The Inadequate Heir

On my very first day studying abroad, my mom brought her real son back home. Within two years, he had won over every single person in the family. By the time I came back, she tossed a signed disownment agreement in my face. "To be honest, I've always thought you were pretty selfish. All you care about is money. You refuse to hand over control of the company, and you never show any real concern for us as parents. Thank God my real son isn't that cold-blooded. So do the right thing—hand over your shares and walk away from this family on your own." She stood there waiting for me to break down, to beg her to let me stay. But I just let out a quiet sigh and pulled out a DNA test linking me to my grandfather—her father. "Mom, I'm not your biological son—that much is true. But I am the biological grandson of the man who actually runs the Harrison family. The one who should be leaving the Harrison family isn't me—it's you."

I'm the true heir to an affluent family who got switched at birth. But when I'm reunited with my family, they suddenly announce their bankruptcy. The sprawling mansion is repossessed, leaving me, my wife, and my parents to sleep on the streets. My parents are so furious that they end up getting admitted to the hospital—one gets a stroke, and the other passes away. My wife gets her legs broken by one of the creditors, and my son is so frightened that he becomes mentally impaired. To bear the astronomical medical bill, I work countless part-time jobs and put myself through the wringer. Everything changes when, one day, I accept a job as a temporary driver. I go to a lavish hotel's banquet hall. A celebration for a gold wedding is being held there, and I see my late mother and paralyzed father sharing a kiss onstage. My crippled wife is dancing offstage as she enjoys the festivities. Meanwhile, my son speaks fluently in a foreign language as he speaks with a foreign child.

The Fullerton family, which has dominated the business world for a century, abides by the rule that the strong prevail and the weak are eliminated. Thus, as the adopted son, I've spent 26 years clawing my way to the top. But during the succession ceremony, Dad takes Simon Fullerton, his biological son, by the hand. He declares, "Simon will become the rightful heir of the Fullerton family!" In that instant, every high-society guest in the banquet hall turns to look at me. After all, it is no secret that I gave my all to prove I could inherit the family business. I adhere to a brutal, cutthroat education regime from the very beginning. Simon gets suspended for getting into fights and acting out, while I skip grades and breeze straight through a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate at a top university. Having been given 50,000 dollars to start a business, Simon gambles his way into one million dollars of debt, while I exceed my business targets. He ends up going bankrupt and liquidating his company, while I expand mine into overseas markets, driving its market value well past ten million dollars. I believe I have earned the title of being the strongest between the two and become the one to inherit the family business. I even look at Simon—a hopeless piece of work—and shake my head. Dad, however, stands firm in picking Simon over me. I bite my tongue lightly as I look at Simon's taunting grin, the metallic taste of blood snapping me right out of it. I suddenly realize that I have spent 26 years proving myself for nothing. Dad will still choose Simon to inherit the family business, no matter how impressive my achievement is. I sneer inwardly, thinking that since they want to play dirty, they'd better not blame me for not showing them any mercy.

It all seemed like the perfect marriage until she was stripped of her title of an heiress, a wife and a mother. The betrayal from the people she loved the most stinged but the loss of her child stinging even harder. Thrown in jail for a crime she knew nothing about, the discarded heiress longed for the day she would pay back for the betrayal. Her prayers seemed to be answered as an unexpected visitor paid her a visit in jail, with an offer no scorn and mourning mother would refuse. But for what price?

By the time I woke inside the body of the true heir in a novel, the one everyone despised and who had never done a single decent thing, the story was already nearing its end. My biological parents gave up on me after I framed the boy they had raised in my place one time too many. My fiancee was hopelessly obsessed with him. She would have paid for a ten-million-dollar wedding out of her own pocket just to make him smile. My biological sister was his fiercest protector. If I said one thing that upset him, she was ready to make me pay. As the person everyone despised, my ending was obvious. Everyone voted to send me away to a private behavioral-health residence. Curled against him, my fiancee mocked me. "Maybe you'll finally learn how to behave." My parents withdrew everything except a monthly ten-thousand-dollar allowance. "That's the minimum support we'll give you." "Beyond that, you're on your own." I was so delighted that I dropped to one knee and swept them a deep, theatrical bow. "You're too kind, Your Majesty." The next second, every face in the room changed.

For five years, Elara Vance was the invisible force behind her husband Julian’s meteoric rise. She managed his home, built his business plans, and raised the young son he brought into their lives with unconditional love. She thought she was a wife and a mother. She was wrong. The marriage was a calculated lie. The child was not an orphan, but Julian’s biological son with his "real" wife, Sienna, who had been living a luxury life abroad on Elara's hard-earned profits. Elara was never more than a convenient, unpaid caretaker used to build an empire she would never own. But when the truth breaks, so does Elara’s patience. She walks away with the one thing Julian underestimated: her brilliance. Overnight, the world shifts when Elara is revealed as the long-lost heiress to the Thorne family, inheriting a fortune that dwarfs Julian’s small kingdom. Now, she is the most hunted woman in high society, surrounded by enemies who want her new power and a vengeful ex-husband who thinks he can manipulate her back into submission. Desperate for a shield, Elara accepts a cold proposal from Caspian Thorne, the most powerful and feared man on the continent. "Marry me," he commands. "I will protect your name, and in return, you will stabilize mine." It is a contract written in ice, but as Elara begins to dismantle Julian’s life piece by piece, she realizes that Caspian is more than just a protector. In a world of lies and betrayal, Elara must decide if her heart can survive a second marriage, or if the only way to win is to become more ruthless than the men who tried to break her. The vengeance is hers, and the price is absolute.