Chapter 1

The day my birth parents brought me home, they gave me a grand tour of their luxury mansion.

They told me this would be my home from now on.

I looked at the house I’d only recently asked someone to rent out and thought:

Well... technically, they weren’t wrong.

Having a middle-aged man call you “sweetheart” outside your college gates is not a pleasant experience.

I stiffly turned my head. A couple stood beside a luxury car, their eyes brimming with tears.

I recognized the girl beside them.

Chloe Parker, a freshman who’d recently joined the student council.

“Sweetheart, Daddy and Mommy finally found you.”

The man approached me in a ridiculous baby voice.

“Who are you?”

I backed away, goose bumps rising all over my arms.

Had Ethan hired a couple to prank me?

Chloe walked over in a pure white dress.

She handed me a sheet of paper.

“Emma, we’re your family.”

I looked down at the DNA test report.

Probability of parentage: 99.99%.

So Dad had been telling the truth!

He really had found me in a dumpster!

“If your sister hadn’t spotted you, you’d still be out there all alone.”

“Come home with us, sweetheart.”

The beautiful woman stepped forward and caught my sleeve.

The crowd around us was growing.

“I’ll go with you. Just don’t call me sweetheart.”

It was mortifying!

“Of course, honey. Let’s go home.”

Me: “...”

The scenery outside the window grew increasingly familiar.

By the time the car turned into Four Seasons Estates, I had a terrible feeling.

Dad’s company had built this development. The farther in you went, the more expensive the houses became.

The car stopped outside a mansion a little past the middle.

I stared at the number on the gate—519—and fell silent again.

Wasn’t this the house I’d asked Martin to rent out?

Since when was it theirs?

“Emma, you’ve never been somewhere like this before, have you? Don’t be nervous.”

Chloe came up beside me, her voice soft and sweet.

She pointed at a large hole in the garden.

“I had a landscape designer make that especially for me. Isn’t it unique?”

Sure. The hole Buddy had dug while running wild was definitely unique.

“And Mommy picked out that ornamental rock herself. I think it cost a few million.”

Wasn’t that a random rock Ethan had hauled down from a mountain?

The beautiful woman approached from behind, purse in hand.

“Honey, don’t be shy. Make yourself at home.”

Well... it was my home.

Once the family went inside, I called Martin.

“Martin, did you sell my house at Four Seasons Estates?”

“No, miss. Someone just signed a one-year lease.”

Great. An entire family of delusional people.

“Don’t worry, Emma. You won’t have to suffer anymore.”

Chloe gazed at me with tears shimmering in her eyes.

I followed her gaze down to my custom-made shoes.

Buddy had chewed them beyond recognition a few days earlier.

But I liked the chaotic artistic effect, so I’d specifically chosen to wear them today.

“Honey, Mommy and Daddy brought you home because we have wonderful news.”