Chapter 1
Just before my husband took his last breath, his trembling hand clutched mine.
“Sophia, I know you don’t care about material possessions. Leave the company shares, the properties, and the trust funds to Chloe. She’s too fragile, and without money to protect her, won’t be at peace. I couldn’t give her a proper title in this life–consider it my compensation.”
He glanced toward the doorway as three teenagers walked in.
“These are the children I had with our housekeeper. You’ve always been generous and kind–hearted, so I’m entrusting you to raise them as your own.”
He went on in meticulous detail–how I could work during the day and take a night job as a cleaner, making sure the three children grew up to be successful. Otherwise, he’d never rest ir
peace.
Looking at the shameless Nathan Brooks, I knew he hated me–hated that I, the daughter of the Carter family, had taken the position of Mrs. Brooks, forcing his foster sister into a life of misfortune, six failed marriages, and now humiliating me publicly with the housekeeper’s three illegitimate children.
I died of a sudden heart attack brought on by his cruelty, and those three illegitimate children smoothly seized the old family estate my parents had left me.
When I opened my eyes again, I was eighteen–right at the moment when our two families were arranging our marriage.
This time, I brought home my sworn enemy, knelt before my parents, and asked to change my fiancé.
Nathan went mad, dropping to his knees before me.
“Sophia, how can you change our engagement? Didn’t you promise to love me forever?”
As I knelt beside Ethan Reed, my father’s face turned blue with rage.
“Sophia, you can marry anyone, but you will never marry into such a heartless family!”
“Nathan is such a good boy,” my mother tried to argue. “He’s liked you since childhood, and he even saved your life. How can you break off the engagement?”
I looked straight into my father’s furious eyes, memories of my life with Nathan flashing through my mind. He was always in a hurry, never had a word to say to me, and even when he came home late at night, he’d sleep alone in his study.
Once, I went to the study with my blanket, only to be met with his scorn.
“So desperate for a man? Too bad I’m not interested in a vicious woman like you.”
“You pushed your own cousin into icy water, leaving Chloe too weak to bear children. You forced me to marry you, made her lose the one she loved, and left her heartbroken for life.”
“You’re such a vile woman that even looking at you disgusts me.”
Nathan cherished Chloe for a lifetime and hated me for just as long. He never once touched me, and for the sake of having heirs, he fathered triplets with the housekeeper.
Yet I had been lost in childhood affections, believing that one day he’d realize the truth and love
Chapter 1
3:23 pm SSD
me again.
The memory of those years spent humbling myself made my body tremble.
Looking at my father’s reddened eyes, I straightened my back and said firmly,
“Dad, I know exactly what I’m doing. I believe Ethan isn’t a man without loyalty or conscience.”
“The Reed family may have strayed in the past, but Ethan and I will not. We will revive their medical traditions together.”
“If
you don’t let me marry Ethan, then I won’t marry anyone for the rest of my life.”
The Reed family had once profited from national hardship, amassing wealth but earning public disdain, their name tarnished in Riverdale City.
But only I knew that after my death, it was Ethan who drove away the illegitimate children, reclaimed my family estate, gave me a grand funeral, and brought fresh flowers to my grave every day, speaking of the love he’d held for me.
Seeing my resolve, my father slumped into a chair and said weakly,
“Fine. If you insist on marrying this brat, then let him prove himself first. Unless he accomplishes something real, I won’t agree to you joining the Reed family.”
Chapter 1
