The Heiress's Scars: A Vengeful Return

r Smit

beside me, her expression a mask of concerned pity. It was a flawless performance, meant

ing, as if contaminated by my touch. "You must be so traumatized. But

th her ear. The same neck I saw in the charity event picture, the one broadcasting their sha

my lips. "Taken care of

' ve had a rough time. But there are things you need to understand. Things about wh

"My family? What ar

r why your doting parents, who would move heaven and earth for you, suddenly van

nspiratorial whisper. "It turns out, Heather,

cold. "What a

a cuckoo in the nest. A switched baby. Your parents' real daughter... well, she died years ago. A tragic acc

dissolved. My identity

couldn't go through with the wedding, knowing you weren't truly a part of the fam

parents, who had always been so loving, so present. They had fled. They

ical daughter was long dead, and the one they raised wasn't theirs... it was too much. They couldn't face you. Or anyone. So they left. They

had abandoned me, full stop. They couldn't bear the truth, couldn't reconcile the life they though

equences. He had taken their final, desperate attempt to care for me, their 80 million dollars, and folded it into

g to unimaginable heights. He was becoming a legend in the business world, a visionary

ef was dry. There was nothing left but numb, h

were back at Derek

't see his expression, but I saw the glint of something around his neck. A pe

l this." He gestured vaguely at my bruised body. "But you need to understand. You ha

die

the police, even the sympathetic passersby-had whispered about his "generosity," his "u

t was control. I was a caged bird, my wings clipped,

to go. Nothing to fall back on. My identity, my family, my

tible nod. I would be obedient. I wou