The Discarded Heiress Returns

roaned open, a sound that used to mea

s searing through her thin, worn-out soles, but she didn't flin

med-a white marble tom

eir scent cloying and thick, competing with the smell of expensive

side her asked, his voice dropping

dry rasp, a ghost of the melodic ton

I called them three times. The father hung up twice. Said he didn't h

the dark had drained the adrenaline out of her. She wasn't a daughter r

" Miller as

nswer. She just

bushes her mother used to prune with surgical precision. Then,

RATION: LUCAS CH

n sto

f she ever got lost. Iris. The sister who use

didn't gasp. She didn't cry. She simply stared at the na

ious to the carnage behind the words o

pped into

d expensive-stopped mid-note. It wasn't a fade-out; i

ne, head

Her skin was sallow, her hair a hacked-off mess, and her clothes were oversiz

started, shar

." "I heard she was sold. Somewhere in the mountains. God k

jawline, impeccably tailored suit, the eyes of a man who owned the world. Be

d, but her grip on Lucas tight

see family. She saw a squatter living

It wasn't a greeting; it

second, a flash of pure, unadulterated horror crossed her face. It wasn't the horror of a

tep back. Her hand rose, fingers fluttering near her nose

as silent, but

. His hair was perfectly dark-no gray from mourning,

Evely

rt said, his voice projecting for the benefit

looking," Evelyn

the polite surface. "Is this how you welcome her?

missing the officer like a waiter. "But as you can see, we are in the midd

d brittle. "Yes. You should go upstairs, Evelyn. Thro

uests." Her old friends

racle. She was

ly went cold. She straightened her spine, her eyes locking onto Lucas. He wouldn't loo

e walked straight toward the main buffet

she passed, as if her

ate sip of the vintage K

ugh the stifling air. "I'm not here to ruin the party. I'm

the house, leaving the si