Everyone hated me when I returned home, but they regretted it when I left.

1

I was Julian, the Sterling family’s adopted son for eleven years, a fake young master in an elite household.

Then, when I turned twenty-one, the real heir, Asher, returned.

From that moment on, my entire adoptive family showered Asher with affection. Even Chloe, my fiancée, gazed at him with a tenderness that meant she couldn’t bear for him to suffer even a little.

The contrast with me couldn't have been starker. My adoptive father called me trash, my adoptive mother branded me an ungrateful wretch, my adoptive sister Valerie demanded I vacate my position as the Sterling family's son…