Chapter 2

Jonah had always been frail ever since he was young and often stayed home without coming out. Yet now, he was trying to fight off two grown men by himself.

As expected, the two thugs gathered themselves and kicked him to the ground.

Candace frowned. "Where did this idiot come from? Throw him in the river too!"

Even though he was already on the ground, Jonah was still struggling to protect me. I immediately yelled at the top of my voice, "Candace! He's Liam's uncle! Are you sure you want to hurt him? Aren't you afraid the Hiltons will come after you?"

Candace hesitated for a moment. However, she then shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I've never heard Liam mention an uncle. And even if he really is Liam's uncle, I'd be doing the Hiltons a favor by getting rid of a sickly bastard like him. They'd be so grateful to me.

"And do you honestly think that the Hiltons would dare to hold anything against me, the Ashford's true heiress, just for the sake of a poor, sickly idiot? Don't kid yourself. Plus, if you both die… well, it's still up to me to decide what to tell them about how it happened."

Jonah was literally on the brink of death on the ground, while I was all tied up with my arms behind my back and could barely even move.

I glared at Candace and said angrily, "I don't know why you think that I stole your life, Candace Ashford, but I am the real daughter of the Ashford family.

"I can forget about all the things you've done to me before, but if you dare to do anything to Jonah, I swear, I will make you pay with your life! You'll wish you were dead!"

Candace suddenly looked at me with a pitiful expression on her face and started laughing out loud.

"Denise Ashford, you really won't give up until the end, will you? I mean, it does make sense. You've enjoyed a life of luxury for so many years. Of course you'd never want to admit that we were switched at birth!

"But there's no use struggling anymore. I've already had a DNA test done. I know for sure that I am the true daughter of the Ashford family!"

I stared at her in disbelief. A DNA test? How was that possible?

Mom and Dad had died a long time ago. The only children they ever had were Dexter and me. So, how could it be possible that Candace was also their child?

However, there wasn't any time for me to press her for more details.

The two thugs dragged me and Jonah to the river's edge. It was a very deep river, going down at least 500 feet. There wouldn't be any chance of survival for me or Jonah if we were thrown into it.

I was starting to panic because Dexter hadn't arrived yet. I looked around desperately, trying to find a way to escape.

Candace immediately knew what I was trying to do. She chuckled and said, "I can't believe that you're still trying to think about running away at a time like this. You're such a disobedient little brat. Break her legs before throwing her in the river."

One of the thugs immediately grabbed a metal rod and started toward me menacingly.

Jonah's head was bleeding after getting beaten up by the thugs. However, he still mustered enough strength to shove the man away.

"Denise! I'll hold them back. Run for your life!"

"I'm going to beat you to death, you stupid bastard! Let's see you try to play the hero once you're dead!"

The blond thug whom Jonah just shoved aside was enraged. He raised the metal rod high in the air and was just about to hit Jonah when a car suddenly swerved to a stop in front of us.

"Stop! Unless you want to die right now!"

I looked at our butler, Fred Bronston, as he jumped out of the car. Relief flooded through me when I saw his familiar face.

The Ashfords' reinforcements had arrived.

The thugs were immediately arrested. Meanwhile, Candace screamed at the top of her lungs, "Who are you? What are you trying to do to me? I am the true heiress of the Ashford family!"

She'd just finished screaming that line when Fred whacked her on the back of her neck, and she slumped into a dead faint at once.

Fred then told me that he would bring these people to the storage room and wait for further instructions from me as to what to do with them later.

Then, he rushed me and Jonah to the hospital.

The doctors gave me a thorough check-up and said that my injuries were only superficial. In other words, I was fine.

However, Jonah was in a worse state. His head had been badly injured, and he needed to remain at the hospital for a few days.

I could finally relax after learning that he had been moved from the emergency ward into a regular room.

After that, I borrowed a nurse's phone to call Dexter and tell him that I was safe. When he heard that someone had been claiming to be me and even tried to kill me, he was furious, and rightly so.