2
Coming home with my parents to a sprawling mansion, I smiled with deep satisfaction.
I was the heiress to the Clark Corporation. They named me Lila Clark.
I also had an older brother, Leo, who was completely and utterly obsessed with his little sister.
I’d chosen him specifically. In my last life, my brother had beaten me to death.
This time, I desperately wanted a brother who would love me.
When I was little, Leo, who was already in elementary school, would wait for me outside my kindergarten every single day. He’d always have a piping hot pretzel tucked inside his coat for me, leaving a red mark on
his chest from the heat.
When a boy at kindergarten pinched me, Leo rounded up his entire class and beat the kid half to death.
When I was in middle school, girls would ask me to pass him love letters and little cakes.
He’d throw the letters in the trash and give the cakes to me.
“Lila” was the first and last word out of his mouth every day.
Growing up steeped in so much love, I’d almost forgotten the chaos of my birth.
But of course, on my 18th birthday, the other girl showed up to claim her prize.
The party was a massive affair, held at our family’s five–star hotel. A string orchestra played on the main floor while guests mingled, champagne flutes clinking, all wishing me a happy 18th.
The presents were stacked to the ceiling like a magnificent Christmas tree. Designer watches, luxury cars, someone even gifted me an entire oceanfront villa.
Chapter 1
20.06
A–list celebrities came to sing “Happy Birthday.” Every important person in the city was there. Luxury brands sent over custom–made gowns. A fleet of drones lit up the night sky, forming a portrait of my face and the
words “Happy Birthday, Lila!”
I was standing on a balcony, looking down at the glittering crowd below, when she burst in.
A girl in a plaid shirt and washed–out jeans pointed a finger straight at my face and screamed, “I’m the real
Clark princess!”
Her birth mother had swapped us.
“Lila Clark is a fraud!”
The champagne flute was still in my hand. A shocked silence fell over the crowd.
She said her name was Jenna.
