Chapter 2

I was about to explain that I wasn't acting.

But then I remembered — every explanation I'd ever given, they had never once listened.

So I lowered my head. "You're absolutely right, Mr. Sterling. So what brings you all the way to a place like this — here just to watch my performance?"

My fourth father paused. "Don't flatter yourself. Today is Bianca's birthday, and her heir designation ceremony. She recently said she's willing to forgive you and start fresh. I'm here to bring you."

He added after a beat, "Ethan wants to see you too."

I'd heard three days ago that my first father, Ethan, was going to formally designate Bianca as the Sterling family heir — the ceremony timed to her birthday, complete with a grand gala.

I was a year older than her. *Sterling heir* — that was a title my first father had promised me when I was ten.

If this had been the old me, I would have torn the whole thing down before letting anyone take what was mine.

But now I just looked at my fourth father, expressionless. "I don't want to go."

My fourth father stared for a moment, then said: "This isn't up to you."

He grabbed my arm and dragged me out the door, shoved me into his car.

He drove me to his place first — made me shower, changed my clothes — then headed for the Sterling estate.

In the car, my fourth father wouldn't stop talking in my ear — telling me to be kind to Bianca, not to provoke her, not to think about bullying her.

My heart ached with a dull, familiar pain.

I watched the highway blur past outside the windows, faster and faster, and the desire to see Mother grew louder and louder in my head.

Then I sat up, unbuckled my seatbelt, and at a hundred and forty kilometers per hour, I opened the car door.

Before my feet left the car, I heard his scream.

*At this speed,* I thought, *I'll definitely die.*

But the expected pain never came. Instead, I landed in a warm embrace.

My fourth father had caught me. We tumbled across the gravel shoulder, rolling twice before stopping.

His furious voice exploded above my head.

"Iris, have you lost your mind?!"

I looked at him.

Blood from a gash on his forehead was streaming down his face.

I instinctively reached out to wipe it away.

But my fourth father recoiled in disgust, his expression turning vicious:

"Can you stop playing these games? You just want to see if I still care, don't you? Let me tell you — saving you means nothing. I'd save a stranger too. If I'd known this was your angle, I never would have jumped."

"Next time you want to die, go ahead. I won't stop you."

My hand froze in midair. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the river beyond the highway guardrail.

I let out a bitter laugh. "Fine, Mr. Sterling. Remember what you just said."

Before he could react, I was on my feet in an instant.

Without looking back, I vaulted over the guardrail and threw myself into the water.

My fourth father had nearly drowned in a swimming pool as a child. He was terrified of water.

And after saying something that cruel, he definitely wouldn't come after me.

So when the freezing river water rushed into my nose, I felt happy.

*Finally — once they think I'm dead, I'll be free. I'll get to see Mother!*