Chapter 4

I looked at Lucas in confusion.

"Aren't you supposed to be a business tycoon -- the kind who can find out everything about a person in minutes?"

"Didn't you investigate why?"

Lucas coughed lightly and avoided my gaze guiltily.

"That was my oversight."

Pearl looked at me apologetically.

"Vanessa, don't blame Lucas."

"It's my fault for being sickly."

"He was busy taking care of me, so he didn't finish reading your information."

"If you want to hate someone, hate me."

"I'm the one who took away your chance to go to college."

I reached my hand toward Pearl.

She instinctively backed away.

I smiled and stood up, pressing down on her head and patting it firmly.

"How could I hate you?"

"I'm extremely grateful now that you and I were switched."

"The Hayes family is such a wealthy household and they still couldn't keep you healthy."

"If you'd been at the Harper house, you'd have died long ago."

Pearl looked at Mom and Dad's faces turning cold and went deathly pale, not daring to talk back anymore.

Mom touched my face lovingly.

"Vanessa, tell Mom -- who exactly stopped you from taking the SAT?"

I sighed sorrowfully.

"Mom, my adoptive parents locked me up."

"They were afraid if I got into college, they'd never be able to control me again."

Dad slammed his hand on the table.

"Damn that Daniel!"

"Ethan, I order you to send that couple to prison as quickly as possible."

Mom's eyes reddened with heartache.

"Vanessa, you've suffered so much."

"It's okay that you didn't do well this time."

"We'll take it again next year."

I frowned in distress.

"Mom, do I have to repeat senior year?"

"But I've already been accepted to Harvard through early admission because of my awards in math and physics competitions."

Time seemed to stop for an instant.

Everyone stared at me with their mouths slightly open.

Mom was the first to recover.

She excitedly pulled me into her embrace.

"Vanessa, you're Mom's pride and joy."

Dad nodded as well.

"Truly worthy of being my daughter."

Though Ethan and Lucas didn't say anything, their expressions showed they now recognized me.

Pearl never imagined that someone who'd been trampled into the abyss could have a chance to rise up and shine brilliantly.

No.

She couldn't let Vanessa take away her identity as the wealthy family's heiress.

After Mom and Dad learned of my astonishing talent in physics and mathematics, they immediately decided to hold a grand homecoming banquet for me.

To ensure I appeared before the upper-class elite in the best possible condition, Mom hired professionals to care for and style me.

By the day of the banquet, I had completely transformed.

The black gown and exquisite hair and makeup made me look even more refined and elegant.

As I descended the spiral staircase step by step, my bearing was like that of an heir who had risen from the ashes, determined to reclaim everything that belonged to her.

"Wow, she's beautiful!"

"Is this the Hayes family's real daughter?"

"Didn't they say she grew up in the countryside?"

"She doesn't look like it at all."

"This real heiress is truly remarkable!"

"She won first place in both the National High School Mathematics and Physics competitions, and has already been accepted to Harvard."

"With her talent, entering a scientific research institution for further study is just a matter of time!"

"I used to think Pearl was pretty outstanding, but compared to the real heiress, she falls far short."

"What's fake can never become real."

"Even if a pheasant flies up into a tree, it still can't become a phoenix."

Parents love intelligent children.

Amidst everyone's praise, the eighteen-year gap between me and my parents seemed to slowly disappear.

Just then, Pearl rushed up to me and my parents, holding a diary with a cartoon cover.

"Mom, Dad, don't let Vanessa fool you."

"She hates all of us."

"She wants to destroy the Hayes family."

"This diary records every step of her plan in detail."

I lunged at her in panic.

"How could you read my private diary?"

"Give it back!"

My guilty reaction made Mom and Dad suspicious.

Ethan grabbed the diary first and strode up to the speaking platform, about to place it on the video display stand so all the guests at today's event could view my diary together.

I fell to my knees at Mom's feet, crying and hugging her legs.

"Mom, Dad, I'm begging you -- please don't look at it, okay?"

Mom forcefully pulled her leg away, looking at me with disgust.

"Vanessa, you've disappointed me so much."