Chapter 2

A tall young man stood in the doorway.

When he saw me lying on the bed, he stormed over, grabbed my collar, and hauled me up.

“You bastard! How dare you bully Ethan!”

Seeing Ethan smirking behind him, I finally realized who this was.

Ethan’s best friend, Lucas Grant.

But as one of the police academy’s top cadets, I wasn’t exactly weak.

I pried his hand off me with ease and asked coolly,

“Barging into someone else’s room? Are you trying to commit a home invasion?”

But Lucas said,

“This is Ethan’s room. You’re the thief here.”

So that was it. Now I understood why he was angry.

Still, it wasn’t as if the room had a name on it.

I looked at Ethan behind him.

“Sorry. I’ll find another room.”

Lucas clearly didn’t like how calm I was.

He opened his mouth, but Ethan caught his arm and shook his head.

“Avery, if you like this room, you can have it.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t interested in taking other people’s things.

When he saw that I was still packing, Ethan suddenly started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets.

“Oh no! The antique cross Dad gave me is missing! I was going to give it to Avery.”

He grew more frantic as he searched, then started crying again. Soon the room was a mess.

Lucas put an arm around him and tried to soothe him.

Then he turned to me with a vicious glare. “Hand it over.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Was he seriously trying to pin this on me?

When I didn’t move, Lucas pointed at me and shouted,

“You’re the only outsider who’s been in Ethan’s room! Who else could have taken it?”

His baseless accusation made my blood boil. My voice hardened.

“I told you, I didn’t take it.”

Ethan’s sobs grew louder.

Lucas lunged forward and snatched my suitcase.

I reached to take it back, but he sneered.

“What are you afraid of? A quick search will tell us whether you took it.”

He roughly flung my suitcase open, scattering its contents across the floor.

After searching through everything without finding the cross, Lucas looked even angrier.

Then Ethan pointed at a clear bag on the floor and shrieked,

“Avery Bennett, you’re a pervert!”

He was pointing at the bag where I kept my underwear.

I stayed calm and was about to clear up the misunderstanding.

But Lucas charged at me and threw a punch.

“You sick freak. I’ll teach you a lesson!”

We started fighting. I didn’t have a chance to explain.

Meanwhile, Ethan kept taking pictures of my belongings.

The commotion upstairs brought Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne running.

Ethan pointed at the clothes on the floor and indignantly told them what had happened.

Mr. Hawthorne glanced at me and said sternly,

“Apologize to Ethan and Lucas. Collecting things like that at your age? Have you no shame?”

I actually laughed.

Looking at their solemn faces, I no longer felt like explaining.

I might as well let them believe it. I was curious to see what else they would do to me.

Mrs. Hawthorne gave me a disgusted look and said to her husband,

“We raised Ethan ourselves. He’d make a perfectly good heir. Why did we have to find our biological child?”

Mr. Hawthorne fell silent for a moment, then glanced at me.

“It’s a family rule. The estate must go to a biological son of our bloodline. We can’t let it fall into an outsider’s hands.”

Wow. I couldn’t help mocking him silently.

What century were we living in? They were still obsessed with bloodlines?

How pathetic.

What would the Hawthornes do when they found out I was a woman?

Would they be willing to leave the whole fortune to a girl?

Ethan had heard every word. His face was deathly pale, and he looked as though he wanted to tear me apart.

Mr. Hawthorne gave me a long look before saying flatly,

“You’ll start school tomorrow.”