I Predicted Every Trap the Fake Heiress Set for Me

Chapter 4

After the false accusation, Mom and Dad started treating me almost too carefully.

I found a list of my likes and dislikes saved in Mom's notes.

Even Adrian began making an effort. Whenever he came home, he brought me some small gifts, and little by little, dishes I actually liked started appearing at the dinner table.

I reached for my notebook less often.

And slowly, against my better judgment, I began to let them in.

I told my parents about the years I'd spent in the Northern Territory. When Mom learned that Mia's biological mother had abandoned me in the woods and that Granny Grace Miller had found me while gathering herbs, she wrapped her arms around me and cried until my shoulder was soaked through.

She promised me no one would ever hurt me again.

For a while, I almost believed her.

Not long after, my parents announced a grand homecoming gala to celebrate the return of their true bloodline.

Leaders and elders from every major pack were invited, along with prominent members of the Moonlight Council.

It was meant to be my formal introduction to the highest ranks of werewolf society.

The guest Dad cared about most was Kane North, the public face of the Northern Consortium. He personally made more than a dozen calls before Kane finally agreed to attend.

When I heard the name, I simply lowered my eyes to the notebook in my hands and said nothing.

On the night of the full-moon gala, I stood beneath the chandeliers in the center of the Blackwood Castle ballroom, my Alpha father holding one of my hands and my Luna mother the other.

The emcee lifted his microphone, ready to announce before the assembled packs and media that I was the Blackwood Pack's only female heiress of pure Alpha blood, destined to inherit both its territory and the Blackwood Group.

Then the enormous screen behind us flickered.

The sentimental montage of my infancy vanished.

Mia appeared in its place.

She looked pale and fragile, her eyes already wet with tears.

"Mom, Dad, I know Evelyn was lost for more than 10 years. Of course you should treat her well. It doesn't matter if there's no room left for me..."

Through trembling breaths and carefully timed tears, she began ticking off every supposed injustice she'd endured since my return and every cruel thing I had supposedly done to her.

Within minutes, she had turned herself into the unwanted daughter who had stepped aside without complaint. I, of course, was the vicious outsider who had come home determined to destroy her.

Then she gave the camera a broken smile.

"Mom, Dad, I understand now. Evelyn is home, so I should be the one to leave. I stole 15 years of her life. Please don't blame her for wanting me gone. I don't deserve to stay in this family anymore..."

Her voice cracked.

"I only hope that in my next life, I can really be your daughter."

Then she raised a silver blade and dragged it across her wrist.

The silver cut deep enough to slow her healing, and blood immediately soaked through her sleeve.

"Mia!"

Mom screamed.

Her hand tore free from mine as she rushed off the stage toward the backstage rooms without even looking back.

Dad dropped my other hand just as quickly.

And Adrian exploded.

He vaulted onto the stage, grabbed the collar of my gown in front of every guest and camera in the room, and roared through bloodshot eyes, "Evelyn Blackwood! You've driven Mia to this. Are you happy now?"

The ballroom erupted.

"The biological daughter is that vicious?"

"She only just came back, and she's already driven the girl they raised for 15 years to suicide?"

"You can't erase 15 years of love overnight. She's unbelievably selfish."

I stood there in the middle of it all and calmly reached into my purse for my notebook.

I'd prepared for this too.

Mia threatening suicide to force me out had always been on the list.

Before I could even open it, Adrian snatched the notebook from my hands and ripped it apart.

The pages scattered across the stage.

His eyes burned red as he glared at me.

"At a time like this, you're still writing in that stupid notebook? Evelyn, do you even have a heart? Haven't we done enough for you? Why are you so jealous of Mia that you'd push her this far?"

All around us, guests stared.

Some looked disgusted.

Others looked entertained.

I took a slow breath.

"I never pushed her to do anything. She's the one who can't stand the fact that I exist."

"Enough. Both of you." Dad's voice cut through the room.

Then he looked at me.

Just one glance.

But I understood it perfectly.

For the first time, I saw regret in his eyes. I knew that he wished he hadn't taken me home.

After all, my existence now was embarrassing him in front of everyone who mattered.

Whispers closed in around me from every direction.

By then, Mia had been brought into the ballroom as well. Someone helped her stand at the foot of the stage while she leaned weakly against Mom.

Over Mom's shoulder, Mia looked straight at me with a smug smile.

Then she silently mouthed two words. "Get out."

I stared back at her.

Then, one finger at a time, I pried Adrian's hand from my collar.

I smoothed the wrinkles from my silver-gray gown, took the microphone from the emcee, and turned to face the ballroom.

My voice wasn't loud.

It didn't need to be.

"I always knew you were biased."

The room gradually quieted.

"I just never realized you were this easy to fool."

Every face turned toward me.

Mia froze. This wasn't how she'd imagined it.

She had expected tears. Denials. Desperate pleading.

She had expected me to beg them to believe me.

Instead, I raised one hand toward the massive screen behind me.

"Since everyone came here for a spectacle, I might as well give you a better one."

I pressed the remote.

The screen changed instantly.

Mia appeared in her bedroom at the castle, lounging across her bed with her legs crossed as she painted her nails and spoke into her phone.

"Don't worry, Mom. Once I fake a suicide attempt with a silver blade, those idiots will throw that outsider out for me. The Blackwood Pack will still be mine. I'll take her share of the territory too, then send you enough money to live on."

A stunned murmur rolled through the ballroom.

Mia went white.

"It's fake!" she shrieked. "She edited it!"

I didn't even look at her.

The video kept playing.

Mia glanced around to make sure no one was watching before deliberately throwing herself down the castle stairs.

Then came the footage of her pulling on gloves and slipping Lillian's ancestral wolf-fang pendant into my bag.

One by one, every lie she'd hidden behind tears and helpless smiles was stripped away in front of the entire room.

The murmurs below the stage grew louder.

Several pack ladies who had condemned me only moments earlier quietly turned their faces away.

Mom and Dad stood frozen, their eyes moving from Mia to the screen and back again.

Adrian finally let go of me.

His lips parted. No words came out. Not even an apology.

Mia's knees buckled.

"It's not true!" she cried. "Mom, Dad, believe me! She set me up!"

I finally looked at her.

Then I leaned toward the microphone.

"And all of that?" My voice carried through the ballroom. "That's the least interesting part."

The room fell silent again.

I let my gaze sweep across the elders, the council members, and the rows of reporters.

"Since we have so many witnesses here tonight, there's one more thing everyone might want to see.

"Aren't you curious? How did two werewolf babies just happen to get switched at the pack hospital 15 years ago?"

I lifted the remote, preparing to play.

The room seemed to stop breathing.

Every eye turned toward the screen.

Mia's face drained of color.

"No!" She lunged for the stage, trying to snatch the remote from my hand.

I smiled. And I pressed Play before she could reach me.

The giant screen lit up.