True Hero Novels & Stories

On a public holiday, I took Henry's mom, Johanna, to a new salon at Vanderbilt Court for a makeover. Halfway through, she suddenly cried out. I rushed over—burnt smell hit me hard. I yanked the machine off her head. Too late. Her hair was fried. Blisters spread across her scalp. I called the salon manager. She barely looked at us, lips curling. "What a hassle. If you can't afford luxury, don't pretend. I won't charge you. Now get out." I pointed at her. "You burned my mother-in-law. You're paying for her treatment and taking her to the hospital. Or I report this." Her brows shot up. Hands on her hips. "Oh, so now you're faking injuries for money? You even broke our premium equipment. You owe me a hundred grand today. And just so you know—this whole mall? My husband owns it. Pay up, or I'll make you." My heart stuttered. Vanderbilt Court... Johanna had just bought it and handed it to Henry. And he really had a side chick right under our noses.

After I get drugged by my stepmother and gets delivered to Don Edoardo Ariani's private cruise ship, I tell her smilingly, "Oh, there's no need to take me there. I'm already home, after all." My entire family thinks that I'm hallucinating, so they start berating me angrily. "Chiara, Gina has racked up a huge gambling debt. Only Edoardo is capable of saving us now. He loves pure and innocent women like you the most. As long as you can serve him well for one night, our family will be able to tide over this crisis. "Once Gina has paid off her debt, you'll have received benefits from Edoardo as his lover. By then, we'll be able to experience what it feels like to be a billionaire!" The drugs' effects on me have yet to fade, but this family—the people whom I trust the most in this lifetime—doesn't even hesitate to drag me into the most luxurious suite of the cruise ship. No one knows that Edoardo has kneeled before me and pleaded for me to help him establish his forces in Siceria seven years ago. Tonight, my family has personally delivered me to his suite. Tomorrow, I'm pretty sure that there will be a few extra bodies floating on the sea.

On my twenty-third birthday, my brother, Zackary Dixon, became the wealthiest man in the country. He threw a grand birthday party for the nanny's daughter, saying that she would be the Dixon family's favorite. At the same time, something went wrong with my artificial heart. I couldn't find a suitable one, only one month left in my life. Due to the torture of illness and great pressure, I had no choice but to call him. Hearing my cough, he coldly said, "At that time, you were afraid to get involved, and now you regret it?" My throat was sore. I stared at his expressionless face through the phone and laughed bitterly. "Zackary, three hundred thousand dollars is no big deal to you. Help me, OK?" Zackary sneered. I could hear his warm voice comforting Lillianna, "Voice phishing. It's fine." Of course, he was fine, because his sound beating heart was mine.

Three years earlier, my adoptive parents were arrested for human trafficking, and the police finally tracked down my biological family. However, tragedy struck before they could bring me home. They were involved in a car accident on their way to pick me up. My parents and younger sister were killed instantly. Only my older brother, Derrick, survived because he had been working overtime that night. Not long after the accident, he was diagnosed with ALS. When we finally met, hatred filled his eyes. “If it were not for you, our family would still be together.” From that moment, I carried the weight of three deaths on my shoulders. I also took responsibility for the debt left behind by the accident, along with the rest of Derrick’s life. I dropped out of school and worked four jobs at the same time. When I felt hungry, I survived on cheap bread. When I became sick, I endured it and kept going. Every dollar I earned went toward Derrick’s medication. For three years, that was my life. Until one day, while delivering food to a private club, I saw the person who was supposed to be bedridden at home, waiting for me to turn him over in bed. Derrick. He stood beside a billiards table with a cue in his hand. His movements were smooth, precise, and completely free. No trace of illness could be seen. He struck the cue ball cleanly. One of his friends laughed and said, “Derrick, you have been faking ALS for three years. Even if this was a test, do you not think it has gone on long enough?” Derrick lined up another shot without looking up. “Harriet was raised by traffickers for ten years. No one knows what she learned from them. How could we bring her back into the Lawson family without testing her first? “Besides, Sheila was terrified that we would abandon her once we found our real family. She cried about it more than once. We needed to give her time to adjust.” A flicker of discomfort crossed his friend’s face. “However, Harriet has worked herself to the bone to pay for your treatment.” Another ball dropped into a pocket. Derrick smiled, pleased with himself. “Sheila and my parents are flying back tomorrow. Once they arrive, I will arrange for Harriet to return to the Lawson family. After that, I will make it up to her.” I lowered my head as a burning sensation rose inside my nose. A mechanical voice suddenly echoed in my mind. [Congratulations, Host. The Obsession Commission has been completed. Would you like to claim your reward?] I wiped away the blood that trickled from my nose. “Yes,” I replied quietly. “Claim it.” In three days, I would finally be going home. The Lawson family had never been the home I wanted.

The Lombardos' long-lost son turned out to be some "scam-busting" influencer. He stormed into the company with my fiancée, cut me off mid–quarterly report, pointed straight at me, and went live. "Drop a comment if you're watching. Blow this up. I'm exposing a fake heir who stole someone else's life!" His crew dragged me offstage, ripped my suit, and shoved me into a neon vest stamped with "FAKE." "A fake's always fake. Never real. I'm ripping off your mask. If you're smart, get on your knees, hand over the CEO seat, and get lost!" I glanced at his parents—faces drained—and gave him one warning. "You don't get to call me a fraud. For their sake, apologize now, and I'll let it go." The room buzzed. Everyone thought I'd snapped, waiting for the "fake heir" to crash and burn. They had no clue. I wasn't the fake. I was the one the whole family answered to.

After Iris Miller ditches me at the altar for the seventh time just to be with her childhood sweetheart, Aaron Trent, the Millers personally show up on my doorstep so that they can apologize to me properly. "We'll add on another 11 pounds of gold, three buildings in the south-western district, and nine stores located in prime locations of the city center on top of the current list of wedding gifts in order to make it up to you." Before Daniel Miller is done speaking, Iris, who's listening to the conversation from her phone, lets out a light scoff. "As if Jasper deserves all these gifts. Believe me when I say I'll have him eating out of the palm of my hand with just a pebble I randomly pick up on the street. Grandpa, I might as well invest these wedding gifts in Aaron's art gallery." Daniel quickly ends the call before looking at me in embarrassment. Soft mocking laughter rings out around me. Everyone is waiting for me to quietly endure all the humiliation, just like before. But I've already received such compensation six times in the past. I'm no longer interested in them. Heck, I'm no longer interested in Iris as well. After thinking for a moment, I glance at the crowd with a raised brow, where I find myself staring at Taylor Miller, Iris' most hated half-sister due to her illegitimate lineage. "Mr. Miller Senior, you mentioned that whoever I marry will become the future heiress of the Miller family. This promise still stands, right?" It's fine if Iris refuses to marry me. Plenty of women are dying to marry me anyway.

On the very first day I'm welcomed back into the Morcant family, my grandfather announces to the public that I am the future successor of Morcant Group. My father handpicks three potential marriage candidates for me, but all of them only have eyes for the fake heiress, Eliana Morcant. The three of them go out of their way to isolate and embarrass me in public—except for Keanu Strathmore, who always comes to my defense. Somewhere along the way, I fall for him and decide to choose him. Before our engagement, Eliana threatens to jump off a building. I rush to the scene, only to find Keanu kneeling before her, vowing, "You're the only one I love. Once I help you take back your family's inheritance from her, I'll kick her to the curb!" Her two childhood friends chime in, "Keanu has made so many sacrifices! He put himself on the line time and time again just to make her fall for him." It dawns on me that all the humiliation I endured is part of Keanu's plan. When my grandfather asks me one last time, "Marriage is no trivial matter. Are you sure he's the one you want?" "I don't want Keanu anymore," I answer with a smile.

On her eighteenth birthday, the long-lost heiress, Cassie Bailey, was finally tracked down by her mother, Ann Moore, CEO of the Bailey Group. However, Cassie refused to come back with her. Instead, she chose to remain adopted by a man living on government assistance. “So what if you’re rich? The bonds ordinary people share can’t be measured with money. Since you weren’t there for me for the past eighteen years, then I won’t acknowledge you for the next eighteen years either!” [Oh my God, she’s such a queen. That fearless, untouched-by-materialism energy is exactly why we love her.] [But her mother is literally the richest woman in Orkta. Is turning that down really a good idea?] The richest woman in Orkta? I shook my head and rubbed my eyes several times before finally accepting the fact that I could somehow see those floating comments. Well, if Cassie did not want a life of unimaginable wealth, I was more than happy to take her place. As everyone watched in stunned silence, I shoved my way through the crowd and grabbed Ann’s hand. “Mom, are you here to take me home?”

When my boyfriend told me he had failed the college entrance exams, he begged me to apply to a vocational college with him. I was about to say yes when a barrage of floating comments suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. [The male lead deserves an Oscar. Since when is 680 considered a bad score? He was literally touring Kingston University with the real heiress just moments ago.] [Don't fall for it! You're the top scorer in the entire state! He only wants to drag you down so the real heiress can shine.] [There's no point warning her. She's completely blinded by love. A provincial champion wasting her future at a vocational college... she'll end up abandoned by her family, framed into debt by the real heiress, forced to drop out, and stuck running a roadside stall for the rest of her life.] My hand froze midair. In an instant, all the blood drained from my body.

On the first day of work, the company president said that I looked like his long-lost daughter and gave me a salary of 100 thousand dollars, on the condition that I ate together with his wife every weekend. Once my boyfriend heard this, he yelled at me in front of my colleagues, “How could you believe such a cheap lie?! It’s just an excuse for him to pay you for dirty favors! If your mother learned that you got yourself a sugar daddy after graduation, she’d jump off a building!” So, I rejected the president’s offer. Someone told the department manager that my boyfriend and I insulted the president, and he fired us. My boyfriend was really shocked by this. He stayed at my place and loafed around instead of working. When he no longer had any money left, he asked my mother for money. After that, he asked me to sell my organs. After I said no, he knocked me out with chloroform and sent me to an unlicensed clinic. The doctor there did not use the standard procedures, so I died from the pain. When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the day I met the president. This time, I shouted, “Sir, you look just like my father, even though we are not related at all!”