Chapter 1. In Exchange for Money

Roxanne Stephen was only sixteen years old, the eldest child in a struggling family of five. Born and raised on the edge of a tired countryside, she had long grown used to the scent of dried mud, the dull ache in her arms from working the fields, and the persistent sound of her younger siblings crying in the night, whether from hunger or cold or both.

Life had never been kind, but she had borne it all with strength, never complaining. She knew the price of sacrifice, but nothing, not even her worst day on the farm, could have prepared her for what her parents told her one humid, dust-heavy afternoon.

Her father sat her down on the splintered porch steps, hands twisted tightly in the folds of his shirt, eyes darting away like he couldn't bear to look at his own daughter. His wife made him discuss the issue with her as their eldest daughter.

His voice trembled despite his effort to sound resolute. “You’ll be going to New York, Roxanne. You’ll live with your uncle’s family, your uncle Brandon. My older brother.”

Brandon Stephen had long since abandoned the dust and sweat of rural Texas, the land that had shaped generations of Stephens. Unlike Brandon, who still bore the weight of the farm on his shoulders, Brandon had fled at eighteen and never looked back, trading cracked soil and cattle sheds for skyscrapers and city lights.

He had married into a world far removed from their roots, the Romanovs, a Russian dynasty of wealth and influence. His wife, Alexandra Romanov, is the sole heiress to the American branch of the empire.

She and Brandon shared a carefully constructed marriage: a prenuptial agreement kept their fortunes strictly divided, and an open marriage allowed Alexandra to live free of the insecurities of a clingy husband.

Alexandra herself is a woman of beautiful contradictions, shaped by ambition, sharpened by distance, and polished by the effortless authority of power. To the public, she's a symbol of poise and privilege; behind closed doors, she carried herself with the quiet detachment of someone who refused to be bound by convention.

Brandon didn’t look back, not when their father begged him to stay, not when their mother cried, and certainly not when Robert was left to carry the burden of the land alone.

Brandon chose steel and glass over soil and sweat. He reinvented himself in the pulsing heart of New York City, where no one cared if his jeans had once been hand-me-downs or if his hands had once been calloused from milking cows at dawn.

Over the years, he built his business brick by corporate brick, first as an intern, then an analyst, and eventually a high-ranking executive with the kind of power and reputation that opened doors before he even knocked.

He caught the eye of Alexandra, who saw him as a convenient, single, rich, independent, handsome, and best of all, infertile man. She came to him with a proposal, and he married well and kept the name Romanov, a rich Russian family. Just the way Alexandra loves it: no baggage, no children.

For decades, he stayed out of contact. No letters. No visits. No calls. He sent the occasional wire transfer when guilt crept in too loud to ignore, but never enough to erase the sting of his absence. To Amelia, he was the sister who vanished. To Roxanne, he was just a name, a stranger.

Until now. When Brandon learned of her niece's intelligence and potential through a friend's friend, he made an offer. Two hundred thousand dollars in exchange for legal guardianship of Roxanne.

It wasn’t charity. It wasn’t even kindness. It was strategy. Brandon didn’t like children, but he valued legacy. And in Roxanne, he saw the possibility of grooming someone in his image, someone smart, sharp, hungry, and unshaped. He wasn’t rescuing the girl from poverty. He was investing in her, a girl that carried his blood.

Roxanne blinked, her heart stumbling over itself. “What? Why?”

There was silence for a moment, thick and uncomfortable, before her mother stepped in. She didn’t bother sitting, just leaned against the old post with her arms crossed, like she was delivering weather news.

“She paid us two hundred thousand dollars,” Her mother said flatly. “For one of you.”

Roxanne stared at him, her lips parting in disbelief. The weight of his words didn’t land at once; it came in pieces, like stones thrown one after another into her chest. “You… sold me?” Her voice cracked, rising as tears stung her eyes. “You sold me? After everything I’ve done to help this family? After all the money I brought in from odd jobs and skipped meals and—”

“You’re still helping us with this,” her mother cut in, her tone maddeningly calm, even cold. “That money will feed your brother and sister for years and put them in a good college. And you... well, you’ll live a better life out there. In the city. With Brandon. He’s got money, a big house, and opportunity. It’s more than you’ll ever get here.”

“You’re throwing me away.” The words barely made it past the lump in her throat. Her fists clenched at her sides as her tears finally spilled down her face. “I’m not a sack of potatoes to barter off. I’m your daughter.”

“You're the smartest one out of the three,” her father murmured, not unkindly, but with a distance that stung even more. “Your brother is too small to survive on his own. Your sister cries when the lights go out. But you… you’ve always been strong. You’ll manage. You’ll thrive.”

“No!” Roxanne cried, her voice breaking as she staggered back a step. “You’re not giving me a chance; you’re getting rid of me!”

“They’ll come get you the day after tomorrow,” her mother said, already turning away like the conversation was over, like her fate was sealed in ink.

She dropped to her knees, the rough wood of the porch biting into her skin, and sobbed into her hands as her mother just stood there, silent, her shadow long and unmoving in the amber light of evening.

In that moment, something inside Roxanne cracked, not just from heartbreak, but from the sheer weight of betrayal. She wasn’t just being sent away. She was being exchanged. Sold. And no matter how pretty the lies they told to soothe their own guilt, she would never forget the truth.