Chapter 1: The Night Everything Changed

After my dad beat my mom, she crumpled onto the floor, sobbing, “I just want to go home. I want to be that rich girl again—the one I used to be.”

I’d never heard her talk like that before. It was like she was someone else—someone I didn’t know. Her voice trembled, every word thick with longing and exhaustion. She stared at the peeling linoleum, eyes glazed with memories from a world I’d never seen. The kitchen clock ticked loud in the silence, marking the seconds between her sobs and my confusion.

Suddenly, the sharp scent of spilled beer and burnt cheese clung to the air, mixing with the metallic tang of blood. The world felt sideways, unreal.

I thought my mom had been pushed past her breaking point. But then, out of nowhere, comments started popping up in front of my eyes, like floating messages on a livestream:

[Your mom really is from a wealthy family, but she was head-over-heels for your dad back then. He tricked her away with nothing but a grilled cheese sandwich. Years of misery have left her unstable—she still dreams of being a rich heiress.]

[Your grandpa is none other than the richest man in Chicago.]

My hands shook. Was I losing it? Maybe I’d finally cracked. I slapped my cheek, but the words just kept coming. It felt like my vision glitched—lines of text flashing over the greasy paint on our walls. I blinked, rubbed my eyes, but they wouldn’t go away. My heart hammered in my chest as if the whole world had flipped upside down, right here in our cracked kitchen.

So, my mom is actually the lovesick supporting character in a novel, and I’m third-generation old money?

My head spun. I looked at my mom, bruised and shaking, and at my abusive dad, who could turn on me at any second.

The air in the house was thick—like the calm before a tornado. I clenched my jaw—fortune favors the bold. It’s time to find my real family.