Chapter 1
June blazed with a passion as fierce as the midsummer sun.
Winnie Henderson had barely crossed the threshold of the sprawling mansion when a suitcase thudded to the ground beside her with a resounding bang.
An elegantly dressed woman, the epitome of affluent disdain, stood at the entrance, her gaze descending upon Winnie. Her eyes flitted across Winnie’s delicate features and smooth skin, a flicker of envy quickly giving way to unmasked contempt..
“I’ve had your things packed up,” she announced with icy finality. “As of today, you’re out of this house. Go back to your biological parents!”
Winnie didn’t even glance at the suitcase lying forlornly at her feet. Instead, her cold gaze locked with that of Suzan, the woman she had called ‘Mother‘ for seventeen years.
The commotion at the door drew the attention of people inside the house. Soon enough, accompanied by his son and daughter, Barton Henderson emerged from the depths of the home.
Barton eyed the suitcase at Winnie’s feet, then his wife, his tone tinged with reproach. “Suzan, what are you doing? No matter what, we’ve been raising Winnie for eighteen years.”
“She’s nothing but an ungrateful bitch!” Shouting, Suzan glared at Winnie, “I made it clear that I wanted her to step aside for Kathryn in the city’s ambassador selection. She ignored my wishes completely! She would’ve kept it from us if I hadn’t checked the final list. She wouldn’t have stolen this from her sister if she had any conscience!”
After hearing her mother’s words, Kathryn Henderson allowed a shadow of resentment to pass fleetingly across her eyes before she masked it with an air of hurt innocence. With feigned sadness, she said, “Mom, please don’t be like this. Getting to represent our city is a unique opportunity. I can understand if Winnie didn’t want to let it go. Maybe there’s something I’m not doing well enough, or why wouldn’t they choose me?”
“You are every bit as good as Winnie. What she has is thanks to our family.” Suzan’s voice softened as she comforted her daughter.
Winnie silently watched the mother–daughter act, a scene she’d been audience to countless times throughout her life. Her heart remained calm, and she even felt the urge to laugh.
Three days prior, Winnie had been struck by a car while saving Kathryn, flung twenty meters through the air. Everyone thought she wouldn’t make it.
When Suzan and the Henderson family arrived at the scene, their first concern wasn’t for Winnie’s injuries but to console a crying Kathryn, who was scared out in the accident.
Lying on the ground, Winnie felt a chill in her limbs, but what froze her heart was overhearing Barton and Suzan’s conversation.
“With the car’s front smashed in, she probably won’t survive.”
16:34
Chapter 1
“That’s for the best. If Winnie dles, it’ll show she’s shielded Kathryn from the bad luck. She wasn’t raised for nothing.”
Winnie had always known she was only a tool for the Henderson family, meant to shield Kathryn from Ill luck.
As a child, she couldn’t understand why she had to attend to Kathryn around the clock. whenever Kathryn fell ill, and why Kathryn always recovered quickly under her care, while she would then fall severely sick.
It wasn’t until she met her mentor and received his insights that she learned about the cosmic balance between her and Kathryn’s destinies. And she was the better half of that balance.
The Henderson family had raised her with Kathryn to use her fortune to counterbalance the misfortune in Kathryn’s life. With each disaster, her good fortune was diverted to Kathryn, whose destiny improved while her own took a turn for the worse.
Had Winnie not been prepared, she might have exhausted her luck and died in that car accident. three days ago.
That very accident had led her biological parents to her doorstep unexpectedly.
“Are you done? Can I leave now?” Winnie asked icily.
Having heard the cold discussion of her potential death, the last shred of expectation Winnie held for the Henderson family had vanished. She felt no attachment to leaving the Henderson family.
“Winnie, don’t blame your mother. You were in the wrong here.” Barton finally stepped forward, his face as stern as ever. “Now that your birth parents have come for you, you should go with them.”
Kathryn’s voice was tender and timid as she spoke. “Winnie, don’t get mad at Mom. She’s doing
this for me.”
Then, she unexpectedly handed an envelope, her gesture seemingly considerate. “Here’s a thousand dollars. I heard from Dad that your real parents live way up,in the mountains and they are poor. I wanted to give you more, but Dad said those from.mountain…” Kathryn hesitated. “Well, it’s better not to carry too much cash there.”
Suzan cut in bluntly. “Kathryn, you’re too kind. There’s no need to sugarcoat it. We’ve heard. that men in the mountains buy their wives because they can’t find one. Winnie, with your looks, you might get sold off when you arrive. Besides, you won’t get into college if your grades are average. Marriage might be the best thing for you.”
She scoffed, continuing, “Don’t say we haven’t remembered our years of kindness. A thousand dollars is more than enough for a year in the mountains. We’ve been more than good to you.”
Winnie looked at Suzan’s self–righteous expression and couldn’t be bothered to argue. As for the money, she had no intention of accepting it.
Chapter 1
She reached for her suitcase, ready to leave, but then her gaze caught the bracelet on Kathryn’s
wrist.
With a swift motion, Winnie grabbed Kathryn’s wrist. “How did you get this bracelet?”
Kathryn had intentionally prepared cash instead of a bank transfer, aiming to flaunt her charity and the bracelet. Winnie had noticed it and grasped her wrist so abruptly that she feigned shock and yelped in pain. “Ouch…”
When Kathryn cried out, Suzan’s face darkened, and she quickly pulled Winnie’s hand away.
“Winnie! What are you doing?”
But Winnie’s eyes remained fixed on Kathryn, her voice cold. “That’s the bracelet Grandma left for me.”
“What are you talking about? It’s not your bracelet,” exclaimed Suzan, her voice rising. “That heirloom was for the Henderson girls, and you’re no longer one of us. The bracelet rightfully belongs to Kathryn!”
Winnie clenched her jaw, her grip on her suitcase tightening a little before she released it and turned to face Barton, the patriarch of the Henderson family.
“I could leave without taking a thing from this house, but that bracelet is different. It’s all I want. That’s what Grandma left for me.”
H
If there was anything in the Henderson family that still tugged at Winnie’s heartstrings, it was her grandmother. She was the only one who had ever shown Winnie genuine affection in the family. Even in her final moments, her grandmother fretted about how Winnie would cope without her.
That bracelet was the only token of remembrance from a woman who meant the world to her.
Barton listened to Winnie’s plea, his expression hardly changing. “You may be adopted, but I’ve always treated you as my flesh and blood. The Henderson family is respectable, and we don’t send our daughters away empty–handed to fend for themselves. Your birth parents might not be well–off, but you should take what belongs to you.”
However, when it came to the bracelet, Barton remained conspicuously silent.
At that moment, Kathryn interrupted with a strained innocence. “Winnie, I know how much your cherish that bracelet, but it was Grandma’s. How about this? I’ll transfer some money to you, okay? Would ten thousand be enough? Or maybe twenty thousand?”
The insinuation was clear. Kathryn suggested that Winnie’s attachment to the bracelet was merely a means to get money.
Winnie’s gaze turned icy as she fixed Kathryn with a steely look.
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