Chapter 1A Decade of Standing In: The True Heiress Becomes His Unreplaceable

Ten years after I took her place, the prodigal daughter who had been off enjoying the world finally came home.

She was still as carefree and whimsical as she’d been a decade ago. She handed Adrian Thorne, now a man of thirty-two, a wishing bottle filled with sand as a gift.

“Every grain of sand in here,” she said, her voice breathy, “represents a day I missed you.”

Adrian’s posture went rigid.

Then, Livia turned to me, her chin held high with confidence. “I’m back. The stand-in can leave now.”

At twenty-two, Adrian Thorne had nearly died of a broken heart when Livia left.

I couldn’t help but wonder.

How would the cold, ruthless titan of the business world he’d become react now?

* * *

Adrian casually placed the wishing bottle on the passenger seat.

I took the hint and slipped into the back.

He paused, looking back at me. “What’s wrong?”

I knew what he meant. It was a silent understanding forged over ten years of shared hardship.

“We agreed when we got married,” I said, my voice even. “I would never try to take Livia’s place.”

Ten years ago, Livia had run away from home without a word. My biological parents, the Ashwoods, had rushed to bring me back from the countryside, hastily announcing my identity to the world just in time to salvage the arranged marriage with the Thorne family.

On our wedding night, Adrian drank himself into a stupor, calling out Livia’s name all night long.

For ten years.

While Livia was dancing in Hawaii, I was bowing and scraping to Adrian’s stepmother on his behalf.

While Livia was flashing a peace sign at penguins in Antarctica, I was drinking myself into a bleeding ulcer to land our new company’s first major contract.

While Livia was chasing the northern lights and watching African sunsets, experiencing jungles and savannas… I was losing our first child, and then our second, in the crossfire of Adrian’s family power struggles. I’d even had a kidnapper’s knife pressed against my throat.

She had her decade of freedom, and now she could just waltz back in and demand I leave?

Did she always expect to swoop in and claim the spoils without lifting a finger?

On what grounds?

Hearing my words, Adrian’s lips parted as if to say something. “Amy, actually, we…”

He never finished. Livia’s call came through.

His phone was connected to the car’s Bluetooth, and he hit accept.

“Adrian,” Livia’s voice bubbled through the speakers, “Mom and Dad told me you two still don’t have any children.”

“Is it because… you were waiting for me?”

Her voice was thick with a poorly concealed shyness and glee.

“Livia, what are you talking about!” Mrs. Ashwood’s frantic voice cut in from the other end.

The topic of children was a minefield for me.

At twenty-five, I was pregnant with our first child. Adrian’s stepmother tricked me into drinking an herbal tea that caused a miscarriage.

At twenty-eight, I was pregnant again. I was so careful, hiding it until I was six months along, but then I was inexplicably, slowly poisoned. The baby didn’t survive.

The day of the induction, my cries were primal, tearing from my soul. Adrian held me tightly, his own tears streaming down his face as he swore he would never let me suffer again.

And he had kept his word.

In three years, he drove out his stepmother and half-brother, seizing total control of the Thorne Group.

At thirty-two, as one of the country’s top CEOs, Adrian gave his first-ever business interview. During the broadcast, he offered a few polite, rehearsed words of thanks to me for my support over the years.

A week after that program aired, Livia returned.

Now, Adrian caught my expression in the rearview mirror and immediately ended the call.

“Amy, Livia doesn’t know what happened these past ten years. Don’t mind her.”

“She’s always been sheltered. She just speaks her mind, sometimes without thinking…”

“Enough,” I cut him off, my patience gone. “How is it that the ever-composed Mr. Thorne becomes so chatty when it comes to Livia?”

“You’re even making excuses for her now?”

Adrian’s brow furrowed. He suddenly wrenched the steering wheel, pulling the car to a screeching halt on the side of the road.

“Amy, are you still holding that against me?”