Chapter 1

I was the first daughter born into the Kingsley family in eight generations.

The day I arrived, the entire family was in an uproar.

Without a second thought, Mom and Dad transferred ten percent of Kingsley Group's shares into my name and handed me several subsidiaries on top of that.

Then they solemnly added a new family rule.

Every wish I ever made was to be granted, no questions asked.

From that day on, I was the most precious person in the entire Kingsley family.

There was only one problem.

As I got older, everyone slowly realized my brain didn't seem to work all that well.

It didn't help that I'd grown up next to a genius childhood friend, Leander Frost, who served as my permanent point of comparison.

At three, he could recite poems from memory.

At three, I sucked my thumb.

At fourteen, he was accepted early into one of the country's best universities.

At fourteen, I was still learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Next to him, I looked even slower.

Mom and Dad never cared. They'd just pat my head.

"It's fine. All our Mabel has to do is grow up happy.

"The Kingsleys aren't short on money. Why would Mabel need to work herself so hard? There's no need!"

Then I graduated from college, and it was finally time for me to take over the family business.

Someone set a financial report in front of me. I glanced at it a few times and was out cold.

Dad finally gave up.

"Forget it, Mabel. We're done with the lessons.

"You're not interested in this stuff, so there's no reason to force yourself."

Mom quickly chimed in.

"Exactly. Running a company doesn't mean you have to know how to do everything yourself. We'll just hire professionals."

That sounded perfectly reasonable to me.

Professional work should go to professionals.

So my parents started looking for someone to run the company for me.

Leander had grown up with me. We knew everything about him, his academic record was impressive, he was exceptionally capable, and he was reliable.

So the Kingsleys formally hired Leander as CEO of the listed company registered under my name.

Meanwhile, as the largest shareholder, I went right on eating, shopping, and collecting dividends.

Leander didn't disappoint.

After taking over, he cleaned up management, then restructured the business. In just a few years, the company's market value multiplied several times over.

Financial reports I couldn't understand? He could spot the problem at a glance.

Meetings I couldn't follow? He could settle on a plan in three sentences.

Deals I couldn't move forward? Over a single dinner, he'd talk the other side down on their terms and land the follow-up contract while he was at it.

Everyone at the company looked up to Leander, and I gradually became the figurehead heiress who lay around all year waiting for her dividends.

Rumors even started going around that the only Kingsley heir wasn't just a girl but a dimwit, and that the Kingsley fortune might end up in Leander's hands someday.

When I heard that, I just laughed.

I was slow. I wasn't stupid.

There were plenty of Kingsleys. Why would Mom and Dad hand the family fortune to a hired employee who didn't even share our last name?

Still, because I was a Kingsley, people treated me with respect, except for Brynn Foster, the Gen Z hire Leander had just brought on.

She had no track record whatsoever, and he'd promoted her straight to executive assistant to the CEO.

I thought it was strange, but I trusted Leander's judgment, right up until the day Brynn stormed into my chairwoman's office and jabbed a finger in my face.

"Ms. Kingsley, could you have a little dignity?

"Look at yourself, you useless maggot. Have you ever contributed anything to this company?!

"If Mr. Frost weren't holding everything together for you, you'd have run the Kingsleys' company into the ground ages ago! Can you stop sucking him dry?!"