Chapter 1

Claire Hartley's words hung in the air as my dad, William Hartley's face turned extremely ugly.

"You have a bastard child?" he demanded. "Amanda Hartley! How old are you? How could you do something so disgraceful!"

Hearing Dad's tirade against me, Claire's lips curved upward slightly, but she instantly covered her mouth in a show of pretense.

"Oh my. So you never told Dad, Amanda? I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have spoken out of turn."

With that, she turned to him, her tone earnest. "Dad, please don't be mad at Amanda. She's been alone out there all these years. She must have had her reasons."

She then turned to look at me, her eyes appearing sincere. "Don't worry, Amanda. I'll make sure no one ever finds out. I won't let anyone talk."

The moment she finished speaking, a woman rushed out from the villa and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Amanda! My daughter… I've finally found you!"

My mom, Eliza Smith, held me and wept uncontrollably. After a long moment, she finally noticed the tense silence.

"What's wrong? Why are you all staring at Amanda? What were you just talking about?"

"It's nothing, Mom. Amanda must be tired from such a long trip. Let's go inside first." Claire spoke up hastily, shooting meaningful glances at Dad, putting on a perfect show of covering up my supposed shame.

I spoke calmly. "She said I got pregnant before marriage and gave birth to a murderer's child while I was away."

Mom's face instantly turned deathly pale. "What! Amanda, did you…"

"I didn't. She's lying."

"Amanda!" Claire's voice suddenly rose sharply as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I was trying to help you. How can you accuse me of lying?"

She choked back sobs and took a small step backward. "Do you really want me to expose all your secrets in public?"

At this point, she bit her lip with perfect timing and looked at Mom and Dad with obvious hesitation.

"What else is there?" Dad's temple veins bulged. "Claire, tell us! We're settling this right now!"

Claire seemed to steel herself with great determination and said to me, "I'm sorry, Amanda. I know you wanted to hide it, but Mom and Dad have the right to know the truth."

She sighed deeply and continued softly, "When I first heard we were bringing Amanda home, I made a special effort to find out what she liked… and accidentally discovered…"

She took a deep breath, as if the words were difficult to speak. "Amanda has been… selling herself… since high school…"

Everyone reacted at once. Dad trembled with rage. "Disgraceful! How could the Hartley family produce such a shameless daughter!"

Mom took two steps back, looking at me with eyes full of disbelief. But I only looked at Claire with a faint smile.

"Are you certain these things are true?" I asked. "Lies have consequences, you know."

"Of course it's true! You—urgh!"

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly burst into violent retching, her stomach slightly protruding.

I blinked, barely suppressing a smile. I did warn her.