Chapter 1

My Ex-Fiancé Wants to Break Up:

"I'm marrying Scarlett Sterling, the real heiress of the Sterling family! You? You're just our charity case, fit only to be my mistress!"

The so-called 'true heiress,' Scarlett Sterling, scoffed.

"Oh, I've seen countless cheap gold-diggers like her, thinking a pretty face is all it takes to reel in the master of the house..."

I just smiled.

He had no idea. I was the true Sterling heiress.

And what's more, I was marrying his uncle, Foster Reed, the CEO of Reed Industries.

When I brought up our engagement to Blake, he absolutely lost it, tearing the marriage contract to shreds like a maniac.

I frowned. "That marriage contract isn't for you..."

Blake Reed cut me off, as if I'd said something hilarious.

"Autumn Reed, know your place! 'Adopted daughter' is just a pretty word for the pet I kept around for fun!"

"I was young and naive back then when I talked about proposing to you. But we're not kids anymore. My status won't allow me to marry a woman as low-class as you!"

He reached out and tilted my chin up.

"Scarlett, the Sterling family's true heiress, will be here any minute. I don't want to hear any intimate rumors about us, understand?"

The moment he finished speaking, a spoiled voice echoed from the doorway.

"Blake, who is she?"

The aggressive Blake instantly changed his expression.

"Just a disobedient servant from my house. Scarlett, why didn't you wait for me to pick you up?"

Scarlett tossed her bag into his arms and sneered, "Disobedient servants need to be disciplined! I've seen countless cheap whores like her, relying on a bit of pretty face to seduce their master..."

She circled me once, then suddenly yanked hard on the necklace my mother had personally given me.

"This necklace is only for a Sterling daughter! Where did you steal it from? Tell me!"

Her pull hurt, so I yanked her hand away.

"My parents gave it to me, Scarlett, I'm your— Ah!"

Before I could even say 'sister,' someone brutally kicked the back of my knee, sending me crashing to the floor with a cry of pain.

My knee slammed hard against the floor, and a searing pain shot through an old injury.

The Reed family's punishments were brutal. When Blake was a kid and acted up, I always took the fall for him. Over time, that spot on my knee had become a chronic injury.

Blake pulled his foot back and ground it into the floor, as if wiping off something dirty. "Autumn Reed, I wondered where you'd vanished to this morning! Turns out you were busy playing thief!"

"Who do you think you are? The Sterling family's only daughter is right here!"

Scarlett's smile stiffened, then she haughtily tilted her head.

"Blake, your servant here must be a thief. Her clothes are designer, too! Way beyond the means of someone from her background!"

Blake seemed to remember something, and his face instantly turned ashen.

"Tell me! Which man did you go meet? You haven't changed your old habits at all, have you?!"

"You slut! It's not like we don't give you money! Do you have to sell yourself out there?"

I trembled with rage, the nightmare of my teenage years resurfacing.

When I was a teenager, I was constantly harassed by boys because I was pretty.

Rumors even spread at the elite private school that I'd sleep with anyone for money.

Blake beat up the worst offenders back then, and they stayed quiet for a bit, but then the rumors started again. Even Blake hesitated that time, until Foster, the company's CEO, stepped in and called the police on the rumormongers.

"Blake! How could you say something like that?! Don't you know I'm your—" Blake, with lightning speed, grabbed a napkin from the table and shoved it into my mouth.

The Reed family's security guards rushed in and immediately pinned me to the floor.

"Blake, she said she was your what? You don't have a mistress behind my back, do you?" Scarlett frowned, her expression hostile.

"Of course not! How could I possibly fall for such a low-class woman? She's just trying to climb up the ladder. Scarlett, please don't be mad, I'll throw her out right now..."

Blake tried to appease her with a forced smile, about to order the guards, when Mrs. Reed suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs.

"What's all this noise? What's going on?"

"Where's Autumn?"