Chapter 2

Gregory Stone, my father, walked out of the villa with a scowl, his expression hardening further when he noticed Ramon in tears. "What are you making a fuss about now, Harper? Is it that hard for you to go a single day without causing a scene?"

"Dad!" Ramona broke away from Megan and rushed over to Gregory's side. "Harper threw my necklace into the lake! It's the one you got for me for my birthday!"

Gregory's expression turned cold as soon as he heard that. He looked at me angrily and asked, "Why did you throw Ramona's necklace? That thing cost 30,000 dollars! How could you just throw something that expensive away?"

He was the chairman of Stone Group, as well as my biological father. He was always putting on the image of a successful businessman in public.

He had no problem spending 30,000 dollars on a necklace for someone who wasn't even his biological daughter, yet he had never once celebrated his biological daughter's birthday. He couldn't even bring himself to wish me a happy birthday.

"Why don't you ask her why she handed it to me in the first place?" I asked coldly.

Gregory hesitated for a moment before waving his hand impatiently. "Isn't this just about retrieving the necklace for Ramona? You're the older one here. What's wrong with helping her, Harper?"

I shot back at him. "You think it's just about helping? You expect me to get into filthy water without any gear and search for a necklace I have no idea where to find. You call that 'just helping'?

"You should go retrieve it yourself, then. I'm sure your beloved daughter would be even happier if her father retrieved it for her."

Gregory bellowed, "How dare you! I'm your goddamn father, Harper! You do what I tell you, no question asked! Get in the water and retrieve that necklace now!"

I suddenly found the whole thing ridiculous as I looked at his self-righteous expression.

That was exactly how things had gone in my past life. Megan played the villain, Ramona played the victim, and Gregory delivered the final verdict. They worked together seamlessly, keeping me, the "unreasonable" biological daughter, firmly under their thumb.

I refused to play along this time around, though.

"I'm not doing it," I said flatly.

"W-What did you just say?" Gregory narrowed his eyes, seemingly unable to believe what he had just heard.

"I'm not doing it!" I repeated myself, emphasizing every word.

"Ramona gets a 30,000-dollar necklace for her birthday. What did I get? Did any of you even remember my birthday? I lost 16 years of my life because of her, and now that I'm finally back, I still get treated like trash by all of you! Why should I put up with any of this?"

Megan roared, "Have you forgotten who you're speaking to, Harper?"

"I'm talking to the people who lost me for 16 years out of pure carelessness, brought me home, and then treated me like unpaid help!" I glared at Megan and Gregory. Tears streamed down my face despite my efforts to hold them back.

In that instant, the atmosphere became strained.

Gregory broke the silence after a while, letting out a derisive scoff. "You've finally learned how to talk back, huh? Do you think throwing a fit like this is going to make us care about you?

"I'll have you know that if it weren't for the fact that you're my biological daughter, I would've sent you back to your poor adoptive mother already! You should be grateful that I've allowed you to remain in the Stone family! You'd better not take that for granted, Harper!"

I felt a profound wave of helplessness wash over me at that moment. It turned out that they had never validated my existence, not even for a second. It was probably better that way, though. After all, if they treated me badly enough, I wouldn't have to feel sorry for them when I finally fought back.

I took a sheet of paper from my backpack and slapped it down hard on the stone table.

It was a handwritten declaration severing our family ties, with only a few sparse lines of text.

"I, Harper Stone, hereby renounce all parent-child relations with Gregory Stone and Megan Campbell, effective immediately. We will have nothing to do with each other from this day forward—in life, sickness, or death."