The missed season.
Chapter 1
My engagement party.
That’s when they snatched me.
The family?
They covered it up.
Had my sister, Brittany, take my place.
They figured I staged the whole thing.
After the party?
Everyone hated my guts.
Dad, face red with rage.
“Even if she comes back, she’s not my
daughter. She’s better off dead.”
Mom, all disappointment.
“We never should have brought her back from
Grandma’s. So embarrassing.”
Even Jake, my fiancé.
“She went too far this time. I won’t marry her.
L
Not anymore.”
The kidnappers?
They tortured me for a month.
Then, guess who saved me?
Liam.
My freaking nemesis.
We’ve been at each other’s throats for years.
He was the only one who lifted a finger.
His price?
I had to crawl back to the city.
Ŏne knee at a time.
To survive, I did it.
I arrived home.
Beaten, bruised, looking like a bum.
And?
The family was throwing Brittany a huge
birthday bash.
She was the queen.
I was the beggar at the gate.
Just like she always said.
“You’ll never win, trash.”
I found a dark corner.
Closed my eyes.
I died.
Right there on the doorstep.
To the sound of elegant piano music.
As they placed a diamond tiara on Brittany’s
head.
1
“Are you done with this crap?”
The yelling snapped me awake.
My head was throbbing.
Brittany was sobbing in Mom’s arms.
Said I stole her boyfriend.
Dad started playing judge.
Found out Brittany was the guilty one.
He lost it.
Felt his dad–card challenged.
Shoved me down the stairs.
I touched the back of my head.
Pain.
Proof I was alive.
Proof I got a second shot.
Dad’s voice, booming.
“She’s your sister! Can’t you think about
someone other than yourself for once?”
I pulled out my phone.
Called my boyfriend.
Jake picked up fast.
“Brittany likes you. Be with her. We’re done.
Don’t call me again.”
Click.
Blocked.
The three of them stared.
I looked at Dad.
“Happy now?”
Silence.
Mom frowned.
く
“You stole your sister’s boyfriend, and you’re
acting like this? Just like that old hag taught
you. It’s always someone else’s fault.”
“Old hag” was Grandma.
I grew up with her.
Until middle school, I didn’t even know my
parents.
They said they were too poor to raise two
kids.
They took Brittany, left me with Grandma.
Always the “poor us” story.
Until people in the village saw their mansion,
their fancy cars.
Turns out they were rich.
Just didn’t want me.
Later, I learned my birth chart clashed with
Dad’s.
Unfit to be family.
Before Grandma died, she found them.
Forced them to take me in.
L
Threatened to die on their doorstep.
They cared about their image.
So they agreed.
I knew they didn’t want me.
To stay, I became a people–pleaser.
Whatever they wanted, I did.
All it got me was cold shoulders.
Until they found out my boyfriend, Jake, was
the heir to Chen Industries.
