Chapter 1

The family attorney's office fell silent. The family attorney's pen hovered over the family trust documents, but he didn't sign them.

My mother was the first to react. "Blair isn't an outsider. She's lived with us for 25 years. She's called us Mom and Dad for 25 years. You've only been back for a year. It's perfectly normal that you're still adjusting."

I looked at her. "So I'm the one who needs to adjust?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" I asked.

My mother opened her mouth, but no words came out.

My older brother, Andrew Collins, stepped forward and stood in front of her. "Renee, Mom hasn't been feeling well lately. Don't keep pushing her. Today is supposed to be a happy day. Do you really have to make everyone uncomfortable?"

I turned to him. "How many times did you postpone the family ceremony to officially welcome me home this past year because you said you were busy?"

Andrew's expression shifted slightly.

I answered for him. "Three times. The first time, Blair had to represent the company at a contract signing. The second time, she was in a car accident. The third time, my fiancé came back from overseas, and Blair had to host his welcome-home party."

Joseph Hamilton stood among the guests with his hands clenched tightly. He was the only son of the Hamilton family and the man my family had arranged for me to marry before I disappeared at the age of three.

After I returned, my father said the engagement would remain in place. Yet over the past year, Joseph had attended six formal events with Blair. He hadn't found time to attend a single family gathering meant to officially welcome me home.

My mother frowned. "Why are you dragging me into this? Blair was seriously injured in that accident, and the welcome-home party had been planned long in advance. Postponing your family gathering by a few days doesn't change the fact that you're our daughter."

I nodded. "You're right. If delaying it by a few days doesn't change who I am, then listing Blair as the younger daughter in the family trust won't erase the 25 years of love you've shared with her, either."

Blair's eyes immediately turned red. "Renee, don't make things difficult for them. I took the place that should've been yours. I'll have the attorney remove my name right now."

She reached for the documents in front of the family attorney.

My mother grabbed her wrist. "Who said you could remove your name?"

Andrew stepped forward and shielded Blair behind him. "You've been the eldest daughter of the Collins family for 25 years. What gives her the right to come back whenever she wants and demand that you give up your place?"

I looked at Andrew. "What do you mean, I came back whenever I wanted? Weren't you the ones who found me?"

Andrew's breath caught.

Last year, when the Collins family found me, he held me and cried for a long time. He told me that on the day I disappeared at three, he'd been the one who let go of my hand. He said he'd regretted it every night for all those years. He also promised that from then on, he'd make up for everything the family owed me.

But for the entire year after I came home, I lived in the guest suite. Blair lived in the master suite on the second floor, the room traditionally reserved for the eldest Collins daughter.

The risk assessment I had prepared for the company had been submitted under her name. Even the first gift Joseph gave me had been chosen according to Blair's preferences.

Every time I asked why, they gave me the same answers: They were busy. I needed to wait a little longer. Blair was already used to things the way they were. I'd been independent all these years, so I should have an easier time adjusting than she did.

Now even the family trust followed the same logic. Blair was listed ahead of me because she'd grown accustomed to her place. I came after her because everyone expected me to accept mine.

Cameron Reynolds stepped out from beside my mother. He was four years older than me. When we were children, I always followed him around and called him Cammy.

After I disappeared, he spent years helping my family search for me. Yet in the year since my return, every time he spoke up, it was to defend Blair.

"Renee, Blair did take things that should've belonged to you, but she didn't do it deliberately. She started learning the business from your dad when she was a teenager. You can't expect her to suddenly hand everything over. She can't accept that," he claimed.

I looked at him. "What about me?"

He froze. "What?"

"I went missing when I was three. 25 years later, I found out I had parents, a brother, and even a fiancé. I've been back for a year. I live in the guest suite, work on projects for Blair, and watch my own fiancé attend events with her."

I pointed at the trust documents. "And now I have to be listed behind her. Do you think I can accept all of this just because I'm more willing to put up with it?"

Cameron's lips moved slightly. "You grew up on your own. You really are stronger than Blair."

I nodded. "So people who can handle more are supposed to keep sacrificing more. Is that another new rule the Collins family came up with?"

No one answered.

My father's expression darkened. "Have you said enough? Blair has already agreed to transfer some of her shares to you. You've only just returned. You don't know the company or how it operates. Are you seriously expecting her to hand the entire family business over to you?"

I asked him, "Does the Collins family charter say the eldest biological daughter inherits control only after she's familiar with the company? Or does it say the eldest biological daughter is the designated heiress?"

"Rules are dead. People are alive!" my father snapped.

"I understand."

I took the trust documents from the family attorney.

My father seemed to think I'd finally given in, and his expression softened slightly.

Instead, I placed the documents back on the table. "If the rules can be rewritten whenever they're inconvenient for Blair, then there's no point in putting my name in the family trust at all."

My mother suddenly grabbed my arm. "Renee Collins, what do you mean?"

"You found me a year ago. You didn't prepare a room for me. You didn't straighten out my engagement. You postponed my official welcome three times. And now you can't even acknowledge me as the eldest biological daughter and rightful heiress."

I pulled my arm free. "It isn't that you haven't had time to make things up to me. It's that every time Blair has to give up even the smallest thing, you decide I can wait a little longer."

Blair stared at me with red-rimmed eyes. "Then what exactly do you want me to do? Move out of the house and give everything back to you?"

I shook my head. "I never asked you to leave. I'm only taking back the place that rightfully belongs to me under the Collins family's own rules. If getting back what's mine means you have to leave, then everything you have now was built on the assumption that I would never come back."

The color drained from her face.

I set the pen back beside the trust documents. "Once you've decided who the Collins family's rightful heiress is, let me know."

My father shouted after me, "If you walk out of this place today, don't expect us to ever beg you to come back!"

I stopped. "Fine."

No one said another word behind me.