Chapter 1

I reached out to help Jennifer up.

She suddenly fell backward. The pill bottle she'd been clutching hit the floor, sending pills scattering everywhere.

"Sis... how... how could you say that to me..."

"I already feel terrible for taking your place. I don't want anything from you, I swear... If you want me gone, just say the word."

Jennifer's eyes filled with tears. She clutched her chest and gasped for breath as if she might pass out at any second.

My birth mother, Lenora, rushed to Jennifer without a second thought, crouched beside her, and pulled her into her arms.

"Jennifer, don't be scared. This is your home, and nobody can make you leave!"

"Is your chest hurting? I'll get your medicine."

"Where are your pills? Where did they—"

Her eyes landed on the pills scattered across the floor. Then she looked up at me, her expression hardening with disgust.

"Eloise, ever since you walked through that door, Jennifer has done nothing but bend over backward for you. Will you only be satisfied when she's dead?"

"How did I end up with a daughter as cruel as you!"

Adrian kept his cool. He sent a servant to fetch Jennifer's medicine from her room.

But when he turned to me, his expression turned grim.

"Eloise, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Jennifer's been sick since she was a kid. We've spent years protecting her, and the minute you get here, you start picking on her. You think being my sister means I won't hurt you?"

I said nothing.

Jennifer huddled in my mother's arms, trembling. If the situation weren't so ridiculous, I might've laughed.

She cowered in my mother's arms like I might tear her apart, but the smug, calculating glint in her eyes gave her away.

Jennifer had pulled it off.

Just like that, she'd turned two members of my own family against me.

Too bad for her, I'd seen this little act before.

I was 13 when the Kennedy family took me in.

Sophia had pulled the exact same trick.

Sophia had taken things much further. She'd thrown herself down a flight of stairs and accused me of pushing her.

I owned up to it on the spot.

Whatever Sophia accused me of, I confessed without a fight. Then I'd cry harder than she did, swear I wanted nothing from her, and offer to leave on the spot. My adoptive parents never had the heart to blame me. Sophia was always the one who cracked first. She'd get so furious she'd jump to her feet and start screaming at me—completely forgetting she was supposed to be injured.

Once the Kennedy family saw Sophia for who she really was, they showered me with gifts to make up for it—designer goods, a share of the family profits, you name it.

At 15, I was taken in by the Percival family, a multinational financial dynasty.

Scarlett Percival, their fake heiress, was an expert at playing the victim. The moment we met, she brought me everything she owned, tearfully insisting it should all have been mine.

Now, Scarlett could act. She cried until her eyes were swollen.

But when it came to playing the victim, Scarlett was no match for me. I'd spent years bouncing from one foster home to another.

I made myself look even more helpless than she did. With both of us crying our eyes out, my adoptive parents had no idea who to believe. So they investigated the whole thing themselves.

But I've always been lucky. Every piece of evidence they found worked in my favor.

In the end, they set up a trust fund for me and transferred a portfolio of company shares into my name.

Now, at 18, I'd landed with family number three: the Bertoni family.

And Jennifer? She wasn't even in the same league as the other fake heiresses I'd dealt with.

Honestly, I was bored.

"Eloise."

When I still didn't answer, Adrian called my name again, his voice turning cold. "Eloise, I don't care what you went through before you came here. None of it was Jennifer's fault. She was just a baby."

"You don't get to punish her just because she feels guilty about what happened. Being a Bertoni may have gotten you through the door, but it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."

"If there's a next time, you're out of this house for good."

Adrian was the underboss and heir apparent, known for being sharp and levelheaded.

He'd been working alongside our father in the family business since he was 13 and had never once screwed up.

And yet, one girl's pathetic little act had him completely fooled. What a joke.

"Eloise, apologize to Jennifer."

Bryce, my arms-dealer fiancé, spoke last, his expression hard. "Jennifer couldn't sleep for days after she found out about you. All she could think about was how to make things right. And this is how you treat her?"

"Do you even realize Jennifer gave up her place so you could marry me? If she hadn't, you wouldn't even be my fiancée."

"I won't marry someone this cruel. Apologize to Jennifer, or the engagement is over. Do it now."

Bryce's expression hardened. He carried himself like a man used to giving orders and being obeyed.

But after hearing all that, I felt absolutely nothing.

Why would I?

I'd never wanted to marry him in the first place.

My adoptive fathers wouldn't have given a man like Bryce a second look, let alone considered him good enough for me.

I didn't argue or get angry. I said casually, "End the engagement? Gladly. But let's get one thing straight—I'm dumping you."

"And Jennifer isn't sick. She's wearing enough makeup to look the part. If you can't even see through a trick that obvious, maybe your father picked the wrong heir."

"Mr. Sedgwick, you're not good enough for me."