Chapter 1

The ballroom laughed.

The Ross family had been around for nearly a century and had its hands in every kind of business imaginable. The head of the family, old Mr. Ross, was eighty-two and had been in a wheelchair for ten years.

The Whitmore family owed them a billion dollars, and I, their biological daughter who had been missing for sixteen years, was going to be married off to settle the debt on the very day I came home.

Celeste recovered first. "Evelyn, do you even know who the Rosses are? Even the Vail Group might not want to touch them."

The laughter died down. Everyone on the East Coast knew the name Vail.

Two years earlier, it had come out of nowhere and risen to the top as the richest and most powerful group on the East Coast. Its chairman was said to be young, capable, and ruthless. Plenty of families wanted to marry their daughters to him. The problem was that he remained a mystery and had never once shown his face.

Celeste glanced at my faded coat. "Evelyn has probably spent too long on the streets. It must have affected her mind."

Julian joined in. "She was taken at six. After sixteen years of begging, it would be strange if she weren't ill."

The people who had been enjoying the show looked at me differently now.

"Sixteen years? Imagine how filthy that life must have been! How is she even alive? She must have sold herself to survive."

"Could she possibly still be sane? No wonder she says she bought the Ross family."

Hearing them talk about my childhood like that, I was ready to walk over and make them answer for it.

My mother came straight over and pulled me to her side. "That's enough! Evelyn is my daughter, and none of you have any right to talk about her like that!"

As a child, I had imagined my mother defending me more times than I could count.

Whenever someone in the ring whipped me, I imagined that if my parents knew, they would hold me and feel my pain too.

The night I escaped at sixteen, I thought that once I found my birth parents, I would throw my arms around them and tell them everything I had endured.

Now, hearing her defend me for real, something in my chest tightened.

So this was what it felt like to have a mother stand between me and the world.

Then Celeste came over to taunt me again. "Don't hold Mr. Ross's age against him. Everyone knows you lived on the streets. What other family would take you? You're marrying up."

I looked at her. "You grew up in this house, so you know these rules better than I do. Wouldn't this be a better match for you?"

The color drained from Celeste's face, and she said softly, "Evelyn, I was just trying to make you feel better. This is a good match for you. Why would you say that to me?"

When she started crying, Julian immediately stepped in front of her. "She meant well. There's no reason to take it out on her."

Spencer was more direct. "Do you have to make everyone miserable on your first day back? Celeste is exceptional. She's going to marry the chairman of the Vail Group. Don't compare yourself to her."

Marrying the chairman of the Vail Group? No one had told me I was marrying a woman.

I was about to ask about it when Celeste pressed a hand to her chest and began taking quick, shallow breaths.

"Celeste? Look at me. Breathe slowly." There was nothing but fury on Spencer's face. "You vicious woman. You upset her so badly that she had an attack. Are you satisfied?"

My mother's expression changed too.

She took two steps toward Celeste without thinking, then stopped and looked back at me. "Evelyn..."

For a second, I thought she was going to stay.

But Celeste's breathing grew faster, and my mother let go of my hand. "Mom's going to check on her. I'll be right back."

After a few steps, she turned around again. "Don't go. Wait for me."

My hand was still warm where she had held it, and there was no one beside me.

A minute earlier, she had been protecting me. But the second her adopted daughter was hurt, she rushed to Celeste without hesitation.

Wasn't a mother supposed to love her own child unconditionally? Why had my mother's warmth lasted only a few minutes before someone else took it away?

All that was left beside me was my father.

His expression was grim. "Celeste has never felt secure. Why do you have to pick a fight with her over everything?"

I looked at him. "Isn't this the family dinner you arranged for me? Why did everyone else leave to be with her?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "She isn't well and needs extra care. The engagement isn't as bad as you think. This is for your own good."

I watched my birth parents and brothers close ranks around Celeste and blame me, as if they were afraid I might hurt her.

I started wondering whether this was really the family I wanted.

Had they brought me back because they loved me, or because they needed somebody to marry in Celeste's place?

It was the family I had wanted for so long, so I decided to give them one chance. "Fine. Understood."

My father blinked. He hadn't expected me to let the matter go so quickly.

What he didn't know was that I had never been one to fight over things. But when someone came at me, I hit back.