It wasn’t until I lay in that hospital bed in my previous
life, watching Ethan, then nearing sixty, blush as he
reminisced about meeting Felicity at a tutoring class: “I
Chapter 1
06:28
was insecure and poor then, but she never looked down
on me. I’d never seen such a wonderful girl. In that
moment, I decided I would spend my entire life trying
to catch up to her.”
The back I broke, desperately struggling on the cliff’s
edge, had become their stepping stone, a bridge to
their affair. He could trample my love, but he had no
right to use it to destroy my life! Seeing Ethan’s young
face again, all that remained in my heart was disgust.
“The car is here specifically for me. If I don’t get in,
who else will snatch my place?”
2
Ethan hadn’t anticipated my sharp retort. His eyes
widened, his throat bobbed. His face flushed as he
strained to conjure a few sarcastic remarks.
“Elara, are you really that greedy for money?! They
abandoned you for all these years and didn’t care!”
“Now, they just casually remember to ask, and you’re
already fawning over them!”
“So spineless! So shameless?!”
Chapter 1
06:28 C
In my past life, he habitually used such accusations,
such crushing words. If Ethan had questioned me like
that before, I would have been consumed by shame,
convinced I had indeed done something wrong. But I
had already endured a lifetime of hardship. On dreary,
rainy days, every aching, twisted joint screamed at me,
Why did you give up a golden opportunity within reach,
just to suffer pointlessly for a man who didn’t deserve
it?
I coldly shook off his hand. “Ethan, whether I’m fawning
or not, the Sterling family is my home.”
“And my family matters are none of your business,
outsider.”
With that, I didn’t spare him another glance and got
straight into the car. From Dominic’s disapproving gaze,
Ethan, unwilling to accept defeat, shouted from outside
the car:
“Elara! I’m giving you one last chance! Get out right
now!”
“Otherwise, we’re over!”
“And look at yourself! No class! No education! How can
Chapter 1
you be a Sterling heiress?!”
06:29
“When you get kicked out, don’t come crawling back to
me for another chance!”
I simply closed the window, blocking out his curses, and calmly instructed the driver without any hint of subservience. “Please take me home. To my parents.”
Despite knowing the Sterlings were wealthy, seeing the sprawling villa and luxury cars before me still left me stunned. Dominic sneered, dismissing my “uncouth”
reaction.
“This villa was a gift from the family to Felicity when
she turned eighteen.”
Felicity’s eighteenth birthday gift was an entire villa,
while on my eighteenth birthday, my hands were raw
from washing dishes in murky restaurant sinks, earning
money to support Dominic through his crucial final year
of high school.
“Felicity always said she was a little princess, so the
entire design mimics a European castle.”
Dominic’s lips curved into a smile as he recalled the
memory, but the moment he caught sight of me, his
Chapter 1
06:29 C
face returned to cold indifference. “Ms. Vance, since
you’ve chosen to come back, as the future heir of
Sterling Enterprises, I still have a few words for you.”
Felicity had shown no aptitude for academics or
business since childhood. Dominic, however, had entered
the company early. Though no one had ever officially
promised him the position, he clearly already considered
himself the “Crown Prince.”
“While you do share a bloodline with our family,
perhaps, as your boyfriend said, Mom and Dad only
remembered you on a whim.”
“But Felicity is different. She grew up in this house
since she was a baby. She has always been our family’s
little princess. Felicity was also swapped at birth. She
wouldn’t know anything about it. She is innocent. She
owes you nothing!”
Each arrogant word pierced my ears. I looked up at
him. “Thank you.”
Dominic’s eyebrow twitched, clearly confused. But I was
already striding forward. Thank you for telling me all
this. Now I know everything that should have been
mine! In my past life, after rejecting my birth family, I
Chapter 1
06:29 D
had actually wanted to secretly visit the Sterlings, not
for wealth or glory, but just to know where I came
from. But Dominic had stopped me at the gate.
“Ms. Vance, you decided to reject your family for a
man. Your parents are utterly disappointed in you.”
“Coming back to bother us now is simply pathetic and
undignified!”
“You’ve missed your chance. Please leave immediately!”
“After all, our entire family doesn’t wish for Felicity to
be disturbed. She’s about to have her birthday, and she
doesn’t know you exist. Ms. Vance, I ask you to be a
kind person and not hurt my sister.”
That day, Dominic’s bodyguards had shoved me aside
like a stray dog. Through the crack in the gate, I saw
Felicity, delicate as a flower, surrounded by my parents
in the garden. At the time, I didn’t know Dominic was
adopted, and I believed he spoke for the entire Sterling
family. But during my near–death experience, I learned
that in my previous life, my parents had indeed wanted
to meet me, but Dominic had ruthlessly blocked them.
He painted me as an unhinged, irresponsible girl,
claiming:
Chapter 1
06:29
“She said she wouldn’t contact the Sterling family
unless they all died off, so she could inherit everything.”
“Otherwise, she wouldn’t even deign to look at any of
us Sterlings.”
