Chapter 1
I was the real heiress, perfectly content doing nothing. My days were eat, sleep, repeat.
Everyone laughed at me for having no ambition, but what they didn't know was that I'd already arrived.
The older brother I'd claimed at Maplewood Home was a billionaire entrepreneur. The second was a high-ranking politician. The third was a feared crime lord. The fourth was a miracle-working physician.
I had absolutely no reason to try.
That was, until I was brought back to the wealthy Laine family.
Jenna, the fake heiress, cornered me at the piano and told me to play, or I wasn't fit to be called a daughter of the Laine family. She slapped a teaching rod against her own palm, her smile soft and practiced.
"You grew up running wild in the countryside. You don't know how things work here. A young lady of high society needs more than money. She needs talent. If you can't even manage a basic piece, you'll embarrass Mom and Dad every time they take you out."
I looked at her and didn't move my hands. "I'm tired. I want to sleep."
I turned to leave. Then I heard the whistle of something cutting through the air, and a line of blood opened across my arm.
"That attitude is unacceptable! Get back here and keep practicing!"
I stood up and looked toward the living room. Richard and Gloria hadn't even glanced up.
I looked at the wound seeping blood, and suddenly I didn't want to be here anymore. I sent a message to the family group chat.
Vera: [Guys, I want to come home.]
The message had barely gone through before Jenna lashed the rod across my hand. My phone clattered to the floor and shattered.
She kept going, her voice relentless. "Giving up over something this small? What kind of attitude is that? The Laine family may be wealthy, but we don't keep idle people around. If you can't show a little effort, what gives you the right to call yourself the real Laine heiress?"
She reached for my wrist. I shook her off.
I looked down at the phone on the floor. Messages were flooding in.
Ethan Hartley: [Did someone hurt you? She'll pay with her life. Send me your location. I'm flying in from Los Angeles right now.]
Adrian Cross: [Who touched you? I'll have her family investigated back to the Stone Age.]
Rex Mercer: [Send me your location. I promise she won't see tomorrow's sunrise.]
Callum Whitfield: [Perfect timing. I've been needing someone to test a new compound. This one's particularly agonizing.]
She thought she'd only broken my phone. What she didn't know was that whatever hope I'd had for this family had shattered along with it.
On the bright side, my brothers were already on their way.
I glanced at the swollen red mark on the back of my hand and turned to leave. "I'm done being the Laine heiress. I'm done practicing."
Another lash caught me across the back. Jenna blocked my path, fury written across her face. Then her expression shifted when she realized I'd caught the rod.
Blood dripped onto the floor.
I wrenched the rod out of her grip and met her eyes, my voice flat. "I said I'm done. Now get out of my way."
Jenna's face went rigid. She turned and called for Richard and Gloria.
When they arrived, her voice dropped low, thick with wounded grievance. "Dad, Mom, I've been trying to help her. She doesn't know anything, and it reflects on the whole family. But look at her. She even grabbed my rod."
As she spoke, she slid me a sidelong look of triumph. Say whatever you want. It won't matter.
Richard and Gloria turned their attention to me, brows furrowed, and missed the look entirely.
"Your sister is doing this for your own good," Richard said, "and this is how you repay her? She just passed the highest piano certification. Teaching you is beneath her. You can't even be bothered to learn, too busy thinking about sleep!"
I waited until they finished.
"You said nothing when she hit me," I said. "But the moment she complained, you both came running. If she genuinely wanted to teach me, would she really need to do it like this?"
Their expressions darkened. "Strict teachers produce outstanding students! Everything your sister does is for your benefit."
They called in the butler and told him to follow Jenna's instructions without question. "She's a wild thing from the countryside," Gloria said, turning to Jenna. "You'll need to discipline her properly. Whatever it takes. I want her shaped into a proper young lady."
They shot me one last glare and walked out.
At Jenna's word, the servants closed in around me.
I watched it all unfold, the irritation in my chest sharpening into something harder.
How much longer until my brothers get here?
These people really did love to think they were in charge.
