Chapter 1

The day I was set to leave the country with a full Ivy League scholarship, customs officers stopped me in front of everyone and declared my passport invalid on the spot.

The officer coldly informed me that not only did I have a million dollars in overdue online loans under my name, but I was also involved in fraud lawsuits, listed as a debtor in default, and banned from leaving the country.

My world collapsed. I rushed home like a madwoman, demanding answers.

My mother, Brenda Hayes, was carefully feeding expensive imported cherries to my ten-year-old twin stepbrothers.

When I confronted them, my stepfather, Richard Stone, leaned back in his chair and sneered, "So what if I used your ID to register a company and take out some loans? What's the point of a girl studying so much? She'll just get married eventually. This money is for your brothers' private school tuition. You should be grateful."

Brenda nodded in agreement. When I threatened to call the police, she locked me in the basement and planned to sell me off to a sixty-year-old man to pay off the debts.

They were clinking glasses and laughing in the living room, unaware that I had an old tablet in my hands, containing solid proof that my stepfather had a mistress and a five-year-old illegitimate son.