Chapter 1
In the prison on the outskirts of Cobridge, the prison guard said, “Inmate 847, Abigail Gibson. Your family’s here to pick you up. Be good from now on. Don’t come back.”
Abigail mechanically took the storage box the guard handed her and gave a slight nod. She then followed the instructions to change out of her prison uniform and into the clothes she had worn when she arrived.
The short-sleeved dress had been sitting in storage for three years. The fabric was faded and worn, with several deep creases in the middle, and it hung loosely on her body.
Abigail thought, ‘Family?’ She let out a cold, mocking laugh.
Three years ago, the Gibson family had shown up at the orphanage with a paternity test, tearfully claiming that she was their long-lost heiress and brought her back to Cobridge.
It wasn’t until she got there that Abigail found out her biological parents had adopted another daughter named Daniella Gibson to ease the pain of losing her.
The Gibson family had raised Daniella like a princess for fifteen years and couldn’t bear to let her go.
To outsiders, they vaguely claimed Abigail had been sent to a village because of health reasons, while saying Daniella was her younger sister and still the youngest heiress of the Gibson family.
But then Daniella hit and killed someone with her car.
The Gibson family scolded Abigail, “If you hadn’t insisted we go to your graduation ceremony, we wouldn’t have missed Dani’s performance. She was distracted while driving because of that. This is your fault. You owe her.”
Before Abigail could even protest, the Gibson family had already taken care of all the paperwork and thrown her in prison.
Abigail thought, ‘What family do I even have left?’
The prison gates slowly opened. Sunlight spilled in from outside, and Abigail squinted against the glare, spotting a man leaning against a car not far away.
He wore a beige long trench coat, a stark contrast to Abigail’s thin dress, like they belonged to two different worlds.
That was Stephen Gibson, her biological second brother. The day she was brought back to the Gibson family, he was the one who’d picked her up, held her in his arms, and told her she’d now be the most cherished treasure of the Gibson household.
But later, it was Stephen who pinned down Abigail’s hand and forced her to press her fingerprint on the confession letter just to protect Daniella.
Seeing Abigail standing still, Stephen walked up to her and reached out to take her bag. “Let’s go home.”
Abigail gave a bitter smile. When she had first gone to prison, she used to imagine every day that the Gibson family would come to take her home.
But in prison, Abigail had been beaten until she vomited blood, starved until she had to crawl on the floor, and locked in the bathroom all night shivering from the cold.
She endured all of it and made it through three years, and not once did anyone from the Gibson family come to see her.
Now Abigail had finally accepted the truth – that between her and Daniella, the only one the Gibsons ever truly loved was Daniella.
Stephen saying “Let’s go home” didn’t seem to mean much to Abigail anymore.
Abigail lowered her eyes and subtly avoided Stephen’s hand. Her voice was distant. “No thanks. I can carry it.”
Stephen’s hand hung in midair, frozen for a few seconds. The Abigail he remembered was easy to please. As long as he was a little nice to her, she would forget everything unpleasant, call him “Stevie” and cling to him sweetly.
Stephen had pictured her crying and thanking him for picking her up. But faced with her indifference, it hit him like a punch to the gut – sharp and suffocating.
After all, Abigail was his real sister. Stephen held back his frustration and explained, “Dani’s been depressed since the car accident. Her mood’s been all over the place.
“We’ve had to take turns staying with her so she wouldn’t hurt herself. That’s why we didn’t come visit you.”
As he spoke, something seemed to occur to him. He said, “When you get back, don’t stay in the main house. Go live in the nanny Georgia’s room for a while, just in case Dani sees you and spirals again.”
When Abigail heard that, she only found it ironic. Daniella had killed someone, yet somehow ended up being the one everyone saw as the victim.
The whole family took turns looking after Daniella and they were so caught up in it that they forgot about Abigail, their actual flesh and blood sitting in prison. Even now that Abigail was coming home, they were still afraid she might upset Daniella.
Abigail thought, ‘I don’t want this so-called home anymore. They can put me wherever they want – it doesn’t matter.’
A breeze passed through. Abigail rubbed her arms to fight the chill and responded in a low voice, “Whatever you see fit.”
Aside from that one glance at the beginning, she didn’t look at Stephen again.
Stephen, however, suddenly remembered when Abigail was twelve. He had gone to pick her up, and she clung to his neck, timidly asking, “Stevie, when I get home, will I have my own room?”
He still remembered what he’d told her back then. He’d responded, “You’re the apple of our eye. You’ll always stay in the biggest, nicest room.”
That room was later given to Daniella. Abigail had cried and threw a fit over it for a long time. But now, it seemed like Abigail didn’t care about anything anymore.
Stephen’s chest tightened like it was stuffed with something heavy and suffocating. He frowned. “If you’re not happy about it, just tell me. I’ve got other properties. I can set you up somewhere else.”
Abigail shook her head. “No need to trouble yourself, sir.” That “sir” came from years of keeping her head down and knowing her place in prison.
However, Stephen felt a rush of anger building inside. It sat heavy in his chest, hot and unsettled. “You were only in prison for three years, doing just fine. But Dani nearly died multiple times.
“You can only blame yourself for dragging us to that stupid graduation ceremony. Dani only got into that accident because of you. She’s not complaining, so what are you acting all high and mighty for?
“Did you forget what kind of life you had in the orphanage? Did we ever let you go without food or clothes under our roof? Don’t be so ungrateful.
“If it weren’t for the fact that you have to personally call off the engagement with the Fletcher family’s heir, you think I’d waste my time picking you up?”
After he said that, Stephen turned without hesitation and slammed the car door shut. He didn’t even look at Abigail as he started the engine and drove off without the slightest intention of waiting for her.
Abigail hadn’t expected anyone to pick her up anyway, so she wasn’t particularly hurt by it.
She just found it ironic. Abigail had thought Stephen came to pick her up out of some sense of blood ties or decency, but it turned out he was only here to make sure she broke off the engagement with the Fletcher family’s heir.
That engagement had been arranged by Abigail’s grandfather, Wyatt, when she was a child. It was originally intended for Daniella. But after Abigail returned, Wyatt insisted on replacing Daniella with Abigail as the one engaged to the Fletcher boy.
Because of this, everyone hated Abigail for stealing Daniella’s fiancé. Even the Fletcher heir himself, Ralph Fletcher, believed Abigail deliberately came between him and Daniella, and despised her for it.
Now, Abigail was someone who’d served three years in prison, while Ralph had taken over the Fletcher family and was now firmly in charge. He was completely out of her league.
Abigail thought, ‘This engagement should be called off. I have no reason to feel anything about it.’
She tightened her grip on the bag in her hand. There was a phone inside, but it had long since run out of battery, along with some spare change she was reluctant to spend on transportation.
Stephen told Abigail to figure it out herself, so she had no choice but to walk.
It wasn’t until Abigail reached the foot of the hill that she realized Cobridge was no longer the place she remembered. She didn’t know which direction the Gibson Villa was in.
She tried to find someone to ask, but the moment people saw the way she was dressed, they immediately recognized her as someone freshly released from the prison up the hill. Everyone avoided her like the plague.
Abigail felt lost and unsure what to do, so she randomly picked a direction and started walking.
Just then, a black sedan slowly pulled up beside her. A man’s cool, composed voice came from inside. “Ms. Gibson.”