Chapter One

"Give Karen your variety show slot. She is more suited to be there than you!"

"You're the real heiress of the McDonald family. Don't be petty and selfish, fighting our sister over everything."

The loud voices of Maxina's brothers rang in her ears, bringing her back to reality. Maxina was dead. She died in Max's arms. They shared the same name because Max named herself in honor of her. It caused Max to get mixed up with Maxina, who was the real McDonald family's daughter. She opened her eyes and looked around, taking everything in.

She saw the familiar black-and-red dining room set against the same navy-blue walls. It felt more like a mafia den. Every time she ate here, she felt like she was about to be poisoned and die instead of enjoying a family meal. Sitting around the table were the familiar faces of Maxina's family, whose eyes were filled with disgust and hatred as they looked at her. Well, except for Jakob. He was just enjoying his red Danish and coffee. Probably thinking about what his secretary was wearing and if it was easy to remove.

Snap! This was the scene where she was robbed of her variety show slot because Karen wanted to be in it. Was that a dream or her previous life? Had she really been reborn? Was she worthy of it?

With a glance at the date on the calendar that hung under the clock on the wall, a hint of a smile appeared in her eyes. Returning to this point was perfect. She could save everything that she fought for. All because Maxina told her that she would make a beautiful actress. Maxina was the one who started her on the path in the entertainment industry. Being reborn was her fresh start, and it was time to be herself. She wanted to fulfill Maxina's promise, but this family wasn't worthy of her. Maxina deserved better. Dead or alive.

"Are you even listening to what we're saying?" The gorgeous man beside her spoke with a tone full of dissatisfaction. This was Maxina's second brother, Theodore, who was also her current agent. He looked like Maxina except without the high cheekbones. He had the same chocolate brown eyes and perfectly arched, thin eyebrows. He was muscular, but not overly muscular where his suits were screaming at the seams.

Max withdrew her gaze and brought her finger to her ear, cleaning it out as she stated coldly. "I didn't hear you, but I'm sure I know what this is about. It's about the variety show slot again, right? Karen went crying to Big Brother, expressing her desire to be in it. So, you thought you could bully me, and I would hand it over, yes? Not this Time. I refuse to give up something I earned. Just because you spoil your sister by giving her everything doesn't mean I have to as well. She's not my sister."

Jakob and Karen sat there with their mouths open in shock, and everyone else froze, watching Max as she reached out, grabbing the last banana nut muffin. She bit into it before anyone could stop her. She knew they were Karen's favorite, and she was a petty bitch like that. She finished eating and brushed her fingers off before anyone got the courage to speak.

"You knew those were Karen's favorite muffins, and you had to eat the last one. Why must you make Karen unhappy?" Theodore gripped her fork tightly, almost bending it in anger. He didn't know what got into Max. It was like he was seeing a whole side of her no one knew existed. Little did he know that this was the real Max.

"If she wanted it, then she should've grabbed it. It's like the variety show. If she really wanted to be on it, all she'd have to do is ask Fred for help, since he would be on the show as well." She smirked at Theodore innocently as she enjoyed toying with them and brushed some invisible lint off his shoulder. "Unless you don't want me on the show at all because you're afraid that I'd outshine your little princess, and that's not allowed, is it?"

"Maxina McDonald! Don't go too far!" Fred couldn't stay silent any longer as he watched her ripping into Theodore and Karen without a care in the world. Max turned to look at him, and he swore he couldn't see any warmth she once had for him or any of them. It was just like looking into a frozen black hole. She saw his red face as the anger built up inside of him, and was waiting for the train whistle to start and smoke to come from his ears like he was a character from the Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry.

Of course Karen had to chime in. Her eyes were red as though she was about to cry, "Since our sister likes it so much, I'll give it to her. It's my fault for causing this. Theodore, Fred, don't argue with our sister..." Karen was a good actress when she wasn't on camera, but on camera, let's say that, it can pick up flaws. Max placed her elbows on the table and folded her hands under her chin. It was getting good now.

"It's not your fault!" The brothers and mother chimed in all at once. She saw Fred's hand go under the table, presuming to squeeze Karen's thigh to reassure her. In her previous life, she thought that they were together, but then she noticed Karen was like that with all her brothers except Jonah. Karen would be the one to initiate the hugs or cuddles, and they would go along with it without seeing anything wrong with it. It grossed Max out because that wasn't how brothers and sisters behave, especially when she caught them snuggling and sleeping in the same bed.

Bonnie looked at Max with no emotions in her eyes. They were just empty. "Maxina, is this worth making a fuss over? It's just a variety show slot. If you want better resources, I'm sure Theodore can do it, but you need to hand over the slot to Karen." Max saw how an angelic face could make anyone do whatever she wanted them to. Sometimes, without saying a word.

"I'm not going overboard at all. I'm protecting my own interests because the only two people that would've protected me are dead. This family is a joke and a disappointment." She spoke lightly with a calm expression, but her eyes were full of laughter and mockery. Max had her fun. Now, it was time to leave this chapter of her life behind.

She calmly looked at Karen, who shrank back in her chair with the look of real terror in her eyes. "The slot was earned by me, so you can't give me anything but a hard time. You can't give what isn't yours. Your mother should've taught you that. Shows how bad a mother you've had."

She looked at Jakob, who was looking at her with a look of admiration and something close to pride. "I'm done eating. Breakfast was.... Interesting." As she spoke, she got up and walked back to the room she was sleeping in after she pushed the chair under the table. She didn't want to converse with them any longer. They made her feel like she was losing brain cells.

She wasn't their real daughter, but she knew their daughter's story and remembered it. Maxina was three when she got separated from Fred at the amusement park because he decided to try to impress a girl. Because of that, she was taken by human traffickers when she met Max(Maxina Heart), who had no name at that time.

Maxina was killed because one of the traffickers got too rough, pushing her, and she hit her head on the side of a table. She lay in Max's arms as she died. She made her promise to find her family and let them know her story. Max was around 3 or 4 years old at this time, but she never forgot.

Max was 12 when her master saved her and taught her everything she needed to know to survive. She decided to research Maxina's family. That's how she found out that they adopted a little girl two months after Maxina went missing. Two months!! They didn't even bother looking for her. They named the girl Karen and let her steal Maxina's identity and status.

Whenever there was conflict between Karen and Max, everyone sided with Karen, as they were completely biased. At first, Max thought it was because they didn't know her yet, but they tried to get to know her. Nothing changed. It got to the point where she avoided Karen altogether, but she would find reasons to come bother Max.

Before she was supposedly recognized by the McDonald family, she worked her ass off in the entertainment industry to get from newcomer to a C-ranked star within a year and a half because of her talent and hard work. She was on her way to becoming a B-ranked star.

When Maxina's family found her, Jonah asked her to terminate her contract with the company she was with and join theirs. Because they believed she was Maxina, she didn't sign a contract that had a contract-breaking penalty. With the hopeful thinking that Maxina's family might've been actually decent people despite the whole Karen adoption, hope was shattered when Karen decided she wanted to join the industry as well.

Once Karen expressed her desires, Theodore brought Karen into the circle and piled all the good resources into her to make her a C-ranked star without all the extra hard work. God forbid that the little princess do the work when she could use her brothers to skip ahead. From that point, Max was stuck with the leftovers that Karen didn't want.

One month ago, she saved the husband of a director, who was drowning and couldn't swim; because of that, she was given a high-profile guest spot in a variety show that had yet to start broadcasting as gratitude. As expected, Karen became interested in the show as soon as she heard about it. Like she always does, she went to Theodore acting cute and seductive, expressing her strong desire to be on the show.

The family knew that Karen didn't have a shot at getting on the show because she didn't meet the criteria. So, they decided that she would take Max's spot without even talking to Max first. Too bad she was back to her normal self, and her eyes were blown wide open. She stopped caring about Maxina's blood ties. She just hoped Maxina would forgive her in life after death when they see each other again.

In her previous life, she gave her slot to Karen for the sake of family harmony, but in this life, she wouldn't make the same mistakes. She wouldn't sacrifice herself or her happiness for insignificant people. As for the title, Heiress of the McDonald family, that title belonged to the girl who was cremated and placed into a necklace. Karen would give it back to the rightful owner soon.

In the dining room, everyone was in a state of shock. Max really got out of bed today and chose to steamroll them, and the worst part, they had no comebacks. She shut them down effortlessly, and she had this playful side in the way she did it. What the fuck was going on? "Is this her way of rebelling?" Bonnie asked, completely unsure of how to feel, but the one thing she did feel was anger, because no one said no to the little princess.

Jakob was finally out of his head, fantasizing about having his secretary spread out on his desk, and looked around. That was the only thing that kept him from going crazy in this house. "Such a small thing, and you all are making it into a huge deal. The spot is Maxina's, and you all are trying to bully her into giving it to Karen. Have you no shame?" He wiped his mouth and hands on the folded napkin in front of him, moving to the living room to sit with everyone following him.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. It's all my fault." Karen sat beside Jakob, trying to be cute like with her brothers, but he wasn't falling for it. He moved away from her, putting a respectful distance between them. Before he could say anything, Fred exclaimed with an angry tone. "It's Maxina who has gone too far! She's being unreasonable."

Max didn't care about them being angry or disappointed because it didn't affect her. Not anymore. In her past life, she tried to be a good daughter and sister to them, for Maxina's sake, making them happy in various ways, like giving them massages after a long day's work and cooking medicinal meals. At the end of the year, she couldn't warm their hearts, as they were filled up with Karen.

When she and Karen were kidnapped, everyone except for Jakob, because he was probably balls deep in his secretary, chose to save Karen first, leaving her behind. She was killed when their backs were turned to take Karen home. All it took was one bullet, right between her eyes, to end her life. She died with her eyes open, staring at them, full of resentment.

Upon returning to her room, Max looked at her right hand, where a black dragon tattoo lay curled up. This was her lifespan, which was short right now. She only had six extra months to live, but it could grow longer.

In her previous life, when she met her death, she was bound to a system that was Maxina before she exhaled her last breath. They traveled through space and time as Maxina taught her some new things and helped her complete tasks for life points, so she could return to the point where her life took a bad turn.

Before returning, Maxina informed her that if she wanted to extend her life, she had to gain more followers. By gaining more followers or helping people, she could extend her life. As her lifespan grew. the dragon would slowly uncurl and grow, winding around her arm and along her body.

So that became her priority. She had to find ways to help people and gain popularity, but she wasn't going to help people just for her sake. She wanted to help people that deserve the help because she wasn't willing to compromise herself again. Staying here at the McDonald's family house was simply a waste of time for her.

She went to her closet and grabbed the worn-out duffle bag that she came here with and packed only the clothes that she brought. Two faded shirts and two pairs of holey jeans with worn-out sneakers and a pair of black boots. Everything else that they bought her hung neatly in the closet, as she only wore them when she was forced. Let the princess have them.

She sat down on the bed as she wrote a list of her expenses for the year that she had been living with them. Lights, food, and rooming costs. She transferred the money onto the card Jakob gave her.

After that, she grabbed her bag and headed downstairs as she saw everyone but Jakob surrounding the little princess while she was in Bonnie's arms, looking like someone had killed her puppy.

Everyone looked up and saw her with her bag. The looks ranged from shock to disbelief to anger. She didn't even look at them as her feet touched each step. "What trouble are you causing now?" Bonnie asked as she looked at the bag that was slung over Max's shoulder.