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All Chapters of The Girl They Replaced: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

I never thought my first case back in Hawthorne Bay would come from my best friend.Scratch that.My ex-best friend.The partners wanted to grow the firm, so they handed me the Hawthorne Bay office."Wynna, you're our best attorney. You know Hawthorne Bay. You're perfect for this."I didn't say no.But they were wrong.Sure, I'd lived here.I'd also lost everything here.But five years can blur a lot. That part of my life was supposed to be dead and buried.Yeah.Not so much.On opening day, my past walked right through the door.Shawn Gonzalez stopped cold."Nina? What are you doing here?"I kept my face blank and nodded toward the chair."I'm the attorney here. Is that so shocking?""Of course it is!" Shawn snapped. "You never even graduated college. How could you possibly..."He cut himself off.But I knew exactly what he meant.Five years ago, I'd been kicked out of school. With nowhere else to go, I stood in the pouring rain and begged him for help."Why shoul

Chapter 2

Nina.Hearing him say my name still threw me.Friends?I laughed under my breath.Five years ago, after Yuna framed me and I broke down crying, I asked him to grab a drink so I could explain."So now you're the victim? I'm with Yuna right now, comforting her. I don't have time for your lies."The boy I'd grown up with had left me behind.Before Miguel, I'd already known Shawn saw me as more than a friend.Every Christmas and Easter, he gave the other society girls the same gifts.Mine was different every year.Handmade.Because neither of us cared about jewelry or price tags.Even the way he said my name was different.With everyone else, he was polite and distant. Miss this. Miss that.But with me, it was always just "Nina."Back then, I was too young to know what to do with his feelings.By the time I figured out mine, Miguel was already in the picture.I still remembered the day Shawn caught Miguel and me kissing.He drank himself into the hospital with a stomach b

Chapter 3

Harrold clearly hadn't expected to see me.I should've known better.At a banquet full of Hawthorne Bay's old-money crowd, of course the Newell Corp CEO would be there.If I stayed in Hawthorne Bay, running into them was going to be normal.Annoying, sure.But I'd survived worse.Compared to everything else, this was nothing.I picked Gigi up from Amy. She was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open.On the way home, we passed Hawthorne Hospital.That was where I lost the last person in the Newell family who'd ever loved me.Carter.The Newells' longtime butler.I still remembered the day Yuna came back. She saw Carter fanning me in the summer heat, even at his age, and looked jealous."It must be nice to have someone care about you. At the orphanage, they only hit me and screamed at me."Later, the man who'd always looked out for me died in what everyone called an accident.Carter had been healthy. Yuna was there when he fell.So she was the first person I questi

Chapter 4

Wyatt Walker.The man who once sat across from me in handcuffs, accused of murder.He didn't look like any murderer I'd ever met.No violence in him at all.When I sat down, he even greeted me like we were meeting for coffee."Good evening, ma'am."Back then, I was still a rookie attorney.It was the biggest case I'd ever taken.So I gave it everything.He'd killed a man who used his power to assault his little sister.The victim had been stabbed more than a dozen times.One fatal blow, and I might've argued self-defense.But this?Maybe because I'd spent more than twenty years as someone's little sister, I understood that kind of rage.So I prepared like my life depended on it.I even used public opinion to help his case.On verdict day, everyone expected Wyatt to get the death penalty.Instead, he got a few years.A miracle.And the best case I'd ever won.That win made my name.Later, good behavior and community supervision got him released early.I picked him

Chapter 5

Third-Person POVHarrold said, "Who said you get to see her?"Miguel laughed coldly and pointed at the room next door."Because I'm her kid's dad. That good enough?""Her kid's dad?" Harrold scoffed. "Dude, you're married. And since when does a dad ditch his wife and daughter for five years, then stroll back in like he owns the title? You're way too late."That landed hard."I honestly don't know what either of my sisters ever saw in a screwup like you."Miguel's face went cold. "I'm irresponsible? What about you? Did you do your job as her brother? When your dad got sick, you were supposed to walk her down the aisle. Where were you? If it weren't for you, she never would've disappeared that easily."He grabbed Harrold by the collar.Harrold punched him. "Watch your attitude. Miguel Sheffield, don't forget—I'm your wife's brother now.""My wife?"Pain flickered in Miguel's eyes."If you hadn't told me Nina hurt Yuna on purpose, I never would've given up on her completely...

Chapter 6

When I came back to myself, my eyes dropped.Miguel was gripping my hand, his voice rough. "Nina, you're finally awake. Does it still hurt?""I found out everything from back then." Miguel lowered his eyes. "Yuna jumped into the ocean on purpose. She accused you of plagiarism. She's why you had to leave school. She..."His voice faded under the weight of every misunderstanding.At last, he looked at me with red eyes. "It's my fault. I should've seen what kind of person she was sooner."I pulled my hand free, calm and distant. "So what are you saying? You don't love Yuna anymore, and now you want your ex-fiancée back?""No. That's not it. I never loved her." Miguel denied it fast. "I was tricked. After you disappeared on our wedding day, I stared at the empty aisle. Do you know how scared I was? That was when I realized the only bride I'd ever wanted was you.""Enough."I was done.I looked at him coldly. "On our wedding day, you were kissing Yuna in the garden."Miguel's face

Chapter 7

After that, they started digging into everyone around me—especially anyone with the last name Walker.But I'd handled too many cases and crossed paths with too many people. They had nowhere to start.Still, none of them gave up.It was like some messed-up competition. Each of them wanted to be the first to find out who he was.Miguel had the most resources. And he played dirty.He must've remembered what Gigi said that day.While I was gone, he slipped into her hospital room and got her to tell him that man's name.I was furious.But I knew I couldn't hide it forever.Wyatt and I had lived together for years. Sooner or later, they'd find something on security footage.I thought they'd confront me once they knew.Instead, all three went weirdly quiet.The case Shawn hired me for wasn't even that important.Still, he showed up to every meeting himself and always brought gifts.Not just for me. Amy and everyone at the firm got something too.Harrold wired me a massive amoun

Chapter 8

"Murder?""What does she mean?"All three men froze.Yuna's face went white.The tears on her cheeks suddenly looked fake. Her helpless little act cracked.She jerked her head up, her voice sharp."Murder? Nina, have you lost your mind?"I looked at her, calm. "I haven't. Years ago, maybe I would've bought the accident story."But I'm an attorney now. I've handled too many criminal cases. Read too many forensic reports. Some evidence doesn't just disappear because you call it an accident."Yuna opened her mouth.Nothing came out.I kept going. "When people fall down stairs, they react. Grab the rail. Curl up. Protect their head. But when I identified Carter's body, most of the injuries were on his back. Like someone shoved him."My tone went flat. "But sure. The police can figure that out."I turned to leave.But I'd hit a nerve.Yuna ran after me. "Stop! Nina, stop right there!"Way too intense.So intense all three men turned to stare.Yuna noticed.Her face locked

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