Chapter 1

The moment I stepped into the lounge, a resounding slap landed hard across my face, knocking my head to the side. My disheveled hair veiled the cold glint in my eyes.

The person who had struck me was none other than my mother, Kendra Dunbar.

Right now, she was jabbing a finger at my nose, her well-maintained face twisted with rage.

"Nadine Burch, you shameless wretch! How dare you steal the score Evelyn worked so hard to create just to curry favor! We're on the prestigious Fletcher family's turf! How could you stoop to such underhanded methods?"

The lounge was packed with people. There were socialites drawn by the spectacle and reporters secretly filming everything on their phones.

Standing to the side, wearing an expression of utter heartbreak, was Evelyn Burch.

"Mom, please stop hitting Nadine. If someone notices the slap mark on her face later, they'll get the wrong idea about you.

"This is on me. I knew how terrified she was of being poor again after those years in the countryside and was desperate to marry into wealth, yet I still didn't think to hide the sheet music from her.

"Nadine just lost her head over wanting a man like Emery Fletcher. I'm sure she didn't mean to steal my work to curry favor with him. If Emery flies into a rage over this and implicates our family, then just put all the blame on me!

"As her younger sister, I don't mind suffering a little injustice."

Toward the end, her voice even cracked with a sob.

What a touching performance.

Every single word proclaimed her magnanimity, yet it also reminded Mom and Dad that I was the shameless wretch who stole her hard work, that I was the slut seducing a man, and that I might even drag the whole family down with me.

In my previous life, Evelyn loved using this exact tactic to sow discord between our parents and me.

Sure enough, Mom looked at me as if I were her enemy.

"As expected of a cripple—you're sick in body and twisted in mind! You got yourself into this mess, so fix it yourself. If you drag Evelyn down with you too, I'll make you pay!"

After she finished, she shot me a venomous glare. The disgust in her eyes was practically overflowing.

Even having died once, I still felt a sharp pain shoot through my heart at those words.

At birth, I was diagnosed with a mild heart condition. The doctor said surgery wasn't necessary, and that with proper care, it would resolve on its own as I got older.

But Mom and Dad saw me as "damaged goods". Thus, three weeks after I was born, they dumped me on my grandmother, Nora Springer, in the countryside.

The following year, they had another child, a healthy one—Evelyn.

It wasn't until Grandma passed away that Mom and Dad reluctantly brought me back to live with them.

The first night back in that house, Mom, Dad, and Evelyn sat on the couch chatting while I was alone in the kitchen washing dishes.

Evelyn's voice rang out, innocent yet cruel. "Mom, Dad, if you don't like Nadine, why bring her back at all?"

My hands paused mid-motion, and for some reason, I felt a rush of nervousness.

"If not for the worry of people calling us heartless for abandoning our own child, who'd even bother taking her back?"

Mom's tone was gentle, yet the words were the most cutting.

"She's just an unhealthy defective product, nothing like you, Evelyn. You've been a flawless little princess since birth. In this house, she's nothing more than a maid at best. You don't need to pay her any mind."

The ceramic bowl in my hand slipped into the sink with a plop, sending up splashes of water and foam that spattered onto my face.

I reached into the water to retrieve the bowl, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't grasp it.

From that moment on, I understood that not all parents loved their children, especially when they didn't consider them perfect enough.