Chapter 1

Cole Gray stared at his phone's screen as it gradually went dark. He couldn't help but look at the photograph on his desk.

His parents, Samuel Gray and Eleanor Bennett, his older sister, Sienna Gray, and his childhood sweetheart, Claire Little, surrounded him as he stood in a custom haute couture outfit. Their faces were full of affection.

Back then, a saying was widely circulated in their social circle. "Who wouldn't want to be Cole?" Everyone envied him for having parents who treated him like the apple of their eye, an older sister who spoiled him rotten, and a childhood sweetheart who had eyes for no one but him.

Cole had also believed that he would remain this happy for the rest of his life. Everything changed when he turned 18, and he learned he was bound to an arranged marriage.

It had been arranged by his late grandfather. However, Cole and his childhood sweetheart had mutual feelings for each other, so the Grays had planned to call off the engagement as soon as he came of age.

Yet, as fate would have it, his fiancée, Aria Lambert, was left in a vegetative state after a car accident. The Grays had no choice but to honor the agreement to avoid earning a reputation for going back on their word and kicking the Lamberts when they were down.

Still, they were unwilling to send the son they had pampered for over a decade to tend to a woman in a vegetative state. So, they racked their brains for a solution.

In the end, the Grays came up with a solution. They adopted a son and had him take Cole's place in the engagement. Thus, Joseph Middleton—who had grown up in an orphanage and ended up living on the streets—was brought into the Gray residence.

The Grays felt bad for having him marry Aria in Cole's place, so they went above and beyond to shower him with affection.

Samuel and Eleanor gave him five million dollars a month in allowance. Sienna bought him countless pairs of luxury shoes every day, while Claire did everything in her power to fulfill his every request. Cole, too, surrendered everything he owned.

When Joseph wanted his room, he gave it up. When Joseph wanted his trophies, he handed them over. When Joseph suffered from kidney failure and needed his kidney, he gave that up, too.

Little did he know, Joseph was a man of such poor character.

After joining the Gray family, Joseph had repeatedly set him up and framed him. He had managed to steal everyone's attention and affection in just five years.

Sienna had fallen for Joseph, and so had Claire. Samuel and Eleanor, too, had started attempting to change his mind, dropping hints that they couldn't bring themselves to see Joseph become the Lamberts' live-in son-in-law; they wanted Cole to fulfill the marriage alliance himself.

Cole wasn't someone who would go back on his word. Initially, the only reason he didn't want to fulfill the marriage engagement was because he and Claire were in love, and he couldn't bear to leave his parents and sister behind and move to another city.

However, now, since they all preferred Joseph's company over his, he would gladly become the Lamberts' live-in son-in-law. After all, this marriage alliance had been his in the first place.

Recalling the date Samuel and Eleanor had mentioned, Cole picked up a pen and circled a date on the calendar two weeks from now in red. He wrote the word "Departure" and headed upstairs.

Just then, the front door swung open. Sienna and Claire hurried upstairs and, before Cole had time to register their presence, suddenly shoved him down the staircase.

He yelped as he tumbled all the way down the stairs. His forehead slammed hard against the floor, and blood gushed out from the gash. Excruciating pain shot through his body, causing him to break into a cold sweat in an instant.

Unfortunately, the two women upstairs had no intention of helping him up. If anything, they raised their phones and started a video call with Joseph.

"Did you see that, Joseph? We just pushed Cole down the stairs. Now, you should believe that you're more important to us now, right? So, stop throwing a tantrum and come home, okay?"

After hearing that, Cole's pain-filled eyes widened as he lay in a pool of his own blood, as if he had been struck by lightning. He had never imagined that Sienna and Claire would suddenly turn on him so viciously just to prove to Joseph, who had run away from home, that he mattered more to them than Cole did.

Joseph was moved to tears on the other side of the screen. "I believe you now, Sienna, Claire. I won't throw a fit anymore. I'll come home right away." Both women let out a long sigh of relief when they heard that.

Right after wrapping up the video call, the two of them hurried downstairs. "Does it hurt, Cole? Joseph told us he felt insecure. He wanted us to prove ourselves this way, so we had no choice but to do as he asked. He ran away from home all by himself, and we were worried about him… so we could only make you suffer a little."

Cole was in so much pain that he could barely utter a word. Sienna and Claire grew anxious and were about to take him to the hospital when Joseph called again.

"Sienna, Claire, I'm such an idiot. I can't even find my way home," he admitted pitifully. Both women's chests tightened when they heard that.

Sienna and Claire immediately ended the call and prepared to head out to pick him up. The moment they crossed the threshold, something occurred to them, and they looked at Cole, who was lying on the ground. "Joseph's lost, Cole. We're afraid something might happen to him, so you should go to the hospital on your own."

Consequently, Cole was abandoned by them without a moment's hesitation. He watched helplessly as their figures disappeared into the distance.

Enduring the blinding pain, he used the very last bit of his strength to dial emergency services. Blood continued to seep from the wound on the back of his head, and it soaked through the back of his shirt in no time.

Before losing consciousness, a single thought consumed his mind. There would be no future with them. In half a month, he would leave this city and sever all ties with them, once and for all.