Chapter 2Real Heiress, Fake Noble Family

As I mulled this over, the family finally managed to coax a smile out of Lily, and their attention swung back to me.

My supposed mother, Victoria, looked me up and down with a critical eye. “You’re Clara, the one the old lady insisted we bring here?”

I came back to myself and nodded.

My simple response seemed to irritate her. “You don’t even greet us when you walk in the door. Just as I thought. Raised in the country. No manners.”

Before I could open my mouth to speak, she waved a dismissive hand and barked an order at a maid. “Mrs. Gable, take her to one of the empty rooms next to the kitchen.”

Next to the kitchen. Where the staff slept.

Victoria then adopted the regal air of a true matriarch. “I don’t care what your life was like before,” she said coolly. “But now that you’re in the Sterling house, you will shed those crude habits of yours.”

Richard’s voice was a low rumble. “We’re not like those other old-money families. We value affection over bloodlines. Lily is, and always will be, our only treasured daughter.”

“If you dare to bring your low-class, manipulative games into this house,” he warned, “don’t blame me for ignoring my parents’ wishes and sending you right back to where you came from.”

I said nothing, my gaze shifting between his face and Victoria’s, the puzzle deepening. The bone structure of their faces and mine didn’t just fail to overlap; there wasn’t a single point of correspondence.

How could I possibly be their child?

My silent scrutiny seemed to unnerve them. Richard’s voice rose. “Did you hear me?!”

Lily frowned, her voice laced with faux concern. “Mother, I’ve heard that people from poor neighborhoods often get sick as children and can’t afford treatment. Sometimes, a high fever can… damage their minds.”

Her eyes met mine, a flash of triumph and insult in them. “Do you think Clara might have… a problem?” She tapped her temple meaningfully.

At her words, Victoria’s expression soured from disapproval to outright disgust. She flapped her hand as if shooing away a fly. “Mrs. Gable, are you deaf? Get her out of my sight!”

Her three sons and Lily watched me with unconcealed glee, their expressions of contempt mirroring their mother’s perfectly. It wasn’t just our looks that were different; our very natures were worlds apart.

Confident now that I was not their biological child, I felt a sense of relief and followed Mrs. Gable to the servants’ quarters.

Victoria’s voice, dripping with venom, floated after me. “That Clara is the spitting image of the old lady. I can’t stand to look at her.” Then, her tone sweetened as she turned to Lily. “Not like my sweet, darling Lily. You’re such a comfort to me.”

The voices faded, but her words didn't stir any emotion in me. A family where no one bore a resemblance to each other was a statistical anomaly. Besides inbreeding or some wild genetic mutation, I couldn’t fathom any other reason for a son to look nothing like his father.

To solve this mystery, I knew I had to stay. I needed to find out what secrets this family was hiding.