On my best friend’s wedding day, I stood beside her as a bridesmaid. Everyone thought I was jealous. Everyone thought I was crazy. Until I pulled out the DNA report. Twenty-five years ago, my foster mother swapped two babies in the hospital. She raised me with abuse and poverty— so her real daughter could grow up rich, loved, and marry into the Foster family, one of the most powerful elite families in Los Angeles. They destroyed my education. They took my boyfriend. They stole my life. And on the day she walked down the aisle, in front of hundreds of guests and millions watching online— I gave them the truth as a wedding gift. Some weddings end with vows. Theirs ended with blood, sirens, and a ruined dynasty.
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Chapter 1
“Sophia, I switched the babies on purpose back then. This day was always the goal. Now you’re finally marrying into real money, I couldn’t be prouder.”
“Mom, I’ll take good care of you from now on. Everything I have, this life, this comfort, it’s all because of you.”
“If you hadn’t ruined Emily Carter, I never would’ve made it into a billionaire family.”
That was when everything finally clicked.
Why my childhood had been nothing but violence and fear.
Why I grew up dodging fists while someone else lived like royalty.
Sophia Williams had taken my place, my life, my future.
She grew up as the beloved daughter of a wealthy family, while I became the unwanted burden.
Linda Harris did everything she could to force me to break up with Daniel Foster.
And while I was being pushed aside, Sophia took her chance and got pregnant with Daniel’s child.
I laughed quietly to myself.
On the night of her wedding, I would be giving everyone a gift they would never forget.
“Sophia, do you like it? Let me put it on you. It’ll look perfect.”
Every year on Sophia’s birthday, Linda made sure she had something special waiting for her.
This time, it was a necklace that looked far too expensive to be casual.
Linda fastened it herself around Sophia’s pale neck, smiling like she was looking at her own masterpiece.
The irony was hard to ignore.
Sophia’s life was already overflowing with comfort and privilege.
Years ago, Linda had swapped the babies so Sophia could live this exact life.
The life that should’ve been mine.
“It’s beautiful. I love it.”
Sophia smiled at her reflection, then glanced at me through the mirror, eyes narrowing slightly.
The same familiar look of quiet triumph.
“That must’ve cost a lot. Are you sure it wasn’t too much?”
Linda waved it off immediately, smiling. “It’s nothing. As long as you like it.”
Nothing, except thirty-seven thousand dollars.
On her salary, that meant a full year of saving every single penny.
It brought back a memory I hadn’t touched in years.
The summer I graduated high school, I had been accepted to Harvard University.
The day the acceptance letter arrived, Linda lost her mind.
She tore it to shreds in front of me, screaming, then hit me until I couldn’t stand.
“What’s the point of studying? Do you think we’re made of money?”
“Tomorrow you’re going to the factory. You’ll start earning your keep.”
Back then, Sophia had barely made it into a mid-tier state college.
At her college celebration, Linda handed her a cash gift big enough to cover four full years of tuition.
More than I’d ever been allowed to dream of.
She even praised Sophia right in front of me.
“Sophia is amazing. Getting into a school like that isn’t easy.”
“Unlike this useless girl. Not a single decent college wanted her.”
After that, something in me went cold.
I knew Linda didn’t love me, but I couldn’t understand why.
I was her daughter. Why did she treat me like this?
I didn’t get my answer until last night, when I accidentally saw the messages between her and Sophia.
Only then did I finally understand everything I’d been put through.
Linda held Sophia’s hands, smiling like a proud parent.
“You’re getting married soon. I’m so happy for you.”
“Not like that girl of mine. Always dreaming above her station, even trying to steal Daniel back in school.”
“Doesn’t she ever look in the mirror and see what she’s worth?”
Daniel Foster, Sophia, and I had grown up together.
People used to joke that two girls were fighting over one boy.
Everyone wanted to see who would end up marrying Daniel.
Back then, none of us cared about money or status.
We were just kids.
Daniel preferred spending time with me.
In our junior year, he even confessed to me in front of Sophia, and it drove her furious.
A few days later, the school found out.
To protect the Foster family’s reputation, the administration humiliated me in front of the entire school.
They called me immoral and transferred me out of the top public high school to the worst one across town.