Chapter 2

Eighteen years flew by in the blink of an eye.

I made good use of the intellect Hades granted me, consistently ranking in the top tier at school.

I swept national competitions and academic awards.

Even the investment portfolios I personally picked pulled in millions for our family firm on Wall Street.

Because of a prodigy like me, the Vance name shone brighter than ever in high-society circles.

As for Wendy, the woman who tried to switch me, and her daughter, Chloe? They seemed to have vanished into thin air.

I assumed that dark chapter was buried forever. Until my eighteenth birthday party.

It was a lavish, star-studded gala.

Just as I stepped up to cut the multi-tiered cake, the double doors of the grand ballroom slammed open.

Under the blinding crystal chandeliers, Wendy dragged a girl about my age into the room.

The girl wore a faded, worn-out school jacket. She looked pale and sickly, but her gaze locked onto me with venomous intensity.

Her face looked eerily similar to my mother, Helen.

The room erupted.

Wendy dropped to her knees with a dramatic thud, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Helen! I am so sorry! I wronged the entire Vance family! Eighteen years ago, I lost my mind and swapped your baby!"

Trembling, she pointed at the girl beside her, weeping theatrically.

"Chloe... she is your real flesh and blood! The Nora you've raised for eighteen years is my daughter!"

A wave of shocked gasps swept across the ballroom.

I watched the spectacle with cold detachment, fighting the urge to laugh.

Chloe stepped forward, her eyes locked dead on mine.

"Nora Vance, you stole eighteen years of my life. It's time to give it all back."

Before my parents could utter a word, Chloe turned toward the massive presentation screen in the center of the hall. Grabbing a dry-erase marker, she furiously scrawled an impossibly complex mathematical formula across the white panel.

It was the final tie-breaker question from the International Physics Olympiad.

Tossing the marker aside, she glared at me with smug defiance.

"True genius isn't something money can buy."

Beside me, my mother unconsciously pulled her hand away from mine, her gaze drifting toward Chloe.

Seeing their sudden hesitation, an icy chill gripped my chest.

Eighteen years of love and companionship crumbled the second the word "biological" entered the room.

I took a slow breath, met Chloe's sneering eyes, and spoke calmly:

"You claim I'm an imposter?"

"Where's your proof?"