tissues we carry in and bring them with us!” Before she finished speaking, the entire project team erupted in excitement. In my previous life, as the deputy team leader, I stopped them from this ridiculous idea in time. “The company notice said that this year they’re adding inspections of opened packages. Any packaged personal items will be opened and checked. You’d better not make trouble for yourselves. This is the promotion exam that affects next year’s job level and salary!” The whole team scoffed at me. “Oh, so righteous, aren’t you? You’re just afraid we’ll all get promoted and take your manager position!” “Chloe truly has our best interests at heart. Stop being such a buzzkill!” With no other choice, I reported this to HR. As a result, they were caught cheating. Everyone just got a verbal warning, but only Chloe was stripped of her position. Holding a grudge, she pushed me down the stairs when I was working overtime. When the police investigated, my colleagues all pleaded for her: “Chloe is such a good person. It must have been Nina who started it!” “She’s always been a snitch. This is what she deserves!” I closed my eyes with endless hatred. When I opened them again, I had returned to the day Chloe taught everyone to cheat. I raised my hand with a smile, my eyes curving into crescents: “That’s a brilliant idea! Count me in first!” —

In my previous life, after I died, Chloe still wasn’t satisfied. She contacted people from the black market to dump my body at my parents’ house. My parents had heart attacks on the spot. Chloe laughed maniacally, stepping on my father’s chest and shouting. “If your daughter hadn’t meddled and ruined me, the department director position would definitely be mine now!” “She deserved to die. The daughter’s debt, the parents pay. Making you pay the price for my future isn’t unreasonable, is it?” Before she finished speaking, two bright red knives were pulled from my parents’ chests. My soul floated in the air, frantically trying to fight them, but powerless. I could only watch helplessly as they committed evil. Suddenly, someone pushed my shoulder hard. “Nina, say something! Are you going to do it or not?” The pain in my shoulder woke me up. Only then did I realize I had been reborn. The whole team surrounded me, mocking. “She really lives up to her reputation as the team’s famous stick-in-the-mud! Just knows how to keep her head down and work! People like you will never get promoted!” “Which is better—her or this trick? She probably can’t even beat a tissue!” Everyone burst out laughing. Someone slapped a tissue covered in key points onto my desk. Chloe sat in the middle of the workstations, looking at me with contempt. “Nina, you’re the deputy team leader with the strongest professional skills. I’ll leave this task to you.” “Prepare several copies, summarize the key points, and distribute them to everyone in the restroom during the exam.” She lowered her voice and leaned close to my ear. “We’re all colleagues. You wouldn’t refuse such a small favor, would you? Besides, you’ll need it yourself, won’t you?” Seeing me hesitate, the other colleagues became impatient. “Asking for your help is showing you respect. If you’re not grateful, fine, but what’s with that attitude? Why are you acting so high and mighty?” “We all have mortgages and families to support. If we fail and get pay cuts, how can we face our families? Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?” “And she’s the deputy team leader! Most unreliable when it counts!” “Stop putting on airs!” They were too stupid. The company had already sent out a notice that this year’s promotion exam inspections would be comprehensively upgraded. Any items candidates brought into the exam room, including personal hygiene products, would need to be opened and inspected. To ensure fairness, justice, and transparency in the exam. In my previous life, I felt everyone had worked hard all year and shouldn’t be ruined by this. I tried desperately to dissuade them, even bringing up the department director. I never expected it would end with my entire family’s tragic death. In this life, I picked up the tissue from the desk and looked at it. “You’re right. The promotion exam is so important that we should do well even if it means taking risks.” They didn’t expect me to be so “reasonable.” Chloe showed a suspicious expression. “You’re really going to help us? You won’t secretly snitch, will you?” I immediately turned on location sharing in the WhatsApp work group. With this, everyone could see my movement track. Whether I went to the leadership or not would be crystal clear. “I won’t interfere with you, but I’m not participating.” —

Chloe laughed. “You think that’s enough to make us trust you?” “You can still send messages without leaving.” “As long as you don’t help us, you’re trying to sabotage us.” The others caught on and surrounded me, not letting me leave. Just then, Ethan arrived. He gave me a cold look, instantly standing with Chloe and mocking me sarcastically. “What’s the use of just keeping your head down and working? Chloe does side hustles while working, and every quarterly evaluation she easily ranks above you. Aren’t you embarrassed?” “She’s kindly giving you a hand. Don’t be ungrateful. When you fail again, you’ll hide away crying endlessly. No one will care about you then.” The whole team roared with laughter. “No way, so that’s why she works overtime so desperately! Turns out she’s jealous!” “She’s not helping us because she’s afraid we’ll actually get high scores, right?” My heart ached, and even breathing became difficult. During the first promotion exam after joining the company, the company prepared a fifty-thousand-dollar bonus for first place. At that time, my father’s heart disease required surgery, and our family was scraping together money everywhere. I worked overtime desperately, studied day and night, wanting to use that fifty thousand dollars for my father’s surgery. But in the end, I came in second. First place went to Chloe. At the awards ceremony, she held up the fifty-thousand-dollar bonus sign with a brilliant smile. Only I knew she had cheated. She had gotten the test questions in advance from an insider at the third-party testing agency. When I got home, I cried until my eyes were swollen. Ethan knew about my guilt and frustration. He came to see me with gifts, tenderly handing me tissues. “Grades obtained through cheating won’t last. Nina, don’t blame yourself. I believe in you. You’ll definitely succeed next time.” We grew up together. I thought we had become indispensable to each other’s lives. Until one late night after overtime, I saw him kissing Chloe in the stairwell. I took a deep breath. Gathered my things. Ignored everyone and went home after work. “My uncle is the group’s vice president. If you don’t help us, I’ll make sure you can never stay at this company.” Chloe’s voice came from behind. All the colleagues were shocked. “Wow! Chloe is usually so low-key!” “With that connection, even if our answers are discovered, we won’t be afraid!” “Chloe is still the best! Personally helping us—what is Nina even worth!” “She deserves to be fired! When you deliver food in the future, remember to tell us. I’ll give you extra tips!” Laughter erupted behind me. Chloe’s expression was contemptuous. But I was unusually calm. In my previous life, her uncle was taken away by the company’s compliance department on exam day. Accepting bribes from suppliers, facilitating illegal benefit transfers—he was immediately dismissed and handed over to judicial authorities. Tens of millions of dollars in illegal gains were confiscated. Their entire family lost everything overnight and could only survive by driving for Uber. I wasn’t threatened. My steps didn’t stop. Chloe immediately changed her expression. Before she could speak, Ethan stepped forward first. “Since you’re so antisocial, I’ll have to use special methods.” He took out his phone and dialed a number. “I’ve already had someone pick up your parents. When you can see them depends on your performance.” My heart lurched. All my blood ran cold. “Ethan, are you crazy!” “You dare lay hands on them?” —

My family and Ethan’s family had been neighbors for decades. My parents watched him grow up. Back then, his parents were busy with business and had no time for him. Little Ethan often sat alone on the steps in front of my house. My parents felt sorry for him and opened the door to let him in. From then on, there was always a place for him at our dinner table. But I never expected he could put my parents in danger for Chloe’s sake. He shrugged. “If you just agree obediently, everything will be fine. If something happens to them, you’re the one who caused it.” I looked at him in disbelief, trembling all over. Chloe finally smiled, glancing at me with eyes full of provocation. “Ethan, you’re so good to me.” She threw several boxes of portable tissues into my bag and threatened. “There’s no one at your house. Going back won’t help.” “You have one night. Get all the key points organized. The exam is tomorrow. Don’t delay things.” “It’s all up to you, Miss Perfect.” With that, she invited everyone to go have drinks at a bar. The whole team cheered, deliberately whistling at me. They grabbed my phone and locked me in the conference room. “What are you doing! Let me out!” I desperately pounded on the conference room door. They laughed even louder. Ethan watched coldly the entire time without saying a word, walking away shoulder to shoulder with Chloe. Everyone jeered, looking at me mockingly. “So pathetic haha, she can’t even keep her childhood sweetheart!” “With a Dream Girl like Chloe, who would want someone as ordinary as her!” “After tomorrow’s exam, we’ll be free!” “Let’s go on a team building trip to an island resort!” “Let’s have a party! Let’s go karaoke!” They wildly fantasized about how to arrange their wonderful post-promotion lives after finishing this tough battle of the promotion exam. I looked at the mountains of tissue boxes piled in front of me, my eyes instantly reddening. My parents worked very hard. Everyone said daughters didn’t need to work so hard, but they still said early on that if I got promoted to a higher level, they would take out their savings to buy me an apartment. They were determined to support me in establishing a foothold in the big city. But now, I was locked in here, preparing cheat materials for everyone. The defenses in my heart were collapsing inch by inch. They were still laughing and chatting outside, very lively. But this joyful atmosphere didn’t affect me at all. I looked up at the surveillance camera in the conference room that had just been repaired. I knew that tomorrow, they wouldn’t even be able to enter the exam room. —

On exam day, I was hungry and exhausted, my nose tingling with the urge to cry. With dark circles under my eyes and my bag on my back, I waited for them to come get their things. Thanks to them, I had crammed all the key knowledge points overnight. Now all the exam points were practically carved into my brain, impossible to shake off. “Didn’t sleep well last night? You’re not going to fall asleep in the exam room, are you? How embarrassing!” Chloe deliberately bumped my shoulder with ill intent. Ethan followed right behind, directly grabbing my bag to check if the materials were prepared properly. Two minutes later, he showed a satisfied expression. “Smart of you.” After the cheat materials were distributed, all the colleagues walked into the exam room with their heads held high, certain of victory. “Did you pick out positions yesterday? There are still too few good positions. None that I like.” “Well, I’ve decided to test into Division A. I heard their year-end bonus is a hundred thousand.” “A hundred thousand? I straight up promised my mom yesterday I’d get first place. Already ordered a new car!” “Did you hear? After the exam, Ethan is going to officially announce his relationship with Chloe!” “Wow! Double happiness!” Their laughter buzzed around my ears like flies. So annoying. And my mind at this moment was completely filled with the knowledge I desperately memorized last night. It was time for the inspection. I nervously stepped up, and the proctor dumped everything out of my bag one by one. Even the small tissue packages were opened and inspected one by one. “No problems. Go in.” Hearing this, I felt like I’d received a pardon from death. Chloe and her group behind me also breathed a sigh of relief, queuing up for the proctor to inspect them. “What’s this?” The proctor opened a tissue package, casually picked up one sheet, and asked with a frown. Chloe’s back went cold. “Proctor, this is a personal hygiene product…” “That’s not right, is it?” The proctor unfolded the packaging paper. Neat handwriting densely covered the entire surface

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “401066”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

Five years of marriage, and Damian Bennett suffered from severe azoospermia. To give him an heir, I endured countless agonizing rounds of IVF treatment. My lower abdomen was covered in needle marks, so many they were uncountable, and I even developed severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Until that day, when I went to an elite private hospital to reserve a future delivery suite, I ran into him carefully supporting a young woman whose pregnant belly was swollen high. The girl said coyly, “Damian, the doctor said they’re twin boys. How are you going to reward me?” That man, who was always so cold and aloof, who acted like even smiling at me was a luxury, now knelt on one knee, reverently kissing her belly. “Everything I have is yours. Along with all of Seraphina Stark’s shares—everything belongs to our family of four.” I stood in the corner, touching my abdomen that was cramping from excessive ovarian stimulation, and smiled. Damian Bennett, since you want children so badly, let me send your family of four to hell together.

In the VIP reception room at Cloud Peak, a luxury private hospital, the heating was turned up high, diffusing a faint scent of chamomile. I held a black card in my hand, preparing to swipe it for that top-tier suite costing $880,000. The receptionist looked apologetic. “Ms. Stark, I’m terribly sorry, but this suite was just reserved by Mr. Bennett. His wife is pregnant with twins, and Mr. Bennett is so concerned about her that he paid in full immediately.” I froze. Mr. Bennett? There weren’t many Mr. Bennetts who could drop $880,000 without blinking. Instinctively, I turned my head, following the receptionist’s gaze toward the floor-to-ceiling windows at the end of the hallway. With just one glance, all the blood in my body seemed to drain away instantly, freezing into ice. In front of the windows stood a man. He wore the black pinstriped suit I had flown to Milan, Italy last week to have custom-tailored and perfectly pressed for him. His posture was upright, his demeanor cold and dignified. It was my husband, Damian Bennett. The same man who, ten minutes ago, had messaged me on Facebook: “Seraphina, I’m in an international video conference, very busy. Be good and give yourself your injection on time.” At this moment, he was looking down, his eyes so tender they could melt. And nestled in his arms was a young woman wearing a Chanel haute couture maternity dress. The girl’s belly was already swollen high—she looked at least five or six months along. “Damian, the mattresses at this private hospital aren’t soft enough. I’m afraid my back will hurt when I sleep,” the girl pouted, complaining sweetly. Damian immediately put his arm around her waist protectively, his voice coaxing in a way I’d never heard before. “Alright, alright, I’ll have someone change it to your favorite brand right away. Summer, you’re my top priority right now. You can’t be uncomfortable at all.” Lena Summer. Hearing that name, my mind exploded with a deafening roar. Damian Bennett’s first love—the woman he had pined for for seven whole years, who supposedly went abroad years ago. When did she come back? Whose child was in her belly? Lena Summer giggled, her pale finger poking at Damian’s chest. “You only care about the babies. What if Seraphina Stark, that frumpy old hag, finds out? She owns half your company’s shares.” Damian sneered, unconcealed disgust flashing in his eyes. “Finds out? Right now her brain is completely consumed with how to give me a child. Every day she’s being tortured like a psycho by those ovarian stimulation injections. She doesn’t have time to worry about me.” “Once she’s completely wrecked her body, I’ll find an excuse to kick her out. Then Bennett Corporation will be all mine. All my money will be yours and the babies’.” He lowered his head and pressed a deep kiss on Lena Summer’s forehead. “Summer, just wait a little longer. Soon, I’ll give you the proper status of a wife.”

I bit down hard on my lower lip until my mouth filled with the strong taste of blood, barely keeping myself from screaming. My stomach churned violently with nausea. I turned and stumbled toward the restroom. Bent over the sink, I dry-heaved until I thought I’d vomit up bile. The woman in the mirror had a deathly pale face and sunken eyes. Due to long-term hormone injections, her once-slender waist had become bloated, and her skin had lost its luster. For Damian Bennett, I’d turned myself into a monster. Five years ago, we got married. When we happily tried to conceive, Damian was diagnosed with severe azoospermia. That day, this proud man knelt before me, eyes red, slapping himself hard. “Seraphina, I’ve failed you. I can’t give you a complete family. Let’s break up. I can’t hold you back.” I cried and held him, saying it was okay, that modern medicine was so advanced, we could do IVF. Because of that promise, I embarked on a hellish road of no return. Down-regulation, ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, embryo transfer. Thick needles piercing my ovaries—that tearing pain, I endured it ten times. Over two thousand days and nights, my belly was covered in purple-blue needle marks. Before the old ones faded, new ones were already stabbed in. I took so much medication I developed hormonal imbalances and lost hair by the handful. Damian would always hold me, crying with heartache. “Seraphina, you’ve worked so hard. Once we have a child, I’ll give everything I have to you and the baby.” I thought that was devotion. Now I know it was a poisoned blade. He never had azoospermia at all! That diagnosis report—he faked it! He watched me suffer like hell on the operating table for a lie, then turned around and lived it up every night with his first love, even getting her pregnant with twins. A sharp, cramping pain suddenly shot through my abdomen. I clutched my stomach, cold sweat instantly soaking through my back. It was ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. The doctor had warned me that if I continued with ovarian stimulation, my life would be in danger at any moment. I endured the excruciating pain, pulled out my phone, and with trembling hands opened Damian Bennett’s Facebook. “Damian, my stomach hurts so much. I think it’s a complication. Can you come pick me up and take me to the hospital?” The message sank like a stone in water. Ten minutes later, I supported myself against the wall and weakly walked out of the restroom. In the hallway, Damian was carefully escorting Lena Summer into the elevator. His phone was in his hand, and the screen lit up. He glanced down at it, his brow furrowing with disgust. He pressed mute and casually shoved it into his pocket. Then he turned to Lena Summer and once again showed that infinitely tender smile. The elevator doors slowly closed. Shutting away their happy family of four, and completely burying my five years of stupidity. I leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid down to the floor. Tears fell heavily onto the floor tiles, but I didn’t make a sound. Damian Bennett, you think you can just kick me out like this? Dream on.

I didn’t call an ambulance. Instead, I took a taxi to the private hospital where my best friend Sophia Parker worked. “Seraphina Stark, are you out of your mind?!” Sophia looked at my ultrasound report, her whole body trembling with rage. “Bilateral ovarian enlargement, severe ascites! Don’t you know you were one step away from ovarian rupture and massive hemorrhage? Where the hell is that bastard Damian Bennett?” I lay on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling, my voice so calm it even scared me. “He’s with Lena Summer at the hospital. Twins. Almost six months along.” Sophia froze, her medical chart dropping to the floor with a loud smack. “What did you say?” I closed my eyes and recounted everything I’d seen at the private hospital, word for word. The hospital room fell deathly silent. A few seconds later, Sophia cursed and turned to rush out. “Fuck Damian Bennett! I’m going to grab a scalpel right now and chop off his worthless dick!” “Sophia, stop.” I opened my eyes, my gaze cold as ice. “Destroying him is too good for him.” I propped myself up to sit, yanking the IV needle from the back of my hand. Blood immediately gushed out. “Seraphina, what are you doing!” Sophia cried out. “Get me some strong painkillers. I’m checking out.” My tone left no room for argument. “You don’t value your life? Your condition requires hospital observation!” “I don’t have time.” I stared at her intently. “Sophia, if I collapse now, Damian will legitimately take over my shares. My parents’ life’s work absolutely cannot fall into that animal’s hands.” “I’m going to make him pay in blood.” Sophia looked at my resolute eyes, her own reddening. She gritted her teeth and went to the pharmacy to get me the strongest painkillers and pills. “Seraphina Stark, remember—you’re not alone. Whatever you’re planning to do, count me in.” I smiled wanly and gave her a hug. “Help me investigate someone—Lena Summer. I want all her records from her years abroad, including how she really got pregnant.” When I left the hospital, the sky had already darkened. The wind cut across my face like a knife. I swallowed two painkillers, wrapped my coat tighter, and flagged down a taxi. The show was just beginning. At ten PM, I returned to the villa called “home.” The living room was pitch black. Damian hadn’t come back yet. I didn’t turn on the lights. I went straight to the study. Damian was an extremely cautious person. His computer and safe both had complex passwords. But I knew his fatal weakness—his extreme arrogance. I opened his computer and entered Lena Summer’s birthday.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “401067”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

My father has severe face blindness. Forty years ago, someone drugged my father, and he spent the night with my mother. But he couldn’t tell them apart—he married the mistress who took my mother’s place. Later, my father and the mistress became high society’s model couple. Meanwhile, my mother was slut-shamed for being pregnant out of wedlock and never married. Forty years passed. Thanks to my exceptional beauty and talent, I married into the Caldwell family—the wealthiest family in New York—and gave birth to an heir. The day my son brought his girlfriend home, I froze. Looking at her face—three parts similar to my father’s—and learning her name, I knew immediately: she was my father’s granddaughter. She wants to marry my son? In her dreams. “Mom, this is Rayna. My girlfriend. I brought her home to meet you.” I shifted my gaze to Rayna Smith. She was undeniably beautiful, radiating the delicate air of someone raised in luxury. She held a gift in both hands, offering it to me with a sweet voice: “Hello, Mrs. Caldwell. This is a gift I brought for you.” I didn’t take it. The living room fell silent. Adrian looked at me, then at her, calling softly: “Mom?” I didn’t look at him, only saying: “Adrian, go upstairs. I want to talk with Miss Smith privately.” He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.” Only Rayna Smith and I remained in the living room. The moment Adrian left, the sweet smile on Rayna’s face vanished completely. She tossed the gift onto the table and looked me up and down without courtesy. “Mrs. Caldwell.” She spoke, her voice the same but her tone dripping with superiority. “You sent your son away to lecture me?” I said nothing. “Fine, let’s lay our cards on the table.” “I’ve heard about you. You’re from out of town, no background, married into the wealthiest Caldwell family purely by luck.” “I know your type—women without background who can’t stand seeing someone like me with good breeding. You’re afraid I’ll marry in and steal your spotlight, right?” “You know perfectly well that the only thing you have going for you is that face. Unfortunately, faces age.” Rayna’s gaze held a condescending scrutiny. “But I’m different.” “My grandfather, Richard Smith, is a billionaire in New York. I attended the best private schools and moved in New York’s top socialite circles.” She paused, as if giving me time to digest this information. “Mrs. Caldwell, I’ve looked into you. You have no family. Your parents are long gone.” “Someone with your background could only marry into the wealthiest Caldwell family because Mr. Caldwell liked you. But how long does a man’s affection last?” “You’re forty now, right? In a few years when age catches up with you, what will you have to compete with those young girls?” “But I’m different. I have the Smith family behind me. Even if things don’t work out with Adrian, I’m still a Smith family granddaughter. No one dares touch me.” “And you? Without the Caldwell family, what do you have left?” She looked at me like I was pitiful. “Mrs. Caldwell, be smart. If I really want to marry into the Caldwell family, you can’t stop me.” “Rather than making things ugly, give me this favor now. After I marry in, I’ll still show you some respect.”

My expression didn’t change. I set my teacup on the table with a crisp sound. “Are you finished?” Her smile froze. I looked at her. “You say you’re the Smith family’s beloved granddaughter—do you know how your grandmother married into the Smith family?” Rayna frowned. “What do you mean?” I smiled. “You want to enter the Caldwell family?” “Dream on.” Rayna shot to her feet. “Mrs. Caldwell, you’d better think carefully. After how you treated me today, when I marry in, we won’t have a good mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship!” I laughed coldly. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, you’ll never marry into the Caldwell family.” She grabbed her bag from the table and turned to leave. “You’ll regret this!” Regret? The biggest regret of my life was not tearing these people’s masks off for my mother to see while she was still alive. Now she can’t see it. That’s okay. I’ll do it for her to see. The next day, the housekeeper came to report: “Mrs. Caldwell, someone from the Smith family is here.” I set down my book. The housekeeper led in a woman. Vivian Smith—the mistress who took my mother’s place all those years ago, now the matriarch of the Smith family. She wore a blue gown with pearl earrings, the picture of luxury. “Mrs. Caldwell, I’m Rayna’s grandmother. I’d like to discuss the children’s situation with you.” She pulled out a document from her bag and placed it on the table. “This is the development rights for the Smith family’s land in the South District. Your husband Marcus Caldwell has been eyeing it for a long time, hasn’t he?” “As long as you agree to let the children be together, this land is the Caldwell family’s.” I looked down at her hands. They were white, delicate, with a gemstone ring on her ring finger larger than my thumbnail. These hands clearly had never touched dirty water. My mother’s hands weren’t like this. Her hands did all kinds of dirty work year-round—dishwashing, cleaning—the dirt under her nails could never be washed away. They were like that until she died. “Vivian,” I looked up, “my son’s affairs don’t need interference from outsiders.” Her expression darkened. “Mrs. Caldwell, though the Smith family isn’t as wealthy as the Caldwell family, Rayna is the Smith family’s only granddaughter. We’ve cherished her since childhood.” “Your son marrying her would be his blessing. You, someone who…” She paused, emphasizing the words “someone who.” “You, someone who married into the Caldwell family halfway through, better know your place.” Halfway through. She chose those words well. “Not enough?” She glanced at the envelope on the table. “Then name your price.” I looked at her face. “Vivian,” my tone was flat, “the Caldwell family chooses daughters-in-law based on upbringing and character. In both areas, neither the Smith family nor your granddaughter seem quite adequate.” “What did you say?!”

Vivian’s eyes locked onto me. “Mrs. Caldwell, do you think marrying into the Caldwell family makes you somebody?” She stood up, looking down at me. “You, a woman of unknown origins with no family background—what got you where you are today? Don’t you know in your heart?” Her gaze swept down from my face like a knife, from chin to chest. “Old Richard and I have spent forty years building roots in New York, accumulating connections and relationships you can’t buy by serving a man for a few years. Don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit.” I looked at her calmly. People who steal others’ lives can’t change their core nature. No matter how expensive the gown or how fine the jewelry, that sharp meanness seeps out the moment they open their mouths. “Finished?” I stood up, took the envelope from the table, and pushed it back into her hands. “Vivian, please leave. Your granddaughter’s matter is not up for discussion.” As the door closed, I heard from behind: “Ungrateful thing.” I smiled slightly. When my mother went to the Smith house to find my father years ago and was driven out, she heard the exact same words. Identical. That evening, Adrian knocked on my door. “Mom, can I come in?” He sat across from me, silent for a long while. “Mom, about Rayna… I want to know why.” I looked into his eyes. Very serious, but without anger or interrogation. He’d always been like this—obedient and never causing me worry. “Mom,” he said again, “you must have your reasons for not approving of Rayna. I just… want to know why.” My hand rested on my knee. I clenched it, then released. Not yet time. “Adrian,” I said, “Mom can’t tell you right now. But do you trust me?” He looked at me without hesitation. “I do.” He stood up, walked to the door, then turned back. “Mom, I’ve already told Rayna to go back. Until you approve, I won’t bring her home again.” The door closed. I sat there, my eyes warming. This child had never given me a day of worry since he was small. When he started kindergarten, while other children cried and fussed, he didn’t cry. He held my hand and said, “Mommy, go to work. I’ll be good.” I’m not trying to break up a romance, but his grandfather and Rayna Smith’s grandfather are the same person. By all rights, I could never approve this marriage. The next day. When the housekeeper came in, her expression was odd. “Mrs. Caldwell, Mr. Smith is here.” My hand clenched inside my sleeve. “Show him in.” When he walked in, I recognized him immediately—the man my mother thought about for decades, my biological father. His hair had gone completely white but was neatly combed. He wore a black Mandarin-collar suit with pure gold buttons on the cuffs that caught the light. Two burly bodyguards followed him. Quite the display. He stood at the door, his gaze sweeping over me without any reaction. He didn’t recognize me. He never knew he had a daughter like me in this world.

“Mrs. Caldwell.” He nodded, his voice unhurried—the kind of composure cultivated by decades of being respected. “Pardon the intrusion. I’m Richard Smith.” “Mr. Smith, please sit.” He sat down, looking up at me. “Mrs. Caldwell, I’m here today about the children.” He paused and smiled. “Rayna is my granddaughter. She’s been spoiled since childhood, but she’s not bad-hearted. If the young people get along, we elders should help them if we can.” He set down his thermos and interlaced his fingers over his knee. “I know Mrs. Caldwell fought her way up on her own. Not easy. No family wealth, no backing—getting where you are today alone is truly admirable.” “But precisely because it wasn’t easy, you should understand better—some opportunities, once missed, are gone forever.” He pulled out a document from his briefcase and pushed it across the table. “This is a three-year strategic cooperation framework between the Smith and Caldwell families. As long as the children’s matter is settled, we can sign this cooperation tomorrow.” He looked at me with a certain confidence in his eyes. The confidence of someone who’s been respected all their life and assumes their requests should be granted. I didn’t move. “Mrs. Caldwell.” His tone remained unhurried. “You’re still young. Though the Caldwell family is the wealthiest, their foundation isn’t deep enough. With Smith family support, your position in the Caldwell family will be more secure.” He was coaching me. He was telling me that as a woman who married into the Caldwell family halfway through, with no background or backing, I needed Smith family support to secure my position. He didn’t know. The woman sitting before him was his daughter whom he’d never met. Forty years ago, he personally drove my mother out of New York. Forty years later, he sat here, looking down at me, asking me to give his granddaughter a chance to marry into the Caldwell family. “Mr. Smith,” I looked up into his eyes, “my son’s affairs don’t need interference from outsiders.” His brow furrowed slightly. “Outsiders?” His expression darkened. “Mrs. Caldwell, aren’t you taking yourself too seriously?” “I came here personally as a courtesy. In New York, people I’d personally visit can be counted on one hand.” He looked at me, his gaze turning cold. “But since you’re being ungrateful…” “Remember this—today you rejected me. Whatever consequences follow, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” After Richard Smith left, New York’s elite circles were full of gossip about me. “Mrs. Caldwell won’t agree to her son marrying the Smith family granddaughter? Who does she think she is?” “I heard she’s from out of town, no roots or foundation, got her position years ago by her looks.” “Richard Smith personally visited and she still played hard to get? She really doesn’t know her place.” I sat at home, reading messages on my phone one by one. Someone sent me anonymous texts: “Who do you think you are? Without the Caldwell family, you’re nothing.” Someone left comments on Caldwell Corporation’s page: “Mr. Caldwell, control your wife. Don’t let her ruin the Smith-Caldwell cooperation.” Others dug up photos from my youth, saying I’d had plastic surgery, that I’d climbed up by escorting clients. Each comment had hundreds of people agreeing. I didn’t delete them. Didn’t respond either. A week later. New York’s largest charity auction gala. The Smith family was one of the hosts. In the banquet hall, Rayna Smith held Richard Smith’s arm, smiling radiantly. When Rayna saw Adrian, her smile froze momentarily. She hurried over and grabbed Adrian’s hand. “Adrian, why haven’t you answered my messages these past few days?” Adrian glanced at me and pulled his hand away. “Rayna, until my mother approves of us being together, we should keep our distance.” Rayna’s face paled. She turned to look at me, her eyes filled with tangible hatred. “Mrs. Caldwell, are you satisfied now?” I ignored her. The gala began with Richard Smith taking the stage for opening remarks. “Distinguished guests, thank you all for your years of support.” He stood on stage, smiling broadly. “Today, besides the charity auction, I have happy news to announce.” The audience quieted. “My granddaughter Rayna Smith and Mr. Adrian Caldwell of the Caldwell family are in love and will soon be married. The Smith and Caldwell families will become in-laws.” Applause erupted. He looked at me with triumphant confidence in his eyes. As if the Caldwell family was already in the Smith family’s pocket. I stood up. “Mr. Smith.” The applause stopped. Everyone looked at me. I walked onto the stage and stood before him. “Mr. Smith, who told you the two families were becoming in-laws?” His smile froze momentarily. “The young people are in love, we elders—” “I don’t agree!” The room erupted. Richard Smith’s face darkened. “Mrs. Caldwell, whatever you want to say, we can discuss privately. With so many people here today—” I turned to face the hundreds of eyes below. “Richard Smith, do you know what you’re doing?! You’re having your biological granddaughter and biological grandson get engaged—do you want the world to laugh at you?!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “401068”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

During the school fitness test, Joanna, the billionaire’s daughter, suddenly collapsed. Peyton, the cheerleading captain, held up her phone, her voice trembling with excitement. “Everyone stay calm! Nobody call 911!” She frantically tapped her screen, shoving the AI app’s Q&A page in everyone’s faces. “It’s the AI era—everyone can be a doctor now.” “Her dad’s a billionaire! If we save her, the reward will be at least a million dollars.” “Why let the hospital make this money when we can take it ourselves!” In my past life, I snatched the phone away and called 911, pointing at her nose and yelling that AI couldn’t replace doctors—who would take responsibility if something went wrong? The ambulance arrived quickly, and Joanna survived. The billionaire was overwhelmed with gratitude and immediately adopted me as his goddaughter. But Peyton was expelled because of this. Her parents both lost their jobs. Unable to handle the blow, she jumped into the river and killed herself. My boyfriend cornered me on the rooftop, cursing me for being a busybody. “If it weren’t for you, Peyton wouldn’t have died!” He wrapped his hands around my neck and pushed me off. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the fitness test. This time, I’m going to watch Peyton dig her own grave!

After hearing Peyton’s words, the whole class erupted. “Peyton, are you serious?” “If we save Joanna, will her dad Joshua really give us a million dollars?” Peyton held up her phone, her voice cracking with excitement. “Would I lie about this?!” “I did my research. The doctor who operated on Joanna a couple years ago was just a salaried employee. This year he suddenly bought a penthouse downtown worth nine million!” “What does that tell you?” “If we save Joanna, Joshua definitely won’t be stingy. We’re about to get rich!” “But… is AI really reliable?” someone hesitated. Peyton snorted coldly. “Why wouldn’t it be?” “When you have a headache or fever, who doesn’t ask AI first?” “Besides, you think doctors are so great? Videos have exposed them—when doctors face tough cases, they also ask AI software.” “It’s the AI era. Everyone can be a doctor. Why let the hospital make this money when we can take it ourselves!” Hearing this, I almost laughed from anger. AI isn’t a doctor. It doesn’t have medical qualifications, and sometimes its treatment plans are complete nonsense. If something goes wrong during the procedure, it could cause a disaster. In my past life, I repeatedly explained this to my classmates. Joanna was having a heart attack and urgently needed to be sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. But they were stubborn, and instead questioned whether I was trying to sabotage everyone’s chance to get rich. Finally, in a fit of anger, I grabbed the phone and called 911, which saved Joanna’s life. This life, I don’t want to explain anymore. If they insist on digging their own graves, then I’ll let them! I want to see if they can handle Joshua’s fury when things go wrong. While I was deep in thought, my roommate Lena came over. “Paige, that’s a million dollars! Are we about to get rich?” In my past life, when Joshua found out Joanna had nearly been denied treatment, he was furious and wanted to hold the entire class accountable. I knelt down and begged him to spare everyone. But later, when Mason led people to corner me on the rooftop to avenge Peyton, Lena was the first to rush out and kick me hard. “Paige, if it weren’t for you, I’d already be rich! You ruined my life!” The excruciating pain of falling from the rooftop seemed to resurface. I clenched my teeth and balled my fists tightly. “AI isn’t reliable. I’d advise you not to delude yourself.” At that moment, Peyton had already opened the AI app and quickly typed a line: [Sudden heart attack, how to treat?] While operating, she lowered her voice to instruct everyone. “Nobody breathe a word of this to anyone. If it works, we’ll split the money evenly.” “To prevent anyone from sneaking out to call an ambulance, we’ll watch each other. I’m going to call roll now. Answer when your name is called.” “Mason.” “Here.” “Lena.” “Here.” … As one name after another came out of her mouth, I couldn’t listen anymore and turned to leave. Behind me came Peyton’s shrill shout. “Paige! Where are you going? You’re not planning to snitch and keep all the money for yourself, are you?” I frowned, about to answer, when my boyfriend Mason’s face darkened and he shouted angrily. “Paige, how can you be so selfish? Peyton knows to share the money with everyone, unlike you—you’re such a selfish person. No wonder nobody likes you!” In my past life, it was him who pushed me off the rooftop with his own hands. He also rallied all the classmates to give false testimony to the police, saying I committed suicide because I couldn’t handle academic pressure. Looking at that face before me, I suppressed my hatred and spoke coldly. “Fine, then let’s break up. I find you disgusting too!” After saying that, I turned around, preparing to leave. But someone grabbed my wrist.

I turned around. Peyton looked at me with red eyes, her face full of grievance. “Paige, I know you don’t like me, but you can’t hurt everyone.” I frowned, not understanding what she meant. Peyton pointed at the classmates behind her and said, “Daniel—his dad has cancer. To raise the 20,000 dollars for surgery, his mom runs a breakfast stand, working from dawn to dusk every day.” “Fiona—her family is on welfare. Her dad said there’s no money for tuition and plans to make her drop out next semester to work.” “And Lena—her family favors sons over daughters. She earns her own tuition. If she had this money, she’d be set for all four years of college.” … Getting emotional, Peyton shed tears. “Paige, if you don’t like me, that’s fine.” “But they’re different. Their families are really struggling and need this money to get through hard times.” “Can’t you just be kind and share this life-saving opportunity to get rich with everyone? Please?” Before I could say anything, the surrounding classmates angrily surrounded me, pointing and criticizing. “Paige, how can you be so selfish?” “No wonder Mason is disgusted by you. I’d dump you too.” “Exactly! A selfish, heartless woman like you doesn’t deserve to be our classmate!” I almost laughed from anger. For money, they delayed Joanna’s emergency treatment, and they still had the nerve to call me selfish? At this moment, Joanna’s face had lost all color. She clutched her chest, her lips purple, her voice hoarse as she called out, “Help… help me…” My heart sank. Because of heavy rain, this fitness test had been temporarily moved indoors to the badminton hall. The teacher had just left for something. And before entering, I’d put my bag in the storage locker outside—I’d have to go out to make a call. This meant that in the vast badminton hall, I couldn’t find anyone to help. But Joanna was having a heart attack. She couldn’t hold on much longer. Looking at Joanna curled up in pain, I realized she was innocent. Why should she lose her life because of these people’s greed? At this thought, I gritted my teeth, rushed to Joanna’s side, quickly helped her lie flat on the ground, and anxiously shouted, “Joanna, where’s your medication?” “Your heart attack medication—where did you put it? I’ll get it right away!” Joanna’s lips trembled as she struggled to squeeze out a few words. “In… in the storage locker by the gym entrance… white bottle…” Before she could finish, her eyes closed and she passed out. I didn’t have time to think. I immediately stood up and rushed toward the door. But just as I reached the entrance, Mason blocked my way. “No way! Peyton said you can’t leave.” “Who knows if you’re going out to get medicine or to tip someone off.” I almost thought I’d heard wrong. “Mason, are you insane?” I stared at him intensely, trembling all over with urgency. “Can’t you see Joanna’s face is completely white? She’s already passed out and can’t hold on much longer!” “She needs her medication, or she’ll really die!” Mason frowned slightly. His scrutinizing gaze swept back and forth between the collapsed Joanna and me, as if assessing whether I was lying. Just as he hesitated, Peyton’s voice came from behind. “Paige, what’s the rush?” She walked over slowly, arms crossed, speaking unhurriedly. “Didn’t I tell you? With the AI app, everyone can be a doctor.” “Not just minor illnesses like Joanna’s—even if someone’s heart stops, it can provide a plan to revive them!” Hearing this, everyone exclaimed in shock. “Really? That amazing?” “Then why even go to hospitals when you’re sick? Just ask AI.” “Exactly! Let’s just use AI for medical care from now on. It saves money and avoids getting scammed by hospitals.” “She’s the cheerleading captain for a reason—she knows way more than us.” Listening to everyone’s flattery, Peyton raised her chin and looked at me smugly. I trembled with anger. She kept claiming AI could save lives. But from when Joanna collapsed until now, she hadn’t taken any action or performed CPR. Looking at Joanna lying unconscious with purple lips, I stomped my foot in frustration. Just as I was on the verge of despair, not knowing what to do, suddenly a familiar voice came from behind. “What are you all doing here?”

I whipped my head around. The PE teacher stood at the door, looking over with a confused expression. My eyes lit up, and I was about to explain when Mason spoke first. “Coach, during the fitness test, we discovered Paige falsifying her data.” “After being caught red-handed, she refused to admit it and is arguing here.” As he spoke, he pinched my lower back and leaned close to my ear, threatening in a low voice, “Paige, you’d better know what’s good for you.” “If you expose this and ruin everyone’s dream of getting rich, I’ll never forgive you!” A chill ran up my spine. I stood frozen, mouth opening and closing, unable to say a word. Sure enough, after hearing Mason’s explanation, the PE teacher looked at me with a flash of disgust in his eyes. “You’re Paige, right? Your fitness test score is canceled. You’ll have to retake it next semester.” He coldly announced the result, then turned to Mason with a gentler tone. “Class monitor, I need to step out for something. Keep an eye on everyone and put the data on my desk after class.” Mason nodded. “Don’t worry, Coach.” Watching the teacher’s departing figure, I closed my eyes in despair. But it wasn’t over yet. At that moment, Peyton looked at me coldly and said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “Paige, looks like you haven’t given up.” “You were trying to snitch just now, weren’t you? You’re stuck in the mud yourself—why are you trying to stop us from getting rich?” “You’re so selfish and vicious!” “Everyone, don’t you think she deserves to be taught a lesson?” Soon, classmates surrounded me. I frowned and slowly backed away. “This is school. There are cameras everywhere.” “If you touch me, aren’t you afraid of disciplinary action?” “Disciplinary action?” Peyton couldn’t help but laugh. “Once we have money, who cares about some disciplinary action?” “Besides, we’re Joanna’s lifesavers. When the time comes, we’ll have Joshua handle it. Disciplinary action? That’ll be cancelled in a heartbeat.” As everyone gradually closed in, I was backed into a corner. Just as I looked around searching for a way out, suddenly I caught sight of something on Joanna’s wrist. If I remembered correctly, it was the latest sports watch from C brand. Last time I was shopping, the sales associate specifically explained that this watch had an emergency call function. As the billionaire’s daughter, Joanna had layers of bodyguard protection when she enrolled. Her watch couldn’t possibly lack special settings. At this thought, I took a deep breath, pushed past the people in front of me, and ran toward Joanna. “Stop her!” Peyton’s shrill shout rang in my ears. I didn’t care. I rushed to Joanna’s side and pressed the emergency button. The next second, the screen lit up. It connected. Before I could speak, a rough force came from behind. Several male classmates’ hands gripped my shoulders tightly. I struggled desperately but was pressed face-down on the ground. “Still trying to run?” Peyton’s voice came from above. “Paige, it’s one thing for you to wallow in failure, but why are you blocking us from getting rich?” “For someone as vicious as you, if we don’t teach you a lesson, you’ll never learn!” She lifted her foot and stomped hard on the back of my hand. The piercing pain made my whole body shudder. “You still want to snitch, don’t you?” She bent down, a smile on her face but coldness in her eyes. “Everyone, Paige almost ruined our path to wealth. What do you say—how should we punish her?” Lena was the first to raise her hand. “Just make it so she can’t talk, right?” Peyton’s eyes brightened, and the corners of her mouth lifted. “Then I’ll leave it to you, Lena.” Lena agreed and walked in front of me, looking down from above. “Paige, I’m sorry, but blocking someone’s path to wealth is like killing their parents. You brought this on yourself.” Just as she raised her hand, suddenly an exclamation rang out. “Look! Joanna’s heart stopped!”

Everyone turned their heads simultaneously. Peyton, who had been so smug just moments ago, instantly paled. She pulled out her phone, trying to appear calm. “Everyone don’t panic… this is normal for a heart attack!” “The AI app says if someone falls unconscious, you can do CPR and they’ll recover quickly.” Then she looked at Mason behind her, her voice urgent. “Mason, I’ll give instructions, you do the CPR.” “I’ll perfectly capture you working hard to save someone, and then we’ll go claim credit from Joshua.” Mason nodded after hearing this, then followed her prompts and began operating on the spot. But Peyton wasn’t a medical student. She’d never learned first aid or received training. She couldn’t even find the correct position for CPR before having someone press down hard. Suddenly, there was a “crack.” Everyone’s faces changed. “Peyton, are you sure it’s this spot? Why was there a cracking sound?” Peyton’s face was deathly pale, but she still gritted her teeth stubbornly. “That’s right, one-third down the sternum—the AI app says this is the standard position for CPR.” “Maybe you used too much force… be gentler.” Mason didn’t doubt her and continued pressing down. Just then, urgent footsteps came from outside the door. Before anyone could react, the door was slammed open and Joshua rushed in with bodyguards. “Who dares hurt my daughter?” Peyton’s face changed dramatically. She pointed at me lying on the ground, her voice shrill as she shouted, “It was Paige! She’s the one who killed Joanna!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “401069”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

1 After being beaten bloody by my autistic son yet again, I finally collapsed onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. I had cared for him meticulously for thirty years, and he had tormented me for thirty years. My son, John, sneered and walked away. My husband, Adam Clarke, came downstairs, ignoring my blood-soaked face. “Thirty years have passed, it’s time I told you the truth.” I looked up, blood trickling down my cheek and onto the floor, listening as he spoke indifferently. “John isn’t your biological son. Your biological son is Finn.” “Thirty years ago, when Sarah Willett was pregnant, she found out her child had a genetic defect. So, after they were born, I swapped the two babies.” My body froze. He glanced at me indifferently. “Now, thirty years have passed. The children are grown, and everything is settled. There’s nothing left to hide from you.” With that, he walked away without looking back. I slumped to the floor, recalling thirty years of torment, laughing through tears, crying through laughter. Finally, a rush of blood to my head, and the wound John had inflicted gushed blood. I collapsed, closing my eyes. “Congratulations, it’s a boy, seven pounds, six ounces.” I opened my eyes, finding myself lying in an operating room from thirty years ago, having just given birth… … The nurse brought the baby closer, “Look, it’s a little boy.” I reacted, looking down. Gazing at the wrinkled baby, I gently pulled back his small blanket and indeed saw an inconspicuous red mole behind his ear. It was real… In my past life, when I was blow-drying Finn’s hair, I had incidentally discovered this red mole. I even teased, “Finn, I have one behind my ear too.” At that time, my cousin, Sarah Willett, instantly changed color, her tone sharp. “We’re family. What’s so strange about a red mole?” But when I saw Finn again later, I noticed his red mole had been removed… I didn’t think much of it then, but now I knew, it was clearly a sign of guilt! I couldn’t help but clench my hands. Intense hatred and relief washed over me. I held Finn, tears streaming down my face. The nurse saw my reaction and said with a smile. “It certainly wasn’t easy. The baby was quite large, and you almost hemorrhaged. But now it’s all good, mother and son are safe, don’t worry.” I nodded. The thought of the child I’d nearly died giving birth to being given away by Adam Clarke made my heart ache. The nurse wheeled me out. Almost simultaneously, Sarah Willett, who had given birth in the room to the left, was also wheeled out. Adam Clarke, waiting outside the delivery room, didn’t hesitate, rushing straight to Sarah Willett. Everyone exchanged bewildered glances. I coldly turned my head away. Only then did I realize how intimate those two were. In my previous life, I must have been blind not to see their affair! Adam Clarke also realized his behavior was overly emotional. He quickly turned and walked towards me, taking my hand, his face filled with concern. “You worked so hard, my love. I love you.” I pulled my hand away, no longer looking at him. Adam Clarke’s body stiffened for a moment. Back in the hospital room, I dared not sleep. In my previous life, I never knew when they made the switch, but thankfully, this time there was the red mole. John was diagnosed with autism when he was three. Further examinations revealed he also exhibited severe violent tendencies. As his mother, I felt I had failed him, so I desperately tried to compensate and treat him. But what I received in return? Only increasingly severe beatings, day by day. When John bludgeoned me to death with an ashtray, I was only fifty, yet my hair had already turned completely white. Thinking of this, I took a deep breath to suppress the rising bitterness in my chest. Looking down at the sleeping Finn, a wave of tenderness washed over me. Thank goodness I was back… Soon after. Adam Clarke entered with a thermos, spooning out nutritious porridge and feeding me bite by bite. During this, I carefully observed him, noticing he kept glancing at Finn, his eyes shifting uneasily! Adam Clarke snapped out of it, seeing my inscrutable expression, his face stiffening slightly. “What’s wrong?” I spoke faintly, “Nothing.” He quietly exhaled, relieved. After putting away the thermos, he reached out towards Finn. “Come here, Daddy will hold you.” I reacted reflexively, pushing his hand away with a slap, my breathing rapid. “Get out! Don’t touch him!” Adam Clarke nearly lost his balance, his brows furrowed in surprise. “Isabelle, what’s gotten into you? Why such a temper after giving birth?” I held Finn tightly. My gaze filled with hatred. What’s wrong? In my previous life, when he saw me being beaten and kicked, all he would say was, “What’s a little hit? It won’t kill you.” Yet when Sarah Willett fell ill, he would drop everything to care for her! Just then, Mom, Dad, and Sarah Willett arrived. Mom lightly nudged me, “Adam, don’t be angry. Women’s emotions can be off after childbirth.” Sarah Willett stepped forward, “Cousin, let me see him. These two brothers born on the same day, how fated.” I looked up at them, my voice hoarse and cold. “I need to rest. Everyone out.” Adam Clarke and Sarah Willett exchanged a bewildered glance, which I clearly saw. He pursed his lips. “Then I’ll go pay the bill.” As he turned, I called out to him, my eyes indifferent and resolute. “Adam Clarke, we’re getting a divorce.” Silence instantly fell in the room. Everyone stopped, turning to look at me in shock. “You, what did you say?” Adam Clarke’s voice trembled with surprise. He quickly walked to my side, taking my hand. “Isabelle, what’s wrong with you?” I closed my eyes, pulling my hand away. “I’m tired. Everyone out.” Mom and Dad exchanged glances. Seeing my overly pale face, they dared not say anything. He frowned. Withdrawing his empty hand, “Alright, you rest first. I won’t disturb you. I’ll come back to stay tonight.” The room became quiet again. I held Finn, looking at the red mole behind his ear, my eyes a little sore. Soon after. A nurse entered, “The baby needs a blood test. Who will accompany him?” “I will,” I replied. I picked up Finn and stood. As I passed the emergency exit, I heard hushed whispers. “Adam, why did Isabelle suddenly want a divorce from you? And she won’t let us touch the baby.” Sarah Willett sounded flustered. “Did she find something out? Can we still successfully swap the autistic child with her? I don’t want to raise a disabled person!” Adam Clarke quickly tried to reassure her, his tone also heavy, tinged with doubt. “She couldn’t possibly know.” “Only the two of us know about this plan, and we haven’t even acted yet. How could Isabelle possibly suspect?” His tone was confident. “Don’t worry, it might just be emotional instability. We’ll switch them as soon as possible. I’ll stay with her tonight, and we’ll act then.” Sarah Willett whimpered, “Okay.” At this moment. I stood outside the door. A gust of wind made me shiver, my face completely drained of color. Tonight… I hugged my child tightly. No one would take him from me! Evening. Adam Clarke indeed sent Mom and Dad home, citing their age and susceptibility to fatigue, and retrieved a folding bed from a nurse. I watched him constantly, my gaze dark and unreadable. Adam Clarke kept touching his nose under my scrutiny; I knew it was a sign of his guilt and nervousness. “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” He set up the bed, acting as if he was genuinely protecting me. Sitting there, he looked at me gently and sighed. “Izzy, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you talk about divorce today. I know you just gave birth, and your hormones are running wild.” “Don’t worry, I’ll always be here for you and the baby.” As he said this, his eyes were incredibly sincere. I sneered inwardly. In my previous life, Sarah Willett had suddenly become pregnant. She only said she’d met the wrong person outside and gotten herself pregnant. Mom, Dad, and I thought she’d encountered a bad man. Sympathetic and heartbroken. We didn’t dare ask for too many details. Only now did I realize, ‘met the wrong person’? That was clearly Adam Clarke’s child! Adam Clarke spoke, interrupting my thoughts, “Okay?” I hummed in response. Without any emotion. He quietly let out a breath, confirming that I hadn’t detected any sign of the plan. He turned to grab his phone, likely to confirm the plan with Sarah Willett. I was genuinely exhausted. My nerves had been on edge since nearly dying in childbirth that morning. Unbeknownst to me, I actually fell asleep. I don’t know how much time passed, but the entire hospital grew quiet. Adam Clarke got up and walked to my side. “Isabelle, Isabelle?” I woke up on his second call, but didn’t move. Soon after. After a flurry of hurried but deliberately quiet footsteps, the child in my arms was taken, and then another was put back. “You take the baby back quickly. Don’t worry, all newborns look the same. She won’t notice.” Adam Clarke was instructing Sarah Willett. After Sarah Willett left, he called me softly twice more. Seeing I still didn’t react. Only then did he let out a sudden sigh of relief. He lay back on the folding bed, emitting a faint snore. At this moment, I opened my eyes. Looking at the child in my arms without the red mole, all I felt was heartbreak, a cold numbness, and hatred. Three AM. I secretly went to Sarah Willett’s room and swapped the two babies back! In my previous life, John first exhibited violent behavior at the age of eight. That day, I took him to the street to buy ice cream. As we crossed the road. John suddenly and unexpectedly broke free from my hand, pushing me straight into the path of speeding traffic! I was slammed onto the ground, my face and body covered in blood. And John stood not far away. Watching me with a sinister smile. “Heh heh, serves you right! Mommy got hit by a car!” My face was ashen, but I was rushed to the hospital in time. However, I suffered permanent brain trauma, and every rainy day, I would get splitting headaches. But I didn’t blame him. The more abnormal he became, the more guilty I felt. After all, I had given birth to him. Later, he would reach out and slap me hard when I was helping him with homework. As he grew older, he started punching and kicking, throwing cups and ashtrays at me—it was commonplace. And at home. Adam Clarke was often nowhere to be found, spending his time with Sarah Willett, leaving me alone to crumble. On the way back with my child, I reminisced, gently pushing open the door. Lying back on the bed, I finally let out a sigh of relief. Morning. I was woken by Adam Clarke. His eyes were smiling, as if a great weight had been lifted from his mind. “I bought red bean porridge for breakfast. Drink some, it helps with milk production too.” I gave him a long, hard look. Lowering my gaze, I hid all my thoughts. “Okay, bring it to me.” Then I added. “You should hold the baby. After all, you’re his father.” Now, my Finn was completely safe. Being overly cautious would only raise suspicion. Adam Clarke’s eyes lit up at my words. I didn’t know if he was happy about being able to hold the baby, or if he was simply relieved that my ‘madness’ yesterday was just an anomaly. Just then, Finn whimpered and woke up, crying from hunger. Adam Clarke handed the baby to me, then cleared his throat. “By the way, I should go check on Sarah Willett.” “She’s your relative, and she doesn’t have a husband around. As her brother-in-law, I should go check on her and bring her some food?” I soothed Finn. Then nodded, saying indifferently, “Okay, go ahead.” No sooner had he left than Mom and Dad arrived. I handed the baby to Mom, my expression normal, “Mom, I’m going to check on Sarah. She’s quite pathetic.” Then I followed him. I needed to confirm if they truly believed that was Finn, and if they had any suspicions. In the hospital room, Sarah Willett held ‘Finn,’ her face soft and tender. “Adam, thank you for helping me.” The man held her, “What are you thanking me for? It’s my fault I can’t give you a proper status.” “Now it’s all good. Our child is healthy. As for Isabelle, that’s her fate.” I listened from outside the door. My hands clenched tightly into fists, trembling uncontrollably. In that instant, I felt both absurd and heartbroken. Fate? Thirty years of torment, thirty years of being beaten and kicked. Why was that my fate?! I took a deep breath, suppressing my rage. When Adam Clarke returned, there was a faint hickey on the back of his neck. I averted my gaze, pretending not to see it. Only feeling sickened. In the afternoon, Sarah Willett came with ‘Finn,’ a barely concealed triumph in her eyes. “Good boy, Mommy’s baby is so well-behaved.” She glanced at me, then began to show off. “Cousin, I hear your baby cries constantly and can’t be soothed? Oh, I envy you, boys should be lively.” “Not like mine, who just eats and sleeps all day, giving me no worries.” I looked up, a faint, unreadable smile on my face. “Is that so? Well, cousin, you must take very good care of him, and hope he becomes lively.” The biggest characteristic of an autistic child. Is that they are especially quiet and well-behaved in the first few days after birth, and then… the symptoms will slowly begin to show! And so, three days later. Sarah Willett suddenly broke down. That morning, I was woken by Sarah Willett’s cries. Everyone opened their doors to investigate. Adam Clarke, frowning, instinctively opened Sarah Willett’s room door. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were bruised. Clearly, she hadn’t slept all night. “Why won’t he sleep?! He just cries and cries! Is there something wrong with him?!” She instinctively appealed to Adam Clarke, then looked at me after a moment of realization. “Cousin, can you ask my brother-in-law to help me soothe him?” I sneered inwardly. But outwardly, I said, “Of course. We’re family. Darling, go help Sarah.” Seeing this, everyone dispersed. Watching them flounder, I felt a kind of vengeful pleasure. In my previous life. No one helped me. Only I, myself, got up again and again from despair and breakdown, until I lost my life! In the middle of the night, after I fell asleep, Adam Clarke went to the next room again. I opened my eyes and quietly followed. I heard Sarah Willett’s broken sobs, “Adam, what’s wrong with this baby? I’m truly losing my mind.” Adam Clarke frowned, his voice a little hoarse. “Hungry? Or what?” Sarah Willett sobbed and cried, suddenly clutching his arm tightly, her voice trembling. “Do you think the tests were wrong? My baby was never sick. Isabelle also had an amniocentesis. Could the nurse have mixed up the reports?!” “What if Isabelle’s baby is the one who’s actually sick?!” The more she spoke, the more plausible it seemed to her, and she started to break down. “Then didn’t I give her my healthy biological son?! No, I have to swap him back!” Adam Clarke held her down. “It’s not that easy. The babies have grown now; there’s no way to switch them back!” Sarah Willett’s breathing was ragged, reckless. “Then I’ll just say Isabelle secretly swapped the babies! At worst, we’ll do a paternity test. Anyway, she has my biological son right now! That way, my child will be back, won’t he?!” Adam Clarke pondered, found it feasible, and then nodded. I took in everything. Sarah Willett thought I had her child and wanted to use a paternity test to get him back, but she didn’t know I had already swapped them back! Let them cause a scene. The bigger the scene, the better. Then everyone would know that her child was the one with the condition! The next morning. My door was thrown open by Sarah Willett. She advanced, grabbing my hair and slapping me hard, crying hysterically. A crowd of curious onlookers began to gather at the door. “Isabelle! You’re my sister, the only person I care about in this world! Why would you do this to me?!” The family members and patients at the door frowned. “What’s going on? Aren’t they family? Why are they fighting?” “I don’t know.” The slap left me seeing stars, my face instantly red and swollen, stinging fiercely. Sarah Willett cried uncontrollably. “Isabelle, tell everyone here, why did you swap my baby?!” Everyone gasped in shock, their eyes wide. “Swap babies?!” “That can’t be true. Why would she swap babies?” I said nothing. Sarah Willett continued her self-pitying performance, crying incessantly. “Because her child has autism, a mentally disabled child! So she swapped my healthy child!” She placed the constantly crying child on the bed. “This is her child!” At this, I got out of bed and confronted her, “How can you claim I swapped the babies? Don’t you dare accuse me falsely!” Sarah Willett was convinced. “You won’t admit it? Cousin, I originally thought we shouldn’t make such a spectacle as family, but now, you’re forcing my hand!” “We’ll do a paternity test!” The crowd at the door was shocked, then turned to criticize me. “That girl is willing to do a paternity test, so it must be true. Can’t believe this sister is such a vicious woman!” “How shameless!” The incident escalated, and the hospital, fearing complications, had to arrange a paternity test. Sarah Willett sat on the bed. She wouldn’t even glance at the crying child. “So noisy! Shut up!” I held Finn, observing coldly. At 6 PM, the paternity test results were ready. The crowd of onlookers was even larger than that morning, chattering, accusing me of being malicious and shameless. Sarah Willett looked at the doctor holding the report, reaching out to me. “Isabelle, the paternity test results are out! What do you have to say for yourself now that it’s come to this! Give me back my healthy biological son!” I stood still. Adam Clarke glanced at us, then quickly snatched the report and tore it open to read. Then. His confident expression suddenly froze, his face turning ashen.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “447267”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

1 After marrying Alan Naughton, every morning at seven, I would hear the progress of my “conquest” of him in my mind. He was unfailingly responsive to my every whim, impeccably perfect. Yet, the progress bar stubbornly stalled at 95%. I loved him with all my heart, and naturally, I wanted him to love me just as completely. So, I shed my sharp edges, embraced his preferences, and transformed myself into the gentle, virtuous Mrs. Naughton. This morning’s progress report finally hit a hundred percent! He came home early, changed into an off-white linen pajama set, and the cold aloofness that usually surrounded him softened. We snuggled together, watching an indie romance film. He got up to wash fruit, and I leaned back on the still-warm sofa, my heart full of sweetness. Suddenly, my tablet chimed twice. Curiously, I tapped it open and froze. “Your wife is so ugly, ugh.” “At 4 minutes 13 seconds, her tummy rolls are practically popping out. You must be suffering, pretending to be in love with her watching this movie.” … I stared at the two lines of text on the screen. Shock, fury, disgust. All emotions intertwined, but I didn’t explode. How could the man I had completely “conquered” be live-streaming our time together to someone else? I knew Alan’s character. He was aloof and proud; he would never do something so despicable. It must be a misunderstanding! Before he explained, I shouldn’t blindly lose my temper and accuse him. Alan walked out, drying his hair, and saw me sitting on the bed, pale, holding the tablet. “Mia, what’s wrong? Feeling unwell?” I turned the tablet and pushed it toward him. Alan’s gaze fell on the screen. I didn’t miss a single change in his expression. No panic, no guilt. He simply visibly darkened, then tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose: “She’s at it again.” “Who is ‘she’?” Alan sat beside me, his voice full of helplessness: “A new colleague who joined our department, her name’s Clara.” He pointed to his head. “Probably severe delusional disorder.” He candidly pulled out his phone, unlocked it, opened his messenger, and handed it to me. “See for yourself.” The chat history was filled with Clara’s one-sided barrages. “Dr. Naughton, you look so handsome in your lab coat today!” “Your spoiled, old-fashioned wife is no good. Only I can help you.” There were also various self-orchestrated fantasies. Alan’s replies were few and far between, and entirely about stiff work matters. I tapped into Clara’s social media, no photos, just blurred silhouettes and travel check-ins. “She’s harassing you like this, why haven’t you blocked her?” My voice was still tight. Alan smiled bitterly, pulling me into his arms. “Mia, do you think I don’t want to? She was placed by the hospital board, and she has deep connections. The board insisted we work together on several major projects recently. If I blocked her, how would I move forward with my work? To avoid delays, I can only keep her on my contacts and pretend she’s dead, just ignore her.” His voice held deep exhaustion. “I thought if I just ignored her, she’d get bored and stop. I never expected her to send such disgusting things to you!” “I’m sorry, Mia. I didn’t handle it well; I let you down.” Just then, that voice in my head suddenly spoke. [Warning: Trust crisis detected with your target. Current approval rating 100%. Please stop baseless speculation and avoid damaging the perfect marital relationship!] The bloodshot eyes and candid look in Alan’s eyes filled me with guilt. I had misunderstood him. He worked so hard outside, dealing with harassment from a crazy person, and yet I doubted him over two messages. “I’m sorry, Alan…” I hugged him back, my voice choked, “I shouldn’t have doubted you.” He kissed my forehead: “Silly girl, we don’t need apologies between us.” The next day. I personally cooked several of his favorite dishes, carefully packed them, and took them to the hospital. Pushing open his office door, he was sitting at his desk, rubbing his temples. Seeing me, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. “Why didn’t you call ahead? Aren’t you tired?” He smiled, taking the insulated box. “Wanted to make sure you’re well fed.” Just as he picked up his chopsticks to eat, his phone screen lit up. Alan glanced at it, his face instantly changing, and he decisively stood up: “Mia, emergency in the ER. Major car accident. I have to go save them immediately!” He grabbed his lab coat and rushed out of the office. I stood there, stunned, looking at the steaming food, a hollow feeling in my heart. But there was nothing to do. Lives were on the line. I could only quietly pack up the insulated box and take a cab home. As soon as I walked through the door, I received a text message from an unknown number. “The food you cook, just the smell of it is sickening. Not as delicious as my body, though. Dr. Naughton is starving for it~” 2 If last night’s message was her one-sided fantasy, what about today? I had barely delivered the food to the hospital when Alan made an excuse about an emergency surgery and rushed off. I went straight back to the hospital. Not to find Alan, but to the HR department. “I want to file a formal complaint against Clara, a doctor in your cardiac surgery department!” I slammed both hands on the desk. “She has an unprofessional conduct and is severely harassing a colleague’s family!” The person across from me was startled. He frowned and opened the system: “Clara? Cardiac surgery? Please wait.” A minute later, he looked up, puzzled: “Are you mistaken? We have no doctor named Clara in our hospital system, nor any nurse.” “Impossible!” I raised my voice. “She’s new! She’s in the same department as Alan Naughton, how could you not find her!” “Truly, no one.” The clerk turned the monitor towards me. “The entire staff list is here. No one by that name.” I stared at the “No matching results” message on the screen, my mind a blank. Medical staff gradually gathered outside, curious. “Isn’t that Dr. Naughton’s wife?” “Why is she causing a scene here?” “I heard her mental state isn’t very good, always suspicious…” “Poor thing, Dr. Naughton is so brilliant, how did he end up with a crazy wife.” … The fragmented whispers pierced my ears. I looked around, experiencing panic for the first time. Just as I was on the verge of collapsing, Alan rushed in, drenched in sweat, pulling me into his arms. He didn’t get angry at me; instead, he bowed repeatedly, apologizing to everyone around us. “I’m so sorry, truly! My wife has been under a lot of stress lately, and hasn’t been sleeping well. She might have misunderstood something. I apologize for disturbing everyone, please don’t mind her!” I was half-hugged, half-dragged by him into the car. As soon as the car door closed, Alan’s eyes reddened. “Mia, I’m sorry… I lied to you.” I looked at him blankly. “Clara isn’t a colleague from our hospital.” He confessed, choked up, “She’s an external pharmaceutical rep. Last night, seeing how upset you were, how much you minded this person, all my energy was spent on calming you down. I didn’t want to mention irrelevant people and upset you further, so I just casually made up a lie, saying she was a colleague, hoping to gloss over the matter…” I remained silent, showing him the text message. “I really did go for an emergency surgery just now!” Alan looked up, his eyes full of sincerity and urgency. “That car accident patient is still in the ICU! I don’t know what’s going on with the text message, she must have bribed someone, or she was staking out the hospital and saw you! Mia, I really only lied because I was afraid you’d overthink things. I swear, she and I have absolutely nothing going on!” The warning in my mind sounded again. [Please trust your target! Stop self-sabotage!] I didn’t know who to believe, or even if I should trust my own judgment. I pushed open the car door, frantically hailed a cab, and returned to my parents’ home. This was my safe haven. Seeing me return distraught, my sister was terrified. After listening to my tearful account, she angrily smashed the decorative item beside her. “That bastard Alan Naughton!” She hugged me tightly, gnashing her teeth. “I knew that opportunistic guy couldn’t be trusted! The whole family disagreed when you insisted on marrying down! Have you forgotten how I used to argue with him? I feared he’d show his true colors once he found success!” I leaned in her arms, my thoughts a tangled mess. “What should I do? I feel like I’m going crazy.” My sister gently patted my back, her voice chilling. “Don’t worry. Mom and Dad and I will back you up! I’ll find out right now who that vixen really is!” 3 My sister moved quickly. “Got it.” “She’s the daughter of a high-ranking executive at Thorne Group! A notorious party girl in the social circles.” The day I received the documents from my sister happened to be my birthday. Alan had specifically taken time off, booked out a restaurant, and even gifted me an expensive diamond necklace. Candlelight flickered, and a violin played a melodious tune. “Mia, happy birthday!” The atmosphere was warm, and he was about to clink glasses with me. His phone suddenly vibrated urgently. He glanced at the screen, his face instantly grave. After taking the call and listening for a few moments, he quickly stood up, looking apologetically at me: “Mia, I’m so sorry. There’s an emergency in the department, and I have to be the lead surgeon.” “But today…” “Come on, lives are at stake. I’ll come right back to you after I’m done!” He left the restaurant without a backward glance. I stared at the untouched glass of red wine opposite me, feeling a deep sadness. A few minutes later, my sister sent a message. [I just finished with a client and saw Alan Naughton at the Crystal Club! He went into a VIP room, and Clara is in there too! I’ve sent you the location!] That voice in my head screamed again. [Warning: Target detected meeting with another woman. Maintain composure and defend your marriage!] The stress reaction made me lose my ability to think. I rushed towards the Crystal Club following the location. “Bang!” After kicking open the private room door, Alan and Clara were sitting very close on the sofa. I shrieked, grabbed the ice water from the table, and splashed it onto Clara’s face. “You home-wrecker, are you that desperate for a man?!” She recoiled in surprise, shot a glance at a bodyguard, then pulled out her phone and started filming. “So, you’re Dr. Naughton’s pampered wife?” Clara’s eyes were contemptuous, her words deeply insulting. “Truly, seeing is believing! It’s bad enough you ruin your husband at home, but you come out here pretending to be the wronged wife and hitting people! What? He can’t have a normal social life?” I continued to scream and struggle, accusing her of coveting a married man. Alan looked bewildered, simultaneously blocking the camera and shouting at me: “Mia! What are you doing! Why are you suddenly bursting in and making a scene like this?!” “You lied to me! You said you were going for emergency surgery!” I cried hysterically. But the bodyguard’s strength was too great; I couldn’t break free. Two hours later. Clara posted the video online. #RenownedDoctorCaughtWithMistressByCrazyWife# #WifeThrowsFitLikeMadDog# … The hashtags quickly soared to the top of trending topics in our city. The entire internet was mocking me. Saying I had paranoid delusions and wasn’t good enough for Alan. He looked at me, sitting blank-eyed on the sofa, then suddenly slapped himself twice. “Mia, I’m sorry… I ruined you.” He knelt before me, sobbing uncontrollably, revealing the whole truth. It turned out he had long grown tired of the stagnant salary at the public hospital and wanted to strike out on his own, opening his private clinic. But he lacked startup capital. He disliked the nickname “Sterling family’s kept man” and didn’t want to ask me for money, so he had to find other ways. Clara was the daughter of a Thorne Group executive; she had resources and was willing to provide funding. Tonight, he was meeting her at the club to discuss the collaboration plan in detail, which was why he had no choice but to go. “If I had known you would misunderstand, thinking we were having a secret rendezvous, I would have told you the whole truth right then!” “I’m sorry, I was just too concerned about your feelings! I knew you minded her, and I was afraid you’d be upset if you knew I was meeting her, that it would ruin your birthday, so I found another excuse to leave…” “I messed up, I was too clever for my own good… Mia, hit me! Just don’t look at those comments, please!” I understood his pride, and I knew he hadn’t intentionally meant to hurt me. The pain, finding no outlet, left me only with silence. Later, Alan took extended leave from the hospital. Ignoring the public criticism, he stayed by my side at home, caring for me constantly. He cooked for me, coaxed me to sleep, and endured my occasional emotional breakdowns. I gradually improved, and we became even closer. I wondered if it was a blessing in disguise. 4 I still couldn’t help it. I threw up the noodles I’d just eaten, along with the multicolored pills, all into the toilet. The pills hadn’t had time to digest, their edges covered in murky white foam. For the past two weeks, Alan had been seeking out doctors and medicines everywhere, prescribing me a large quantity of psychiatric drugs. I took them on time every day, always feeling drowsy and muddled. My memory began to decline, and I couldn’t even walk steadily. The voice in my head came in snatches, like a fog. [Please maintain… emotional stability…] With the pills completely expelled, my mind cleared. I propped myself up by the sink: Was this still the spirited second daughter of the Sterling family from before? I splashed cold water on my face, forcing myself awake. One in the morning. The fingerprint lock clicked, and Alan returned. It wasn’t the sound of one set of footsteps, but two. I like a cat lurking in the dark, slipped silently out of bed and pressed myself against the master bedroom door. The motion-sensor light in the hallway flickered on. I saw two intertwined figures, stumbling into the room next door. A few seconds later. Nauseating gasps and the tearing of clothes penetrated the wall, stabbing into my eardrums. “Alan… don’t be so rough!” The woman’s voice was seductively soft. Even though it differed from her usual style, I easily recognized it. It was the voice I had heard since childhood. It was my closest, most trusted sister! My own sister, and my beloved husband, were fervently entwined in the guest room less than three meters from me. “I’ve waited so long, how can I slow down?” Alan gasped, his voice already trembling with passion, completely devoid of any cold aloofness. “Gentle! Mia’s right next door, aren’t you afraid of waking her?” My sister laughed playfully. “Afraid of what?” Alan’s voice was incredibly certain. “She took double her dose tonight; she’s probably sleeping like a log. Even if we dragged her out and sold her, she wouldn’t know.” After a creaking sound, my sister chuckled softly. “I just said it casually back then, and you made it happen for me? Mia still thinks she’s the chosen one, tied to some novel’s system, right?” I pressed against the wall, my breathing stopped. “It was just a medical experiment, darling. Heaven blessed you and let it succeed,” Alan responded proudly. “She’s such a fool, doing tasks according to your demands for some illusory ‘conquest progress’!” What did that mean?! All those times I suppressed my true self, trying to conform to his every whim, were actually my sister’s demands? “Why does she always have such good luck? Why does she get all the good things? I’m going to make her go insane! Only then will Mom and Dad give up on her, and the Sterling family… oh my!” My sister’s complaints were silenced by his kiss, initiating a new round of passion. I stumbled backward in shock, unable to listen anymore. Compared to the pain of being betrayed by my closest kin, I cared more about something else. So… No conquest system. No mistress named Clara. It was all fake?!

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “447283”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

My boyfriend told me he firmly believed in “bros before hoes.” He also told me he only had one ultimate, lifelong bro, named Riley. And that this bro didn’t live in our city. Because I was blinded by my boyfriend’s insanely good looks, I put up with it. After all, they just texted and played video games every night. But then, I found out that this “bro” he talked to day in and day out—was a girl. 01 When Carter Hayes told me “bros before hoes,” I looked at his face—which was as flawlessly sculpted as a Greek statue—and swallowed the words “let’s break up” right back down my throat. My name is Chloe Bennett. Like a lot of college girls, I have a massive weak spot for a pretty face. Whether my boyfriend actually had a working brain was, for me, a secondary requirement. Carter was a senior at my university. His dating history was completely blank, and his life’s only passion was soccer. He played real soccer with the varsity guys on the weekends, and played FIFA on his phone during the week. Aside from being a little too obsessed with the sport, he was virtually perfect. Until that dinner party. He told me ahead of time that Riley was coming down from their hometown to visit, and bringing their local soccer team for a friendly scrimmage with Carter’s team. Two full teams, plus “plus-ones,” made 34 people. We rented out the entire second floor of a popular sports bar near campus, taking up four huge tables. Unfortunately, my professor held me back after class that day, so I was almost an hour late. The second I walked upstairs, my eyes zeroed in on a stranger sitting right next to Carter. She was skinny, wearing an oversized black graphic tee, with a choppy, messy pixie cut. Other than her, the entire table was entirely unfamiliar guys playing loud drinking games. The girl, meanwhile, was holding a vape and aggressively playing a rapid-fire shot game with Carter. Any girl who dares to rock a haircut like that is usually stunning, and she was no exception. In other words, the moment I walked up, I saw a beautiful girl sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with my boyfriend. The chair on his other side was empty. I walked straight over and sat down. Carter’s eyes were entirely glued to the girl’s hands for the drinking game. He didn’t even notice I had arrived. “Hey! Little girl! What are you doing? That’s the missus’s seat!” the girl suddenly barked at me. I stood up instinctively. “Can’t you see all the food I saved for her?!” the girl motioned to a plate piled high with appetizers. Saving me food was the glorious result of me training my dense, oblivious boyfriend. Only then did Carter snap out of his trance and turn his head. The moment he saw me, a gentle, familiar smile bloomed across his gorgeous face. I immediately decided to let the girl’s attitude slide. “Who are you barking at, idiot? This is your bro’s girlfriend! Call her your sister!” Carter pulled me down into the seat, scolding the girl. Then he turned to me. “Chloe, this is my bro, Riley Walsh. She got kicked in the head by a donkey as a kid, just ignore her.” “You got kicked by a donkey, you absolute dog! Actually, no, you got kicked by a pig!” Riley cursed, reaching over and violently twisting Carter’s ear. “Ow! You dare twist your father’s ear? You ungrateful son!” Carter winced, verbally fighting back. Meanwhile, my mind was reeling. Riley was a girl??? I had heard Riley’s voice through Carter’s headset more than once. It was always a gruff, raspy male voice, completely different from the sweet, clear tone she was using right now. Because of that, I had never once doubted Riley’s gender. “Are you really Riley? The voice I heard before didn’t sound like this,” I blurted out. “Oh, you mean this voice?” Riley seamlessly switched to the exact deep, raspy male voice I remembered. “Your bro does voice acting, what do you think?” “Holy shit!” “That voice sounds manlier than I do!” Carter’s friends were instantly blown away by her party trick, clicking their tongues in awe. “…” I was speechless. It felt like I had just swallowed a dead fly. Suddenly, Riley stood up, walked behind my chair, and clapped her hands tightly over my eyes. “Don’t move! Hand over all your valuables!” She used the deep, raspy man voice again. Her hands were incredibly rough and heavy, pressing so hard I felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out. At that exact moment, I confirmed it: I had encountered the legendary, final-boss “Pick-Me” girl. I didn’t hold back. I flashed my freshly manicured, razor-sharp acrylic nails and dug them right into her hands, leaving a nice little souvenir. “Fuck! Man, you’ve got lethal weapons on you! Women just can’t take a joke!” Riley retracted her claws, switching back to her normal voice. “Does my bro like them wild now? You’re a lucky guy, Carter! Tell us about it!” Hearing this, the entire table of guys instantly perked up. “Carter doesn’t like them wild, he likes them wildin’ out!” “Yeah, this guy had a new girl around him every week back in high school!” “Keep your voice down! Look at his girlfriend’s face, she looks pissed!” … I finally realized this table was full of Carter’s high school buddies. “Knock it off, Chloe is shy. She’s not shameless like you animals,” Carter interrupted them with a grin. “Yeah, yeah!” Riley chimed in loudly. “We’ve got a ‘female dependent’ at the table now, watch your mouths, guys!” Saying that, she pointedly glanced at the next table over. I noticed a few unfamiliar girls looking our way. Their eyes were locked on Riley, and none of them looked friendly. Obviously, these were the other “female dependents” Riley was mocking. The guys, of course, were completely oblivious to this silent warfare. The topic was dropped, and they went right back to drinking and yelling. I was hungry, so I started eating the food Carter had saved for me. Riley started whispering to Carter, but at a volume where I could hear every single word. “Is she mad? Aren’t you gonna coax her?” Hearing this, Carter picked a chicken wing out of the leftovers on the table and put it on my plate, but kept his eyes entirely on Riley. “Chloe isn’t petty like that.” “I don’t believe it! Unless you ask her for permission to hang out right now!” Riley pushed relentlessly. “Watch me! Wanna bet?” Carter was instantly hooked. I was completely lost, but the phrase “ask for permission” created an atmosphere that aggressively excluded me, and it pissed me off. “I bet you fifty bucks!” Riley looked thrilled. “Pfft! You’re on!” Carter turned to me. “Chloe, tomorrow morning I’m taking these idiots to hike Echo Peak. I am officially requesting a hall pass! Please approve!” “…” My speechlessness was reaching astronomical levels. Carter had never, ever spoken to me like this before. But with thirty guys watching, I couldn’t embarrass him. So I asked, “Can I come with you guys?” “We’re not doing plus-ones this time!” Riley cleanly and decisively rejected me on Carter’s behalf. I looked at Carter. He actually looked conflicted. “Echo Peak is a pretty brutal hike. Chloe, are you sure you want to go? Why don’t you go shopping with Madison tomorrow?” he asked. Madison was a name I had heard a few times; she was another high school classmate and apparently the girlfriend of one of the guys at the table. “But I really want to go! I’ve never been to Echo Peak! Plus, I can run a half-marathon, I can definitely make it to the top!” I put on my most innocent, harmless expression. The advantage of a Pick-Me girl is her ability to blend in as “one of the boys,” but her fatal flaw is that she can never play the fragile, delicate card! Sure enough, the guys at the table started advocating for me. “Just let her come! Otherwise it’s gonna be boring with Riley as the only girl!” The guy who spoke wore glasses and had a face absolutely covered in severe cystic acne. If he wasn’t so tough to look at, I would have kissed him right then and there! Riley’s expression instantly darkened. Another guy with bleached blonde hair added, “Riley doesn’t count as a girl! She’s as flat as an ironing board front and back!” The whole table erupted into roaring laughter. Through the laughter, I caught Riley glaring daggers at me. “Of course we want you to come! Just make sure you wear sneakers, and oh, definitely don’t wear a skirt!” Riley put her loud, carefree mask back on, pretending to be thoughtfully advising me. … The next morning at 7:00 AM, everyone gathered at the base of Echo Peak. Riley showed up late. When I saw her, I almost coughed up blood—she was wearing a microscopic camouflage mini-skirt! So short it barely qualified as clothing! 02 When he saw her, Carter’s grip on my hand noticeably tightened. I looked at him and realized he looked genuinely angry. “Did you leave your brain at the hotel, you idiot?!” He stormed over, ripped off his own oversized windbreaker, and aggressively wrapped it around Riley’s waist. “I spilled milk on my pants at breakfast! I only packed one pair of pants and one skirt! What was I supposed to do, ghost you guys?!” Riley said pitifully. She pulled his jacket on and zipped it all the way up. The visual effect was even weirder now. Carter’s massive jacket looked like a dress on her, making it look like she wasn’t wearing pants at all! I was frozen in shock. Carter had wrapped his jacket around her so naturally, and she accepted it so intimately. Standing together, they looked like a perfectly harmonious couple. And I looked like a clown. I stood completely still. The acne-covered guy spoke up. “Riley, you had thirty minutes to be late, but you didn’t have time to buy a new pair of pants?” “Tyler Vance! You just can’t stand me, can you? You’re mad because you suck and you’re permanently benched, so you pick fights with me all day!” Riley easily deflected the topic. So the acne guy’s name was Tyler Vance. Hearing this, his face flushed bright red. “So what if I’m a sub? You’re good, so you start, that’s fine. I’m talking about you showing up late!” I already knew Riley was their team’s starting goalie, and Tyler, apparently, was the backup. A skinny girl like that as a men’s goalie? And she was actually good??? Riley ignored him and waved her hand. “Alright, stop acting like my mom!” The blonde guy chimed in, “Let’s just go. Stop arguing, or we’ll miss the Halo Cloud.” The group finally started hiking up the stone steps. Carter and Riley fell to the very back of the pack. I waited for him to walk up and reached out my hand. He grabbed it. I secretly picked up my pace, pulling us away from Riley. “Trying to show off, huh? Don’t burn yourself out and ask me to carry you later!” Carter’s competitive side was triggered. He sped up, stubbornly staying one half-step ahead of me. “I won’t!” I walked even faster. Riley was left behind, all by herself. The “Halo Cloud” was the major attraction at Echo Peak. Every afternoon around 3:00 PM, a perfect, swirling ring of clouds formed over the summit. People romanticized it as a flock of magical birds forming a bridge. Personally, I had zero interest in hiking a mountain to see something I could just look at on Instagram. The only reason I dragged out my hiking boots and athletic gear was pure, unadulterated territorial panic. When we were halfway up the mountain, a sharp “Ouch!” echoed from about fifty yards behind us. Without a doubt, Riley was acting up again. Carter immediately tried to turn around. I grabbed his arm. “Don’t look back!” “Stop messing around!” Carter tapped my nose affectionately, but then turned and sprinted down the stairs without a second thought. I stood frozen in place, so angry I felt like I was losing my mind. Five minutes later, Carter came trudging up the stairs, panting heavily, with Riley on his back. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to kick them both down the mountain. Carter’s hands were gripping the backs of Riley’s bare, pale thighs. “What happened to her?” I avoided looking at that glaring expanse of skin and asked Carter directly. “Sprained my ankle,” Riley answered for him. “Chloe, I gotta borrow your boyfriend for a bit! You don’t mind, right?” “…” I was about to explode, but right then, Tyler came jogging down the stairs. “What are you guys doing? We were resting up ahead, did a headcount, and realized we were missing three people!” he yelled. When he got closer, he immediately saw Riley on Carter’s back. “What happened to you? You have a stroke?” “Tyler, if you don’t know how to speak, shut up. I sprained my ankle. You happy now? You finally get to get off the bench!” Riley sneered. “I’m not exactly celebrating, but what’s the deal with you riding on another girl’s boyfriend?” Tyler glanced at me. “I sprained my ankle! Are you deaf?! If he doesn’t carry me, are you gonna do it?!” Riley snapped aggressively. “We’re only halfway up. You expect Carter to carry you to the summit?” Tyler asked the exact question I wanted to ask. “It’s fine, this idiot is light as a piece of paper!” Carter said, trying to act macho. “Put me down for a sec! I think Chloe looks a little mad!” Riley whispered right next to Carter’s ear, but at a volume where all of us could hear it clearly. Carter obediently set her down. “Chloe, you aren’t actually mad, are you? Listen, I’ve known Carter for almost twenty years. If we were gonna happen, you wouldn’t even be in the picture! We’re pure bros. Ride or die!” Riley slapped my shoulder hard. “Carter always told me you were super chill! Don’t be so petty!” She hit me hard. I was balancing on the edge of a stone step. My center of gravity shifted, and I instantly tumbled backward. Thankfully, Tyler had fast reflexes and caught me by the arm. Still, I twisted my left ankle awkwardly. “Are you okay?!” Carter rushed toward me. “I’m fine.” I waved him off, sitting down on a step to check my left ankle. “Fuck! I didn’t mean to do that! Chloe, don’t twist this into something else! It was an accident!” Riley hopped over on one foot. “I’ll carry you down,” Carter said, reaching out to pull me up. “What about me?!” Riley was instantly unhappy. “I came all this way to see the Halo Cloud!” “Uh…” Carter hesitated. He was fucking hesitating?! I was so furious I thought I might spontaneously combust. “It’s fine, I can walk.” I stood up. “I haven’t seen the Halo Cloud either!” “Tyler, you’re strong. Why don’t you carry Chloe?” Riley suddenly suggested. “Did you really leave your brain at home today?!” Carter whipped his head around and roared at Riley. “Then what do you suggest we do?!” Riley screamed right back at him. Carter went silent. He was actually considering Riley’s suggestion?! “Can you carry me? Wanna try?” I held my hand out to Tyler. This guy had been sneaking glances at me since dinner. I knew he wouldn’t reject me. I don’t normally use people’s crushes to my advantage, but I was forced into a corner. I would just have to buy him dinner to apologize later! Tyler paused, then turned around and easily hoisted me onto his back. “Wow, you’re really light,” he commented. Without another word, he started marching up the stone steps. Behind us, there was dead silence. 03 Carter’s explosive roar finally echoed about fifteen seconds later, by which point Tyler had carried me up at least twenty steps. Tyler’s hands weren’t touching my legs; he was awkwardly but respectfully hooking his wrists beneath my knees. His careful, gentlemanly posture—compared to Carter’s hands completely clamped onto Riley’s bare thighs—made a wave of intense sadness wash over me. Carter’s voice cracked from yelling so loud. “Tyler, what the fuck are you doing?! I thought we were bros!” Tyler turned his head and said evenly, “Carter, isn’t this a massive double standard? You can carry other girls, but your girlfriend can’t be carried by someone else?” Carter and Riley were still standing at the bottom. Carter’s face was beet red. “Riley is different! I don’t treat her like a girl!” I realized for the first time that when Carter was angry, his face didn’t look like a statue at all. It was ugly. Hideous, even. Tyler had suddenly become my ultimate spokesperson: “Whether she’s a girl or not is an objective fact. It doesn’t change just because you say so. You have a girlfriend. Shouldn’t you consciously keep your distance from other girls?” Carter was completely speechless, but Riley suddenly cursed, “Tyler, you bastard! You just have to oppose me at every turn, don’t you? You’re just doing this because I rejected you! A guy as petty as you deserves to have a ruined, deformed face!” The moment she said that, I felt Tyler’s entire body flinch. He instantly went dead silent. So Riley was telling the truth? Tyler didn’t have a crush on me… he was lashing out because he got rejected by Riley?! I felt incredibly awkward and struggled a bit. Tyler gently set me down. But wait, what did “ruined, deformed face” mean? “What did you say?” Carter was clearly out of the loop. He looked at Tyler in shock. “Since when did you go after Riley?” “I never went after her! I hate loud, obnoxious girls like her!” Tyler frowned at Riley. “I’m not like Carter, I’m not that stupid. Your little tricks don’t work on me!” “If you say you didn’t, then you didn’t!” Riley sneered, rolling her eyes so hard I thought they’d get stuck in her head. I felt suspicious again. This was a classic smear tactic. If a pretty girl falsely claims an ugly guy pursued her, the guy has absolutely zero way to defend himself. Society will always believe her. So, knowing Riley’s toxic personality, I started believing Tyler again. Wait a second! Riley was simultaneously claiming Tyler chased her, while practically wrapping herself around Carter. What kind of twisted psychological game was this? Carter wouldn’t let it go. “Now that I think about it, you two were acting shady for a while! Wow, Tyler, you animal! You wouldn’t even spare your own bro!” Tyler looked at me for some reason. He opened his mouth, but didn’t say a word. “This is so fucking lame! I don’t want to hike anymore!” Riley looked at Carter. “I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Carry your bro down the mountain!” Carter stole a glance at me. Seeing I wasn’t speaking, he cleared his throat. “Chloe, um… why don’t you wait for me here? Tyler, do me a favor and stay with Chloe for a bit!” Tyler countered, “What, aren’t you afraid I’ll run off with your precious Chloe?” Carter punched him lightly on the shoulder. “We’re bros, what kind of nonsense is that?” Riley chimed in with a sarcastic drawl, “Tyler! Do you not own a mirror? Chloe is gorgeous. Even if she was blind, she wouldn’t settle for you!” Carter hurriedly covered Riley’s mouth. “Can you shut the fuck up for one second? We’re all friends here, do you have to stab people where it hurts?” Riley let him cover her mouth, rolled her eyes, and stayed quiet. I looked at Tyler. His expression barely shifted. Maybe guys really didn’t care about insults to their appearance as much as girls did? “It’s settled then! Thanks, bro! I’ll take Riley back to the hotel and come right back to find you guys! I’ll run fast, I won’t let my baby miss the Halo Cloud! Okay?” Carter promised. Okay my ass. I felt like I couldn’t control my tears anymore, but crying in front of a Pick-Me girl was too humiliating. Right now, I just wanted these two out of my sight as fast as possible. I turned my back to them and replied, “Okay.” I was certain even an idiot could tell how furious I was, but Carter somehow didn’t. There was some rustling behind me. Obviously, Carter was putting Riley back on his back. Faintly, I heard him say, “Hold on tight.” And I stood there like an ostrich, too afraid to turn around and look. My heart was filled with more shock than sadness. I had dated this guy for over two years, and only today did I realize what an absolute moron he was. Was this man even worth keeping? My chest felt like it was stuffed with cotton. I could barely breathe. “They’re gone,” Tyler said softly. Only then did I turn around. They were completely out of sight. Instead, a couple of strangers were walking up the stairs toward us, holding hands. They raised their joined hands over my head, passing by with soft giggles and whispers. That was how you were supposed to climb Echo Peak. My eyes got blurry again. “Do you still want to hike?” Tyler asked me. “Did you really try to get with Riley?” I wiped my tears and asked him instead. “No. She pursued me. I rejected her.” Tyler sighed. “She probably felt humiliated, which is why she’s been targeting me lately.” “She chased you?! Do you… have proof?” This was too bizarre, I couldn’t believe it. “Proof… do her DMs count?” Tyler scratched his head. “Yes!” I nodded vigorously. And so, I looked at Tyler and Riley’s chat history: Riley: “You up? Bro’s buying you noodles!” (Riley initiated a voice call) Tyler: “Saturday is my only day to sleep in. Ask Jackson to go with you. I don’t eat breakfast on Saturdays, please don’t ask me again, thanks.” Riley: “Idiot! If you skip breakfast you’ll get gallstones!” (Tyler didn’t reply) (Three hours later) Riley: “What are you doing? Bro will carry your rank in League!” Tyler: “Busy. Next time. Thanks.” … I scrolled up. Starting a year ago, besides a mandatory ‘good morning’ and ‘good night’, Riley sent him a dozen messages like this every single day. This went on for three months. Asking to eat, game, play soccer, study, even get haircuts together! Tyler rarely replied. When he did, he was ice cold. Out of 20 invites, he maybe showed up once, and only when the whole team was there. “Um…” I hesitated before asking, “Are you like, a secret billionaire heir or something?” For Riley to chase him this desperately, considering his… physical appearance… that was the only logical conclusion. “Just a normal family. My dad owns a small company.” Tyler blushed. “Honestly, I shouldn’t be showing you another girl’s private messages. It’s messed up. But to prove my innocence, I had to.” I stared at him. Even though his face was a disaster, his eyes were incredibly clear and earnest. Tyler was so genuine, he felt like a rare, endangered species! And he definitely liked me! Otherwise, why would he care about proving his innocence?! But no matter how genuine he was, it couldn’t hide his heavy, bulky frame and the severe acne covering his face! I cursed myself for being such a superficial monster. “You should expose her! She was clearly the one chasing you!” I faked righteous indignation to hide my shallow thoughts. “Forget it. She’s a girl, she has her pride. Plus, she never actually said the words ‘I like you,’ she just constantly bothered me,” Tyler said. I rolled my eyes internally. A girl like that would never explicitly confess! She manipulates you until you confess! But I couldn’t tell Tyler that, or I’d sound like I was stirring up drama. “Don’t look at me like that. Honestly, I used to be… not this ugly.” Tyler must have noticed the slight judgment in my eyes. His voice dropped as he opened his photo album to show me. “Look. I only started gaining all this weight a few months ago.” Tyler flipped through the album. “That’s YOU?!” I shrieked. In the photo, an incredibly hot guy was showing off shredded six-pack abs. Angel face, devil body. I looked closely—the facial structure was exactly the same, just much leaner. And in the photo, his skin was flawless. Not a single blemish.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “447299”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

My billionaire father left me his entire fortune, but all I inherited was a junkyard. I confronted the lawyer in disbelief, only to be coldly informed, “Mr. Shaw, you voluntarily signed away your right to inheritance.” The next second, I received news that my illegitimate younger brother had blacklisted me from every industry. Suddenly, everyone piled on, scrambling to curry favor with Austin Heuston. Furious, I stormed to the conglomerate’s headquarters, only to find Austin Heuston sitting in my chair, soft moans of intimacy echoing from beneath his desk. “Brother, do you like the gift I gave you?” Austin provocatively pulled Chelah Vance onto his lap, roaring with laughter: “I’ll gladly accept both the company and the lady. You can spend the rest of your life with that pile of scrap metal!” Watching my wife willingly wrap her arms around Austin Heuston’s neck, my fury reached its peak, then strangely cooled. What those two scumbags didn’t know was that the junkyard held the billionaire’s secret. Whoever owned the junkyard was the true heir to the fortune. 1 Three years ago, Chelah’s mother was involved in a car accident. The culprit fled, fearing consequences, and medical bills soared to a staggering one and a half million dollars. Desperate, Chelah Vance was forced to sell herself to save her mother. It was her filial piety that moved me, and I took on all her mother’s medical expenses. After we married, I doted on Chelah, turning her into a refined, delicate princess, envied by all. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say Chelah had been completely transformed; no one would have guessed she’d almost fallen into a life of infamy. But just seven days after my father’s passing, my wife got involved with my illegitimate younger brother. My eyes blazing crimson, I stared at the two intertwined figures, my nails digging deep into my flesh. I spoke each word distinctly: “Chelah Vance, I want a divorce!” The moment the words left my lips, they burst into laughter as if I’d told the greatest joke, tears streaming down their faces. Chelah didn’t even glance at me, eagerly kissing Austin Heuston. After a long moment, she turned her head mockingly, still looking unsatisfied. “Sterling Shaw, you have to be married to get a divorce. We have nothing between us, so what are you divorcing me for?” Understanding Chelah’s implication, my heart sank. I pulled out the marriage certificate I always carried, about to prove her wrong. “Idiot. It was just an act with an actress, and you actually fell for it.” Chelah snatched the certificate, tearing it to shreds in a few swift motions, then casually tossed the pieces on me. “Since the cards are on the table, I’ll stop pretending. Austin and I registered our marriage ages ago. What you have is just a fake I bought online for three bucks.” The certificate, carefully preserved for three years, cherished and spotless, instantly became confetti, scattering across the floor. My wife, with whom I had shared a bed for three years, had actually deceived me with a fake document! Their supposed animosity towards each other was all an act for my benefit! I felt as if I’d been brutally slapped, my face burning red. After savoring my expression enough, Austin Heuston patted Chelah’s butt with satisfaction, grinning widely. “Chelah, I owe my success today all to you. Tell me how you want to celebrate later, and I’m all yours.” These words hit me like a thunderbolt, instantly blanketing my mind. No wonder, no wonder three days ago, Chelah, usually so reserved, was suddenly incredibly passionate in bed, clinging to me again and again. While I was groggy with sleep, she’d playfully mentioned she’d fallen in love with a house. I signed without suspicion, never imagining I was being manipulated into waiving my inheritance! “Beat it, unless you want to watch a live show.” Austin Heuston looked down at me, waving his hand as if shooing a dog, his hand playfully caressing Chelah’s lower back. I couldn’t take it anymore. I roared, lunging forward and landing a fierce punch on Austin Heuston’s face. Austin Heuston was hit squarely, screaming as he tumbled to the ground. “Ah!” Chelah’s face paled. She shrieked curses, grabbing my hand. “You bastard! I treated you well, and this is how you repay me?!” I backhanded Chelah across the face. Her head snapped to the side, her cheek swelling instantly. Hearing my words, Chelah’s pupils contracted sharply, her eyes burning with hatred. She was about to demand an explanation. Just then, Austin Heuston recovered, pointing at me and yelling furiously. “Are you all trying to get fired?! Where are the security guards?!” A rush of hurried footsteps. Over a dozen burly security guards poured in, surrounding me. I struggled desperately, but they outnumbered me. I was pinned firmly to the ground. “Smack! Smack! Smack!” The slaps grew heavier, landing hard on my face. Austin Heuston only stopped when his palms ached from hitting me. Everyone gasped, wincing at my disfigured face. “Throw him out and let him fend for himself! Anyone who dares to help him is going against Heuston Industries!” 2 I was roughly thrown to the ground, the friction of my skin against shattered rock sending waves of pain through my body. Every breath was agony. One man, leading the charge, strode up and kicked me squarely in the chest. I groaned, nearly spitting blood from the impact. Through a haze of pain, I heard sycophantic flattery from above. “Mr. Heuston, a trash-picking lowlife daring to lay hands on you? He’s got a death wish.” I looked up to see none other than my deputy, Mark Randysek! He bowed and scraped behind Austin Heuston, pointing an accusatory finger at me and cursing, as if we were sworn enemies. My employees, who used to treat me with utmost respect, were now vying to curse me, afraid of being left behind. “Yeah, who doesn’t know Heuston Industries is Mr. Heuston’s domain now? Since when do trash pickers get to enter the corporate gates?” “I’ve always disliked him, putting on airs with Mr. Heuston. He totally deserved that beating!” “If you ask me, Mr. Heuston inheriting the leadership is what everyone wants. The loser should just stay put and not try to cause trouble.” I abruptly looked up, my gaze sweeping over the circle of people, my heart utterly cold. Since taking office, I had reformed policies, implemented weekends off, and strictly adhered to an eight-hour workday. Company salaries and benefits had significantly increased. Countless employees had come to me, expressing their fervent gratitude. Especially my deputy, Mark Randysek. I had personally promoted him from a penniless, clueless young man to a position earning over 100,000 a month. But now that I was out of favor, the employees who were once so grateful to me instantly turned. Everyone was eager to kick me while I was down, all to curry favor with Austin Heuston. I endured the intense pain and slowly stood up, giving everyone one last look before turning to leave. The mocking, scornful gazes behind me felt like poisoned needles piercing my skin. I walked step by step back to the junkyard Austin Heuston had discarded me into, my pockets empty, unable to even afford a taxi. My accounts had been frozen, all my assets seized. With Austin Heuston’s blacklist, no one dared to help me. It wasn’t until my feet were bleeding that I finally reached the junkyard Austin Heuston had contemptuously cast aside. The place reeked, piled high with all sorts of scrap metal, enough to make anyone keep their distance. But only I knew that what Dad had hidden here before his death was enough to turn my fortunes around. I set down roots in the junkyard, spending my days collecting scrap. Meanwhile, Austin Heuston and Chelah Vance almost daily dominated headlines, flaunting their love. While I ate steamed buns with thin porridge, Austin Heuston and Chelah Vance flew to the States for a truffle chocolate ice cream. While I bought nine-dollar, free-shipping T-shirts on the internet, Austin Heuston lavished thousands on opening a clothing company, just for Chelah Vance to pick clothes from. While I was stared at and whispered about in public, Austin Heuston frequently appeared with Chelah Vance at elite galas, praised by all. Reporters relentlessly disparaged me, using my disheveled appearance to highlight their glamour. I remained unperturbed, settling into life at the junkyard. A month later, I unearthed a filthy vase from deep within the rubbish piles, instantly overjoyed. I hastily wiped away the surface grime, revealing intricate patterns underneath. Just as I was carefully putting the vase away, a burlap sack suddenly dropped from above. 3 Caught off guard, I was covered, stumbled, and fell to the ground. The next second, punches rained down on me. I groaned in pain, clutching the vase tightly, refusing to let go. Time ticked by, and my breath grew weaker. The attacker took the opportunity, violently tearing off the sack, trying to snatch the vase from my hands. I let out a low growl like a cornered beast, finding strength from somewhere, and bit hard into the person’s hand. “Ah!” Mark Randysek’s face instantly twisted in pain. He forcefully pulled his hand back, a piece of flesh actually torn off by my bite. Mark Randysek instantly erupted in fury, roaring at the people beside him. “Damn it! I’m going to beat him to death today! Grab him now!” Hearing this, two men efficiently seized me, holding me firmly. Mark Randysek cursed, then violently kicked my knee. With a sickening “snap,” I felt my bone shatter. My knees slammed hard against the rough stones, making a cringe-inducing sound. My teeth chattered from the pain, cold sweat drenched my body, leaving me feeling like I’d just been pulled from water. “Mark Randysek, I don’t understand why you would do this to me.” My face was pale, my lips trembling, as I painfully forced out these words. “You only have yourself to blame.” Mark Randysek looked at me like I was a freak, as if baffled by such a foolish question, explaining as if it were obvious. “Blame yourself for being useless, for not being able to hold onto your inheritance.” “I went against Mr. Heuston so many times for you, all because I wanted a promotion and a good life.” “Now Mr. Heuston is in power. If I don’t show him my loyalty, how am I supposed to get by in the conglomerate?!” Under the intense pain, my consciousness gradually blurred. In a haze, I recalled Mark Randysek’s indignant expression when he first learned of Austin Heuston’s existence. “Damn it! That bastard illegitimate son killed the old lady and still has the nerve to come to the company? Don’t worry, boss, I won’t let him off easy. I’ll make him pay for you!” After that, Mark Randysek and Austin Heuston were at loggerheads. He cursed Austin Heuston’s dubious origins more than once, humiliating him in public. I thought Mark Randysek was fiercely loyal to me, and I was deeply touched, treating him even more like a younger brother. “Well, well, the quality isn’t bad. Hoping to make a comeback with this, huh? Good thing Mr. Heuston is prescient and gave me this chance to redeem myself.” A triumphant, boastful voice reached my ears, and I jolted awake. The vase had been snatched by Mark Randysek at some point. “No!” I watched the vase teetering precariously in Mark Randysek’s hand, reaching out fearfully. “Letting you off for old times’ sake isn’t out of the question.” Mark Randysek chuckled, unconcealed malice swirling in his eyes, feigning understanding as he suggested. “How about you eat this piece of trash, and I’ll give the vase back to you?” I lowered my head, gritting my teeth, my body involuntarily trembling. In a matter of seconds, Mark Randysek lost patience. He abruptly grabbed the vase, clearly about to smash it down hard. “I’ll eat it.” I squeezed out two words through clenched teeth, my hands trembling as I picked up the foul-smelling garbage, forcing myself to swallow it despite the nausea. The surroundings immediately erupted in boisterous laughter that almost tore the roof off. Mark Randysek stifled his laughter, recording the video. The next instant, with a “smash,” Mark Randysek flicked his wrist, and the vase fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. “Oops, my bad, it slipped.” My eyes burned with fury. I was about to lunge at Mark Randysek to fight him to the death. Mark Randysek easily kicked me, exhausted, to the ground. “Mr. Heuston and Ms. Vance’s wedding reception is in seven days. If you don’t show up, you know the consequences.” I lay on the ground, gasping for breath like a dead dog, as Mark Randysek knelt down and slapped a beautifully designed invitation onto my face, threatening me. “Come on, the billionaire’s son is eating trash. Even dogs wouldn’t eat what the billionaire’s son is eating. We won’t compete with the billionaire’s son; let him eat his fill. We’re going for a fancy dinner!” It wasn’t until their figures completely disappeared that my eyes suddenly narrowed. The scattered vase shards lay nearby, but I didn’t spare them a single glance. Instead, I carefully felt my pocket. 4 Late at night, in the quiet of my junkyard, I finally saw what was inside, my eyes widening in disbelief. A plan quietly formed in my mind. I hadn’t been idle these seven days. Chelah Vance’s hateful gaze from the office that day had haunted me. Armed with the secret my father left behind, I used my last connections to investigate an old case, and indeed, I uncovered something interesting. On the day of the wedding, I pushed open the grand hall doors. The moment I stepped inside, the elegantly dressed elites wrinkled their noses in disgust. “Where did this beggar come from? This isn’t a soup kitchen. Security, get him out of here!” “Oh, can’t you recognize him? That’s the famous Sterling Shaw. He’s the billionaire’s son, but now he looks like a stray dog. How pathetic.” I offered a slight smile, ignoring them, and strode to a corner to await the ceremony. Chelah Vance, arm in arm with Austin Heuston, came to greet me. After a few months, her belly was noticeably swollen. Not seeing me in a state of disarray, Chelah seemed a little disappointed. But then, remembering something, she defiantly puffed out her chest, sneering triumphantly. “Sterling Shaw, I’m pregnant. Austin isn’t useless like you. I spent three years with you, and my belly never made a sound.” Even though my heart had died, Chelah’s words still cut a gash in it, throbbing painfully. The night Chelah and I consummated our marriage, she tearfully confessed that she had a naturally thin uterine wall and couldn’t conceive. I didn’t blame her for hiding it; I treated her even better. But as time passed, the gossip grew more intense. Many long-tongued women called Chelah a barren hen, and a stream of girls were sent to my bed. Afraid Chelah would feel burdened, I took the blame, announcing publicly that I had azoospermia, shifting the blame to myself. That finally quelled the rumors. Recalling our handful of intimate moments over three years, I clenched my fists tightly. It turned out Chelah wasn’t naturally cold or unloving; she was saving herself for Austin Heuston. Even her infertility was a lie; she just didn’t want to bear my child! I lowered my head, concealing the turbulent storm within, my teeth digging into my flesh. “Sterling Shaw, what happened three years ago should finally be settled.” Seeing that I wasn’t resisting, Chelah “hmphed” disinterestedly. She paid no mind to my reaction, dropped her statement, and turned to leave. I didn’t miss the hint of malicious satisfaction in Chelah’s voice, a sense of long-awaited revenge. A bad premonition arose. The wedding began. Austin Heuston and Chelah Vance walked onto the stage under everyone’s gaze, the atmosphere electric. Just as the two were about to exchange rings, Chelah suddenly snatched the microphone, her eyes brimming with tears, and shouted at me with hatred. “Sterling Shaw, three years ago you hit my mother with your car and then used your power to escape jail time.” “I’ve bided my time for three years, and finally I’ve brought you down. I’m going to make you rot in prison!” This bombshell news immediately caused an uproar, murmurs filling the venue. “What?! Sterling Shaw helping Chelah Vance’s mother at the hospital was even in the local charity news! Was it all an act?!” Almost the next second, police burst through the doors, pulling out handcuffs without a word, ready to arrest and convict me. “I’d like to see who dares lay a hand on me!” I spoke with a deep, calm authority. Chelah immediately screamed at me like a madwoman. “Do you think you’re still the billionaire’s son?! Your dad is dead! Now Austin is the master of the Shaw family!” I calmly raised the object in my hand, speaking each word distinctly. “My father only had one son. Since when can a stranger with no blood relation waltz into someone else’s house and claim to be the master?”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “447268”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

1 The second I slid into the back of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, my hands moved with practiced lightning speed. I snatched three empty Evian bottles wedged in the crevices of the leather seats and stuffed them into my bag. My biological parents recoiled, pressing manicured fingers to their noses. My newfound brother sneered, muttering something about a waste of oxygen. Meanwhile, the elegant fake daughter sitting across from me hid a delicate smirk behind her hand, laughing at the beggar they had just dragged out of the slums. But as the heavy gates of The Heights—the city’s most exclusive gated community—swung open and we glided past the neighborhood’s private waste disposal center, my blood started pumping. A barely used, mid-century modern leather armchair. A massive, flawless mahogany serving tray. Even designer bags and seasonal couture, still wrapped in plastic, tossed aside like dirty tissues. To these people, it was a festering pile of garbage. To me, a veteran scavenger, it was a glittering, unmined mountain of pure gold. From that day on, I only had one mission in life. Trash. A crushed Tom Ford packaging box? Mine. Empty bottles of Macallan 1926? Snatched. A wobbly vintage credenza? I’ll take it. Fried computer hard drives? Bring them to mama. While this so-called high-society family plotted and schemed over their inheritance, I was quietly turning their trash into the kind of wealth that would soon slap the taste right out of their mouths. … I crouched by the estate’s recycling bins, cradling a waterlogged computer motherboard against my chest. Connor, my biological brother, stopped in front of me, hands on his hips. “What the hell are you digging for?” “Connor, you guys don’t want this motherboard anymore, right?” “It’s garbage. Been in the shed for six months.” He kicked a nearby cardboard box, sending two more motherboards clattering against my knees. “Take it. Take it all.” He took two steps back, his face twisting in disgust. “Just don’t let me catch you squatting out here again. You’re a goddamn embarrassment.” I gave him a wide, goofy grin and shoved the tech into my heavy-duty woven sack. The sharp click of stilettos echoed behind him. Paloma, the fake daughter who had lived my life for twenty-odd years, sauntered over in her Jimmy Choos. She was dangling three empty haute couture boxes and two empty Macallan bottles from her fingertips. “Roxy, I really don’t have any use for these anymore,” she said, her voice dripping with sugary pity. “If you like them so much, why don’t you keep them to play with?” “Thanks, Paloma!” I snatched them out of her hands so fast she actually flinched, before covering her mouth to muffle a giggle. What the little princess didn’t know was that those three empty boxes went for four grand a pop on the luxury resale black market. And those two empty Macallan bottles? I already had a buyer lined up for twelve grand each. I just provided the authentic glass. What the buyer filled them with was none of my business. At dinner, Richard Whitmore watched me shovel food into my mouth, his brow furrowed so deep it looked carved in stone. “Roxy, your mother has hired an etiquette coach for you,” he declared. “Lessons start tomorrow.” Eleanor dabbed her perfectly dry eyes with a napkin. “You are a Whitmore now, darling. You simply cannot act like… well, like you used to.” I nodded obediently, swallowed my last bite of steak, and bolted upstairs to my room. I locked the door, yanked the curtains shut, and pulled the motherboards from my sack. They had been submerged in water, sure. But if the chips were intact, the data was still there. I reached into the false bottom of my duffel bag and pulled out the portable data-reader I’d built from scratch in college. An hour and a half later, I stared at the encrypted wallet address glowing on my screen. I stopped breathing. Three years ago, Connor blew a fortune trading crypto and smashed his rig in a rage. What the idiot didn’t know was that his cold wallet private keys were still buried in the hard drive’s encrypted partition. The alt-coins he thought had tanked to zero? They had multiplied by forty over the last three years. It took me forty minutes to crack the encryption, and another twenty to tumble the funds and wash them through a dozen offshore accounts. My phone vibrated with a banking alert. Then another. Seventeen chimes in total. Two and a half million dollars. The garbage he literally kicked at my feet was worth two and a half million dollars. I clicked my phone dark, flopped back onto the ten-thousand-dollar mattress, and laughed until my ribs ached. The next morning, wearing the same faded tee from yesterday, I was back to squatting by the bins, flattening cardboard. From the second-floor balcony, the fake daughter looked down at me, leaning in to whisper into Connor’s ear. I couldn’t hear what she said, but I saw Connor roll his eyes. I could read his lips perfectly. Cheap trash. 2 The etiquette coach lasted exactly three days before storming out. I purposely launched a cherry tomato across the room with my fork, rolled my ankles in heels, and couldn’t even master a basic debutante smile. Eleanor clutched her pearls, sighing heavily at least eight times an hour. Richard slammed his hand on the mahogany dining table. “Enough. Cancel the lessons.” He glared at me. “If you can’t learn a single damn thing, then stop being an eyesore up here.” Connor didn’t miss a beat. “There’s a storage room on Sub-Level 3. It’s been piled high with junk for decades. You love trash so much? Move down there. Clean the place out while you’re at it.” Paloma took a delicate sip of her tea, blowing softly across the rim. “Connor, is that really appropriate? Roxy is our sister, after all…” “Shut up, Paloma. The adults are talking,” Connor snapped. I didn’t miss the triumphant little twitch at the corner of Paloma’s mouth when she lowered her head. “Sounds good to me,” I chirped. I grabbed my woven sack and headed straight for the basement stairs. Eleanor looked like she wanted to say something, but ultimately just let out another heavy sigh. Sub-Level 3 was freezing, damp, and choked with decades of dust. When I pushed open the heavy iron door, my knees practically buckled. The room was absolutely stuffed with treasure. The Whitmores had tossed all this out because their high-priced “appraisers” had labeled it worthless junk. But those guys weren’t in my league. During my four years of college, I went to class by day and apprenticed under the grittiest, sharpest antique restorers in the underground night markets. After graduation, I ran a scrapyard for three years. The amount of priceless relics I had pulled from the mud would make a museum curator weep. The next day, I locked the iron door from the inside and pulled a heavily stained, rolled-up canvas from a rotting wooden crate. The surface was speckled with coffee, the paint was peeling, and the frame was shattered. But when I smoothed the canvas out, my fingertips caught a slight edge. There was a false backing. I spent three days carefully applying chemical solvents to strip away the camouflage layer. At three in the morning on the fourth day, I slumped against the cold concrete floor, staring at the masterpiece in my hands. A lost Renaissance sketch. The only one of its kind in existence. Market value? Eight figures, easy. I used a burner phone to contact the most discreet underground auction house in the city. After verifying the piece via a secure video link, the broker on the other end sat in dead silence for thirty seconds. “Ghost Hand,” he finally whispered, using my street moniker. “We will list this anonymously at our highest tier. Our deepest respects.” A week later, the balance on my offshore account swelled by tens of millions. Right around the same time, the Whitmore Group’s supply chain took a massive hit. I heard rumors that Richard had smashed three crystal glasses in his study. He desperately needed to secure a lifeline from Mr. Carlisle, the most terrifying and powerful tycoon in the city’s elite circle. The Whitmores were practically turning the city upside down, hunting for a rare treasure to present to Carlisle at the upcoming high-society gala. Meanwhile, Whitmore Real Estate had just bulldozed a massive low-income housing project on the Southside. The evicted residents’ belongings were tossed into dump trucks as construction waste and dumped right into the estate’s private disposal yard. That night, I crawled out of the basement, covered head to toe in gray dust, and ran straight into Eleanor in the foyer. She was busy berating a maid but stopped to cover her nose when she saw me. “Roxy, sweetheart… I know you like to… tidy things up. But could you at least wash your face before coming upstairs?” “Sure thing,” I muttered, but my eyes were already looking past the floor-to-ceiling windows, locking onto the fresh pile of “garbage” out back. 3 The date for the gala was set, and the whole estate was buzzing like a disturbed hive. On my third night surfacing to take out the trash, I caught Paloma and Connor whispering in the garden pavilion. “Connor, just locking her in the basement isn’t enough. We need her completely ruined at the gala. Mom and Dad need to give up on her for good.” “And then?” “We commit her to a psychiatric facility.” “She digs through trash all day, right? We just give her a little surprise. Go find the most disgusting, cursed-looking thing in that Southside rubble and shove it into her stupid sack. When it spills out at the gala, we tell everyone she’s not just a kleptomaniac, but a freak who hoards dead people’s belongings. Dad will blow a gasket. I’ve already paid off a doctor to sign the committal papers.” I stood perfectly still in the shadows, letting their words wash over me. You want to hand-deliver me ammunition? I’ll gladly take the shot. Early the next morning, I was knee-deep in the Southside rubble. Down at the very bottom of my sack, I felt a heavy lump wrapped in a greasy, rotting rag. I pulled it out. A brass pocket watch. It was caked in hardened mud, the casing corroded green, the chain snapped in half. I held it up to the pale morning light, turning it over. The serial numbering on the casing was ancient, easily fifty years old, but the brass purity was incredibly high. I didn’t make a sound. I just slipped the watch into my pocket and went back to flattening cardboard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the twitch of a curtain on the second floor. Paloma’s phone camera was pointed right at me. Back in the basement, I bolted the door. I pulled out my rust-remover and a pack of cotton swabs, slowly eating away the decades of grime. As the corrosion faded, the dull gleam of polished brass emerged. The hinge on the cover was slightly loose. I worked on the back plate first. Under the harsh glare of my desk lamp, a line of deeply engraved script revealed itself. To my boy, Arthur. Mom will always wait for you to come home. I pulled out my phone, typed a name and a thirty-year-old cold case into the search bar. When the results popped up, my pupils contracted. The owner of this watch was directly tied to Arthur Carlisle. At the gala, this little piece of trash was going to be worth a thousand times more than the twenty-million-dollar jade sculpture the Whitmores had bought. On the third day, Richard called me into his study. Eleanor sat on the velvet sofa, her eyes predictably red. Two documents sat on the polished oak desk. One was a legal waiver, relinquishing all rights to the Whitmore family inheritance. The other was a consent form for an involuntary psychiatric hold. “Roxy, your mother and I aren’t kicking you out to the streets,” Richard said, his tone thick with forced paternal grief. “But look at yourself. You simply cannot represent the Whitmore name in public.” “Sign these. I’ll ensure a generous monthly allowance is deposited into your account. You can pick up all the… junk you want, and no one will bother you.” Eleanor reached out, her fingers icy cold against my wrist. “It breaks my heart, darling. But this family has rules.” I looked down at the psychiatric hold papers. “If I sign this, you’re locking me up, aren’t you?” “No, no, it’s just a formality,” Richard lied without blinking. A formality. Just like tossing me into an orphanage twenty-odd years ago was probably a formality. I picked up the heavy Montblanc pen. I signed them. Both of them. Richard and Eleanor exchanged a quick glance. I saw the massive wave of relief wash over their eyes. I stood up and walked out. As I crossed the living room, I saw Connor and Paloma lounging on the sofa. Connor was scrolling on his phone, not even bothering to look up. Paloma held a porcelain teacup, flashing me a brilliant, venomous smile. “It’s been so tough on you, Roxy.” I smiled right back. “Not as tough as it’s been on you, playing pretend all these years.” Back in the basement, I took out the gleaming brass watch. I pressed my thumb against the stiff latch and pushed. With a sharp click, the cover sprang open. There were no diamonds or rubies inside. Just a yellowed, water-damaged black-and-white photograph. A young woman, smiling warmly, holding an infant in her arms. On the back of the photo, a date and a tiny inscription were written in faded fountain pen ink. And tucked right beneath the picture was a microscopic, brass music box mechanism. I took a needle and gently coaxed the rusted gears. A fragile, broken melody bled from the damaged metal teeth. It was an old folk lullaby, something so obscure you couldn’t even find it on the internet. But I had found something else online. Thirty years ago, a brutal kidnapping shook the city. A rising businessman’s mother was taken for ransom and murdered. When they found her body, all her personal effects were gone. That businessman had kept a bounty open for three decades, just to find a single keepsake. He told the press it was a custom brass pocket watch, containing a recording of the lullaby his mother sang the day he was born. That businessman was Arthur Carlisle. And the name engraved on the back—Arthur—was his given name. I snapped the watch shut and wrapped it carefully in a piece of black velvet. The Whitmores had bled their accounts dry to buy a twenty-million-dollar trinket, hoping Carlisle would toss them a bone. He wouldn’t even look at it. But this piece of garbage I dug out of the slums? It was going to bring the most powerful man in the city to his knees. 4 The night of the gala, the Whitmore estate was blindingly bright, crawling with the city’s absolute elite. I stood behind the iron door on Sub-Level 3, listening to the muffled thumping of bass and clinking glasses above. At my feet was my woven tarp sack. Inside: three empty bottles, a stack of flattened cardboard, two crushed boxes, and a lump of black velvet. My phone buzzed. A text from Connor. Get up here. Dad wants you to show your face. Don’t look like a complete tramp. I looked down at my washed-out gray sweatpants and my scuffed Converse. Perfect. I grabbed my sack, pushed open the door, and slipped into the grand ballroom through the side entrance. Two society wives draped in diamonds noticed me first. Their polite smiles froze, morphing into expressions of pure horror as they physically recoiled, covering their noses. “Is that… the biological daughter they found?” “Oh my god. Is she carrying a trash bag? Did she crawl out of a dumpster?” The crowd parted for me like the Red Sea. Richard stood in the center of the room, the blood draining from his face until he looked like a corpse. Eleanor spun around, her eyes instantly brimming with dramatic tears. “Roxy… why on earth are you dressed like that?” Richard hissed, his voice trembling with barely contained rage. I blinked innocently and hoisted the tarp sack higher on my shoulder. “Dad, you told me to come up.” I took a step back, hugging the bag to my chest. “Hold on, Connor, these are my personal belongings.” “You—” “Enough.” A voice cut through the room like a heavy steel blade. The entire ballroom fell dead silent. Sitting at the head table was Arthur Carlisle. He was in his early fifties, lean, dressed in an immaculate dark bespoke suit. He hadn’t spoken a word all night. The tea in front of him had gone completely cold. Connor and Paloma exchanged a thrilling look. The main event was starting. Connor adjusted his tie, bowing deeply as he presented a polished mahogany box. “Mr. Carlisle, the Whitmore family spent the better part of a year tracking down this flawless, imperial green jade sculpture. It once belonged to royalty. It is the only one of its kind in the world.” He flipped the box open. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd at the sheer brilliance of the stone. Carlisle’s eyes flicked over it for a fraction of a second. His expression didn’t change. “Put it away.” Connor’s confident smile shattered. The last drop of color vanished from Richard’s face. Paloma seized her moment. She let out a piercing, tragic gasp. “My emerald brooch!” She clutched her chest, her eyes wide with panic. “I had it on right before the gala started! Where is it?!” Her gaze snapped perfectly, flawlessly, right to me. “Roxy, did you… did you take it?” “Paloma, please, don’t make accusations,” Eleanor interjected, playing the peacekeeper, though her eyes immediately darted to my woven sack. Paloma let out a choked sob. “If Roxy didn’t take it, I’ll get on my knees and apologize. But we have to look!” “Open the bag!” Connor roared. Before I could even pretend to resist, he lunged forward, grabbed the bottom of my sack, and violently upended it over the pristine marble floor. Crash. Three empty Evian bottles bounced across the tiles. Dirty cardboard scattered everywhere. Two crushed luxury boxes hit the ground. And then, the black velvet unspooled. A heavy, mud-stained, corroded brass pocket watch hit the marble with a dull thud. The room was paralyzed for exactly one second before erupting into vicious laughter. “Is she actually collecting garbage?!” “What the hell is that? A pawn shop wouldn’t even take that trash.” “This is humiliating. This is the Whitmore bloodline?” Connor kicked one of the water bottles aside, turning to Carlisle with a painfully apologetic bow. “Mr. Carlisle, please forgive this pathetic display.” He spun around, pointing a shaking finger at me, his voice booming for the whole room to hear. “Look at her! She’s a thief, and worse, she’s completely unhinged! She hoards disgusting trash from the slums!” “She is clinically insane!” He snapped his fingers. Two massive security guards rushed forward, twisting my arms behind my back and forcing me to my knees. “Dad, she already signed the consent forms!” Connor yelled, pulling the folded documents from his jacket pocket and waving them like a trophy. “Ship her to the psych ward. Tonight!” Paloma stood nearby, dabbing at her crocodile tears. “Roxy, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want it to come to this, but you need serious medical help…” Eleanor looked away, playing the devastated mother. Richard closed his eyes and let out a long, tragic sigh, washing his hands of me. The guards started dragging me backward. My knees scraped against the marble, leaving dull white streaks. Not a single person in the room spoke up for me. But then— The brass watch that had hit the floor. The impact had loosened the corroded latch. Click. The cover popped open. The jolt forced the rusted gears of the microscopic music box to catch. A jagged, metallic melody bled from the wreckage on the floor. The folk lullaby was so badly damaged it was barely recognizable. But there was one person in the room who recognized it. The second the first note played, Carlisle violently surged to his feet. He flipped the heavy table out of his way, the china shattering everywhere. He stumbled down the stairs, his knee crashing directly into the broken porcelain. Blood instantly soaked through his tailored trousers, but he didn’t even blink. He crawled through the scattered garbage, his hands trembling violently as he scooped up the corroded brass watch. Inside the cover, the faded photo of the young woman smiling with her baby stared back at him. Carlisle’s eyes flooded with blood-red grief. Massive tears broke loose, hitting the brass casing. Kneeling in a pile of literal trash, the most terrifying man in the city threw his head back and unleashed a raw, tearing scream. “Mom!!!!!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “447284”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel