Chapter 2

Blake, seeing I wasn't at all scared of being thrown out, became agitated.

He sneered, "Avery, you've got some nerve! Let me tell you, you're not leeching off my family any longer. If you know what's good for you, just pack your bags and leave!"

Before I could even respond, my parents, who had finally recovered from their shock, spoke up.

Dad sternly reprimanded Blake, his voice harsher than I'd ever heard it. "Blake! Where are your manners? Avery is your sister! How can you say something so incredibly disrespectful?!"

Mom quickly agreed. "That's right, Blake. You and Avery can bicker all you want on a normal day, but this is Avery's big moment. Show some decency!"

But Blake seemed not to hear them. Instead, he yelled back at Mom and Dad.

"Avery isn't my sister! Sierra is my sister! You should be worried about all the suffering Sierra endured these eighteen years, not fussing over Avery, the imposter!"

As Blake finished, Sierra nervously twisted her dress hem, her shoulders trembling with quiet sobs, her voice barely a choked whisper.

"I just want to come home... If you don't like me, I can leave..."

She said, timidly glancing up at Mom and Dad, then quickly dropping her gaze as tears streamed down her face, looking utterly heartbroken and wronged.

Mom couldn't stand it. She tried to comfort her. "Sweetie, we haven't figured things out yet-"

But before Mom could finish, Sierra's tears intensified, and her sobs grew louder.

Seeing Sierra's pitiful, wounded display, Blake's heart twisted with sympathy.

He pulled Sierra behind him, declaring with a fierce protectiveness, "Don't worry, Sierra. I, Blake Maxwell, only recognize you as my sister. You belong to the Maxwell family!"

The crowd erupted again, even more agitated.

They started pitying Sierra, and their gazes, once admiring, now held a flicker of disdain for me.

"That poor girl, her real parents are right there, yet she has to endure this."

"The Maxwells are so biased, how can they favor the swapped child over their own flesh and blood for eighteen years?"

"Avery is truly wicked, enjoying someone else's wealth for eighteen years and now refusing to give it up!"

Mom and Dad's faces flushed from white to red under the weight of these whispered judgments.

And me? Listening to them champion Sierra's supposed injustice, I just found it laughable.

I coolly scanned the room, then let out a sarcastic laugh. "Nothing's been confirmed yet. Don't be so quick to show your true colors!"

Before this 'fake heiress' drama began, they'd all fawned over me, the Maxwell heiress. Now, without a single piece of hard proof, they were already scrambling to cozy up to the ‘real' one.

They were sharp. They heard the ice in my voice. Their smiles tightened, but out of respect for the Maxwell name, they held their tongues.

Then I turned to Blake, my voice sharp. "Blake, you're making a spectacle of the Maxwell name and our parents over nothing but a passing resemblance. Show me the proof. Or you and your friend can leave!"

Blake had been chastised by me countless times growing up, and he already harbored resentment. Now, being lectured in front of so many people, his face turned beet red with fury.

Blake glared at me, then yanked a document from his pocket and slapped it against my cheek with a sharp crack.

"Avery, open your goddamn eyes, you leech! You're the one who needs to get out!"

It was a DNA paternity report.

"I was going to let you keep some dignity. Clearly, you don't deserve it."

At the same moment, the report flashed onto the giant LCD screen behind us.

Test result: Sample 1 (Blake Maxwell) and Sample 2 (Sierra Jim) confirmed sibling relationship.