Reborn from Betrayal, I Cut Every Tie

...

Their gazes swept over my emaciated frame and tattered clothes.

Flavia Grady's brow creased. Without a word, she reached into a box and offered me another chocolate.

A sharp voice interrupted, "One per person. That's the rule."

Ambrose Grady came up, snatching the extra chocolate from my grasp. His tone was icy, his words deliberate. "Taking two isn't fair to the other children, is it?"

Flavia glanced at him, her fleeting hesitation fading into indifference. The words she seemed to hold back dwindled to a single, curt directive. "Take your share and go."

I clutched my chocolate, my chest tightening as if struck by a heavy blow.

A bitter ache surged within me. I'd known this outcome was inevitable. Yet receiving their cold dismissal and seeing my faint hope snuffed out still broke my heart.

My eyes stung with unshed tears, but the messages kept coming.

[Lawrence, call them Mom and Dad! They're here to take you home!]

[You're their true son, and that girl is your fiancée.]

[Show the locket. They'll recognize you!]

[Hurry, or they'll take the fraud, and you'll lose everything!]

I tuned them out, turning away to peel open the chocolate wrapper. I broke off a piece and stuffed it into my mouth.

It should have been rich and sweet, but it melted into a tasteless, waxy lump, choking my throat with bitterness.

The messages persisted, but I ignored them. They didn't know I was reborn.

From the moment my parents gazed warmly at Erik Sanders and regarded me with icy disdain, I understood that I wasn't the only one given a second chance.

Their actions spoke volumes. They knew Erik was a fake, but they chose to embrace the deception.

As I headed toward the dormitory, a crisp voice halted me. "Hold it there."

I turned to face Catherine Murphy, my supposed fiancée. Her eyes locked onto my chest. "That locket around your neck is the Grady family's heirloom, isn't it?"

...

She approached, undeterred by my recoil, and tugged the locket from beneath my ragged collar.