I looked around the room, my eyes settling on
Brittany, my heart burning with hatred, my
fists clenching.
“Your dad’s whole business only exists
because he begged my dad for funding. Ask
him if he dares interfere with my family’s
business.”
Brittany, humiliated in front of everyone,
couldn’t take it. She went to slap me.
I grabbed her wrist and slapped her across
the face, hard.
Her face twisted with rage, her chin
trembling. “You…you little bastard! How dare
you hit me?”
<
Amanda looked around, then screamed,
“Security? Where are you guys?”
The security guards started to move, but I
turned and glared at them, a look so sharp
they froze in their tracks.
“I’m Katherine Blackwood. Nobody lays a
hand on me.”
Amanda shrieked, afraid someone might
believe me.
“Katherine, everyone knows you’re just an
orphan my parents took in!”
“You think you can lie and everyone will
believe you? Dream on!”
The others nodded, agreeing.
Г
“She has a point. The Blackwood boys always
bring Amanda to everything. Never seen you.”
“This was supposed to be a party celebrating
Amanda joining the scene. And this little
nobody ruined it.”
I laughed.
I turned to my personal assistant. “Get my
beloved brothers down here. Tell them the
orphan we took in is trying to impersonate
Katherine Blackwood and ruin our family
name.”
“Ask him if he wants Amanda to be a
laughing stock.”
The assistant hesitated.
<
She knew my brothers were obsessed with
Amanda, practically worshiping her and
turning her into a social media star.
Every time Amanda messed with me, they’d
take her side, yelling at me for being
disrespectful, grounding me, and forcing me
to apologize.
“Go. I’ve got this.”
Hearing that, the assistant finally left.
Amanda just laughed. “Katherine, have you
learned nothing? Have you forgotten how
your brothers treat you every time you cross
me?”
She knew my brother, Steven, would protect
<
her no matter what.
Last time, when Amanda told the
housekeeper to throw acid in my face, I called
Steven, begging for help.
He didn’t believe me.
He yelled at me for lying about Amanda and
told me to drop dead somewhere else.
I died full of despair and pain, beaten to
death by the people Amanda hired, my body
dumped in the freezing river.
This time, they would pay.
Unexpectedly, before Steven even showed, my childhood best friend, Michael, came
strutting in, carrying a giant bouquet of
L
“Katherine,” he said, “I wanted to show you
how much I care about you, so I bought every
rose in town to make this bouquet.”
Brittany looked shocked.
She glanced at Amanda, nervous and
confused.
Did Michael just say that to me?
Looking at Michael’s adoring gaze, I wanted
to puke.
He used to cling to me, always wanting to
play “wedding,” telling my parents he would
marry me when he grew up.
But then he saw Amanda and ditched me for
く
When Amanda made my life a living hell, he
did nothing.
Walking right up to Amanda, Michael smiled
gently, tucking a strand of hair behind her
ear. “You’re beautiful, Amanda.”
Then he turned to me, his eyes like knives.
“You think we’re stupid enough to believe that
you are Katherine Blackwood just because
you made up a random story? Get real.”
“Katherine, if you begged me right now, I
wouldn’t give you a second look,” he said, his
face twisted in disgust.
I
“There is only one person I love, and that is
Amanda, the real Katherine Blackwood.”
<
Michael, who used to swear he’d love me
forever, was now groveling at Amanda’s feet,
calling me a liar.
The others, already unsure of my identity,
immediately believed Michael.
“Amanda has such a big heart. She let this
stray hang around, and this is how she’s
repaid.”
“Someone should have left her to die in the
streets. Now she just causes problems.”
Amanda looked thrilled, a flicker of triumph in
her eyes.
Seeing them together, I laughed, took a white
jade pendant from around my neck.
<
“This is the Phoenix Blood Jade. Only the real
Katherine Blackwood can wear it.”
“Amanda, do you have one of these?”
Several people hurried closer, peering at the
pendant.
Many of them had been friends with my
parents for years. They gasped.
