Chapter 1

My bestie and I were notorious at the orphanage, our resident bad girls, a notorious duo.

I was a master of the venomous tongue, could reduce grown men to tears with my words.

Skylar had brute strength that bordered on superhuman, always ready to 'reason' with her fists.

No one in the entire orphanage dared to cross us.

Even the guard dog knew better than to cross us, slinking along the walls with its tail between its legs whenever we passed.

That year, when we were eight, we were busy messing with an ant hill by the wall when Director Evans walked over with a couple.

They said Skylar was the Sterling family's long-lost real daughter and had come to take her home. But Skylar insisted on bringing me.

She sat on the floor, kicking her legs, and bawled, "If it wasn't for Chloe all these years, I would've been bullied to death! If you don't adopt her, I'm not going back either!"

I quickly dropped my stick, put on my sweetest smile, and stepped forward to introduce myself:

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, I'm the best-behaved, most obedient kid in our whole orphanage. Adopting me would be a total win-win!"

Director Evans's face twitched. He looked like he'd just swallowed a whole lemon, or worse.

Bullied? Most obedient?

Did they even hear what they were saying?!

As if terrified of leaving our little devils behind, Director Evans closed his eyes, steeled his heart, and made a desperate, unheard-of decision that probably made his ancestors spin in their graves.