They Chose the Wrong Daughter

Chapter 2

The bodyguard's hand hadn't landed. I didn't even turn around.

I shifted slightly to the side, caught his wrist with my left hand, and twisted.

A sharp c***k sounded. His body buckled, and he dropped to one knee on the paving stones. His arm hung limp, and cold sweat sprang out across his forehead.

He'd had training. I could tell from how fast and hard he'd swung.

He just hadn't trained hard enough.

I'd learned to fight on battlefields while escorting shipments of smuggled weapons. I'd faced real guns and blades and learned how to kill.

The contempt froze on Asher's face.

He looked down at the bodyguard, who was in too much pain to speak, then back at me, as if he were seeing his biological sister for the first time.

I dusted off my hands and walked up to him.

He instinctively stepped back.

"What are you scared of?" I smiled. "I haven't even touched you yet."

Before he could react, I reached up, rested my fingertips lightly on his collar, and straightened his tie.

"Asher, what a welcome for our first meeting. I'll remember this gift. Next time, don't make me return the favor."

I turned to leave, then remembered something. "If I really wanted to hurt that fraud, holding her head underwater would be the least of her problems."

Asher swallowed. He didn't dare answer, but he couldn't understand it.

Cynthia had told him his sister had been found in the slums. How could she be so intimidating?

"I don't have the time or patience to talk to idiots."

With that, I turned and walked away.

I could feel his angry stare on my back, but I remained perfectly calm.

Before coming here, I'd already learned everything worth knowing about the Pierce family. Now that I was living it firsthand, none of these easy-to-handle problems posed any real threat.

Maybe my parents had given Cynthia a lecture. For a while afterward, she stopped making trouble and played the part of a devoted younger sister instead.

At meals, she offered me her favorite dessert, even though it was the flavor I hated most.

When my mother wanted to buy clothes for both of us, Cynthia said they should buy only for me.

When my father took us shooting, she told him to focus on teaching me.

I saw through the performance immediately, but my parents and that willfully blind brother of mine ate it up.

Every time Cynthia did something like that, my mother praised her for being thoughtful and told me to set a good example as the older sister, hoping Cynthia and I would love each other as sisters.

My father thought Cynthia was bending over backward to please me, which only made him feel sorrier for her.

Asher acted as if I'd bullied Cynthia and glared at me whenever he got the chance.

After 2 weeks, Cynthia invited me to a socialite gathering.

I couldn't be bothered to go, so I refused.

But my mother urged me to go. "Sweetheart, now that you're home, you need to get out more and meet people. You're part of our family. You can't shut yourself away forever. We want to hold a homecoming reception and introduce you to everyone who matters in the city."

My father spoke up too. "Besides, after these past 2 weeks, Cynthia knows she was wrong. She genuinely sees you as her sister. Nothing like the pool incident will happen again. Go with her. You'll be fine."

Yet not long after Cynthia and I entered the private room, her close friend, Lily Grant, screamed that her valuable bracelet was missing.

Since I'd been sitting beside her, I became the prime suspect.

Lily pointed at me and shouted, "Everyone went out to watch the fireworks except you. You must have stolen it! Hand it over!"

Everyone in the room looked at me with open mockery.

Not one person spoke up for me.

Then Cynthia stepped forward. "Bella, that bracelet is the only keepsake Lily has from her mother. I know it's beautiful and expensive, and you've only just come home. You've never seen anything that nice. But our family has plenty of jewelry. I can give you something better. Just take it out and give it back to Lily."

She made it sound like she was trying to help. In reality, she'd already branded me a thief and was humiliating me for never having seen nice things.

My voice was calm. "Her bracelet isn't worth stealing."

It was the truth.

I was the queen of the country's underworld. Hundreds of millions of dollars passed through my hands every day.

Lily's bracelet was worth only 1,000,000 dollars, less than the decorations on the toilet in my house.

I had no interest in it.

The room went silent for a moment, then erupted in laughter.

"What is she even saying?"

"A 1,000,000-dollar bracelet isn't good enough for her? Does she even know how much 1,000,000 dollars is?"

Lily laughed so hard she could barely stand straight, tears forming in her eyes. "You had to fight for a piece of bread in the slums, and now you're telling me 1,000,000 dollars isn't good enough for you?"

A socialite in a pink dress covered her mouth and said snidely, "Well, she's the Pierce heiress now. Of course she can outtalk the rest of us."

"At least pick a believable lie."

"Poverty must have driven her crazy. She stole it, and now she won't admit it."

The insults came one after another, as if they'd rehearsed them.

Standing among them, Cynthia looked suitably troubled. She reached out and tugged lightly at my sleeve.

"Bella, stop saying things like that." Her voice was just loud enough for everyone to hear. "You grew up in a place like that. You've never seen nice things. I understand if you lost your head for a moment. Just apologize and give it back. I'll talk to Lily. She won't hold it against you."

It sounded so considerate.

She seemed to be helping me, but every word reminded everyone that I was a thief who'd crawled out of the slums.

I slowly pulled my hand away, stepped back, and looked around the room.

"Are you done?"

Those few words somehow quieted the laughter.

I looked at Lily and said calmly, "You're certain I stole it."

"Of course you did!" Lily lifted her chin. "Everyone went out before the fireworks started. You were the only one left in the room. Who else could it be?"

"Fine." I nodded and tossed my purse onto the coffee table in front of me. "My things are right here. Search all you want."

Lily's eyes lit up, and she immediately started forward.

"But first..." I looked up, my voice turning colder. "If you don't find it, you get on your knees and apologize to me in front of everyone."

Lily stopped.

The people around her fell silent too.

I smiled and added slowly, "What's wrong? Scared? You were calling me a thief loud enough a moment ago."

"Search it, then!" Lily flushed and snatched up my purse. "You think I'm scared of you? If I don't find it, I'll get on my knees!"

She dumped everything onto the coffee table.

There was a phone, lipstick, a small mirror, and a packet of tissues. There was nothing else.

She went through everything but found no bracelet.

She pulled the lining out and pried open the inner compartment.

There was still no bracelet.

The color slowly drained from Lily's face.

"How is that possible...?" she muttered, searching everything again. "It can't be. I know..."

"You know what?"

I stepped forward.

She instinctively stepped back.

I looked down at her. My voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard every word. "The bracelet isn't here. Yet all of you were so certain when you called me a thief."

I paused. My gaze moved past her to Cynthia, who stood at the front of the crowd with a stiffening expression. "If we're going to search bags, we might as well search everyone's."

The smile froze on Cynthia's face. "No!"

I looked at her and smiled. "Cynthia, why are you so scared? You didn't steal it, did you?"

I snatched her bag and opened it.

A diamond bracelet lay inside, in full view of everyone.

Everyone froze.

Lily screamed, "That's impossible! Cynthia would never steal!"

I looked around the room calmly. "How is it impossible? Since you know I'm the biological daughter of the head of the Pierce family, you should also know I don't lack money or jewelry. If anyone here has a reason to steal, Cynthia has more of one than I do. She's adopted. For all she knows, she could be thrown out of the Pierce family someday and end up with nothing. She might as well grab whatever she can while she still has the chance."

Lily had no answer. Cynthia's face went white.

A second later, someone shoved me hard from behind.

Asher's hateful voice rang out. "Bella! You never learn, do you? How dare you accuse Cynthia of stealing and bully her again? You deserve to die!"

There was a champagne tower directly in front of me. If I fell into it, I could easily be disfigured.

My eyes went cold. I pivoted, caught the arm he'd used to shove me, and hurled him straight into the champagne tower.

Glass shattered with a deafening crash.

The tower collapsed beneath him. Asher landed amid the broken glass and curled in on himself, in too much pain even to cry out.