Chapter 5

Nina's POV

At 4:00 AM, the city was still cloaked in pitch black, carrying the sharp, biting frost of the impending dawn.

The cab pulled up before a sprawling historic estate that commanded half an entire private hillside. The towering wrought-iron gates were shut tight. This was the pinnacle of New York’s power and wealth: the Hayes ancestral manor.

The cab driver glanced at the meter, then stared at the colossal estate that ordinary people wouldn't dare approach, swallowing hard. "Uh... miss, this is as far as I can go."

I handed him the fare, stepped out, and took my suitcase.

The moment my heels hit the stone pavement, the massive, imposing gates groaned with a heavy resonance, slowly swinging inward.

Beyond the gates, the entire estate was illuminated as bright as noon.

Dozens of bodyguards in pristine black suits stood in two razor-sharp columns, bowing in unison. And at the end of that grand pathway stood an elderly woman with silver hair, leaning on an ornate cane. Despite her age, her posture held supreme authority, though her eyes were raw red and her entire body trembled violently.

"My granddaughter..." Violet Hayes whispered, her voice cracking.

I let go of my suitcase handle and walked forward step by step. Seeing that face—so hauntingly similar to my own—and those eyes filled with fifteen years of agonizing grief and longing, the armor I had forced onto myself shattered completely.

My knees hit the cold stone pavers.

"Grandmother," I rasped, tears finally spilling over my lashes without warning.

"My sweet child, get up, let me look at you..." Violet threw her cane aside and stumbled forward, wrapping her arms around me in a suffocating embrace, weeping openly.

Fifteen years ago, when I was four, I got separated from my nanny at a shopping center and was abducted, eventually ending up in a remote orphanage.

The Hayes family had torn the country apart searching for me, finding nothing.

My father, the previous head of the Hayes empire, fell into severe depression from the guilt of losing his only daughter and passed away from illness within three years. My mother, unable to endure the dual grief of losing her husband and child, swallowed a fatal dose of sleeping pills on a stormy night, following him to the grave.

The entire Hayes empire was left on the aging shoulders of Violet Hayes, who fought off the ruthless vultures among extended relatives while pouring countless fortunes into tracking down my whereabouts.

Fifteen years. The sole legitimate heiress of the Hayes family had finally returned.

"I failed you... I failed your parents..." Violet wept, cupping my thin face with trembling hands. "If our investigators hadn't uncovered that lead in the old orphanage archives two weeks ago and secretly obtained your hair for a match, how much longer would you have suffered out there?"

I wrapped my arms tightly around her, soaking in the untainted, unconditional warmth of blood family that had come fifteen years late. In this single moment, I realized how sickeningly cheap the Vances' transactional "love" had been.

By daybreak, Violet led me into the private sanctuary of the manor.

From an antique wooden chest, she retrieved a ring set with a flawless, untreated pigeon-blood ruby. I knew what it was: the signet ring of the Hayes patriarch, passed down strictly to the chosen heir.

"Nina," Violet said with profound solemnity, sliding the ring onto my slender index finger. "The hyenas in the family have been circling for years. Brandon's branch has been salivating over the throne. But as long as breath remains in my body, no outsider touches this empire. You are the only true heir of the Hayes family. From this day forward, you are no longer Nina Vance. You are Nina Hayes."

The cool weight of the ruby rested against my skin, banishing the last trace of hesitation from my heart.

Looking at the signet ring that commanded absolute authority, my eyes turned dangerously sharp. "Don't worry, Grandmother. What belongs to the Hayes family will stay ours. And what others owe me, I will collect back—with interest."

The sun rose.

Golden morning light pierced through the skyline, spilling onto the second-floor terrace of the Hayes manor.

I changed into a bespoke silk robe prepared overnight by the staff, holding a cup of steaming black coffee as I leaned against the marble railing. The morning breeze caught my golden-streaked hair, revealing a face devoid of submission.

On the round patio table nearby lay my old phone.

The screen glowed, displaying twenty-three missed calls.

I stared down at the familiar contact numbers, a razor-thin, mocking smirk curving my lips. I picked up the device and, without a second's hesitation, tapped rapidly across the screen.

Deleted. Blocked.

Not a single glance back.