Chapter 1

I caught my cheating boyfriend, Ethan Reed, red-handed.

At lunch, he dumped me and said,

“My new girlfriend is about to buy me a luxury car. If you get on your knees and lick my shoes, I might keep you around as a backup.”

Then he showed me a picture of his new girlfriend.

I didn’t say a word.

Because the woman in the red dress was my father’s mistress.

She was also the woman who had been keeping my boyfriend.

Six months later, at a family dinner, my stepmother walked onto the stage with my father and announced that she was pregnant.

She looked at me smugly, already imagining herself crushing me beneath her feet.

The next second, I threw out the evidence proving that the baby’s father was Ethan Reed.

I stood there and watched the woman who had stolen my family lose everything.

“Ava Hart, we’re breaking up. You’re nothing but a country bumpkin,” Ethan Reed said.

He looked completely refreshed lately. His clothes and shoes were all designer brands, and money practically radiated from him.

“My new girlfriend is way richer than you. If you kneel down and lick the soles of my shoes right now, I might consider keeping you.”

With that, he pulled out a photo of himself and his new girlfriend.

The woman in the picture wore a low-cut red dress. Ethan had his tongue stuck out, licking her heavily altered face.

I nearly choked when I recognized her.

Wasn’t that my stepmother—the woman who had always wanted to drive me out of the house?

So Ethan’s affair was with Vanessa?

“I don’t need you to keep me. I hope you and your sugar mama stay together forever.”

Ethan was about to say something else when his phone rang.

“Hey, baby~ Yeah, yeah, I’m in class~ Kisses, baby. I miss you too.”

“What? You can buy me a car now? You’re the best, baby~”

“You want me to spend the night at your place? Of course, of course. You want me to stay for one night or a dozen? I’m free whenever you want.”

The two of them went back and forth, and I felt like throwing up.

But judging from the voice and tone, the person on the other end was definitely Vanessa.

My stepmother already had my father, but apparently that wasn’t enough. She had to find herself a college boy too.

She really knew how to enjoy herself.

I turned and walked away, but Ethan grabbed my hand and refused to let go. He kept glaring at me threateningly while sweet-talking Vanessa on the phone.

He wanted to keep the woman in his arms while staring at the one on the table?

Not a chance.

I yanked my hand free and left.

When I got home, I was going to disinfect that hand properly. It felt filthy.

I had rented a place outside because I hated the atmosphere at home. But now, it looked like I needed to go back more often.

The moment I entered the house, I saw Vanessa swaying her hips as she came down the stairs.

“So you finally decided to come home? I thought you’d run off with some blond boy,” she said sarcastically.

“This is my home. I can come back whenever I want. You’re the one who has no proper place here, yet you keep living in my house without any shame.”

Vanessa’s entire face darkened.

That was right. Vanessa and my father weren’t married.

After my mother died, my father brought Vanessa home. She was a struggling actress who barely had any roles.

My grandfather had always opposed their relationship. He even threatened to cut my father off from the family company, which was why my father still hadn’t married her.

But on the day he brought her home, he ordered me to call her Mom.

When I refused, he hit me.

Every time that happened, Vanessa would pretend to defend me.

That moved my father deeply. He kept saying she was kind and that he had treated her unfairly.

I often wondered what expression he would wear if he learned that the supposedly gentle and kind Vanessa spent every night moaning beneath another man.