Chapter 1The Heiress Who Walked Away

Before Grandma died, she entrusted me to my Aunt Vanessa.

Vanessa looked at me with disgust and refused.

Until she learned my parents left me a massive trust fund.

Only then did she agree to adopt me.

On my eighteenth birthday, the truth exploded.

Vanessa's beloved daughter, Chloe, was the fake heiress, switched at birth.

I was Vanessa's biological daughter.

Chloe, crushed by guilt for stealing my life, left without a word and died in a car crash.

Vanessa screamed at me: "I should have strangled you at birth! You are a curse! You killed Chloe!"

My biological brother, Ethan, sent me to the remote Blackwood Manor and ordered everyone to ignore me.

He said coldly: "Chloe died alone. This is your karma."

For three years in Blackwood Manor, I lost my mind.

In the end, driven by hallucinations, I stepped off the edge of the roof.

I opened my eyes.

I was back at Grandma's funeral. The lawyer was saying Aunt Vanessa was willing to adopt me.

My face was pale as a ghost.

I spoke.

"I won't go with her."

* * *

The whispers in the funeral hall vanished instantly.

Aunt Vanessa snapped her head toward me, disbelief written all over her face.

"What did you say?"

Grandma's lawyer remained calm. He smoothed things over with Vanessa and took me to a quiet corner.

He knelt down to my level and asked patiently:

"Hazel, can you tell me why?"

I looked down at my shoes.

In my past life, for the sake of the trust fund, Vanessa treated me decently.

Once feelings grew, they treated me like family and stopped caring about the money. We lived noisily but happily until I was eighteen.

But when the truth came out and Chloe died, everything changed.

Vanessa hated me to the bone.

Ethan, my own brother, looked at me with disgust. After Chloe's funeral, he pulled me out of school.

He sent me to Blackwood Manor. A place with only birds and silence.

The servants were like robots. They ignored me.

Whether I cried, screamed, or smashed things.

They had no reaction.

Three years. I went from a normal girl to a lunatic.

Thinking of the pain when I hit the ground, I shivered.

I stayed silent. The lawyer sighed.

He tried to explain in simple terms.

"You're a minor. You need a guardian. Vanessa is your closest relative, and she's wealthy."

"If you go with other relatives, they might fight over your inheritance later."

I went silent.

I looked up. The other relatives were peeking at me through the curtains.

When our eyes met, they flashed fake, predatory smiles.

A clueless child with a massive fortune. I was fresh meat.

I compromised.

Getting into the car, Vanessa was still holding a grudge.

"Sit in the front. You smell weird. Don't dirty my seats."

I looked at my clothes. Clean. Not a speck of dust.

I said nothing.

I climbed into the passenger seat and curled my legs tight.