The Heiress They Threw Away

Sylvia Lynn pulled open the door to find all her luggage piled up in the living room.

"Sylvia, what are you doing back here? I thought you'd had the sense to leave today."

Luna Lynn stood there with her arms crossed. "But it doesn't matter that you came back. This isn't your home anymore, so whatever I do here is none of your business."

Louis Hill spotted Sylvia and walked over, throwing his arm around Luna's shoulder. "Before you go, shouldn't you get on your knees and thank Mrs. Lynn? She raised you for eighteen years. Sure, she raised the wrong kid, but she still spent a lot on feeding you."

Luna leaned into Louis, wearing a Chanel dress. "Don't be so mean to Sylvia, Louis."

The color of that couture dress Luna had on was the same one Sylvia had once admired at a runway show, only to be told by the Lynn family that it "wasn't right for her."

Sylvia let out a cold laugh. She looked at this woman who had taken over her old life but couldn't even copy her taste without getting it wrong. She stepped forward to pick up her documents, but Luna moved to block her. "What are you laughing at?"

Sylvia thought about how Luna copied her in every way, and yet here she was, turning her nose up at Sylvia's clothes. She raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "I'm laughing at you. You fake. You pathetic little copycat."

Luna's face fell. "Me, learn from you? I'm the real Lynn family daughter. Why would I need you to teach me how to dress?"

"I was checking your bags. For all I know, you say you don't care about the Lynn family's things, but you could be sneaking something out behind everyone's back."

Sylvia looked at her steadily. "You think just because you want those things, I do too?"

She gave a short laugh. "Well, I guess it makes sense. Someone who's been stealing all their life would naturally assume everyone else is a thief too."

Luna's face flushed red. She pressed herself against Louis with a pouty look. "Louis, do you see what Sylvia's doing? She looks down on me! She's being horrible to me!"

Louis patted Luna's arm gently. "You're the real Lynn family daughter. You're the one I'm marrying. Why let her get to you? After all, she'll never get anywhere near couture again."

"And for your birthday in a few days, I've already ordered you a dress from the designer Echo."

"Echo?" A flash of delight crossed Luna's eyes, though she pressed her lips together and tried to seem composed. "She's been nearly impossible to book lately. I've heard she's incredibly selective about her clients. Louis, you went through all that trouble just for me. That must have cost you."

Louis held Luna close. "It wasn't easy, but Luna, you're worth it."

He glanced over at Sylvia with a smug, triumphant look. "Unlike some people who are playing tough right now, but from here on out will never have anything to do with dresses like that."

"She only had that kind of taste because she was living your life. Now that things are back to how they should be, Luna, you're going to be so much better than her."

Luna rested her head on Louis's shoulder. "I knew you were the best, Louis."

Sylvia stood there with her arms folded, her face blank as she watched them. "Echo? Louis, are you sure you actually managed to book her?"

Louis raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't believe me?"

Sylvia just shrugged and said nothing, thinking about the order she had just seen at the studio earlier. So it was Louis's.

Good thing she'd turned it down.

"Louis, Sylvia's about to leave." Luna grabbed his hand. "She's just saying that because she feels bad inside. I believe you."

Louis cupped Luna's face in his hands. "When the time comes, you'll be the most dazzling one there."

Sylvia watched the two of them wrapped up in each other, all warmth and affection.

She thought back to how Louis used to trail after her, shameless and clingy, how she'd turned him down again and again, and he'd kept coming back like a dog. She let out a cold laugh. "You two really deserve each other."

Luna smiled. "Of course we do. After all, we're the ones with an actual engagement."

Sylvia gave Luna a flat look. "Only someone as sheltered as you would see that kind of trash as something to treasure."

Luna's face twisted. She stamped her foot. "Sylvia! Who do you think you are? You took my place for all those years, you stole my life, and you still talk like this?"

"Luna, the way you say that, it sounds like I'm the one who switched us. Don't forget, when I came to the Lynn family, I was just a baby too." Sylvia smiled faintly and met her eyes.

Louis pulled Luna into a hug, holding her tight. "Sylvia, how did I never notice how arrogant you were? Is that any way to talk to Luna?"

Sylvia didn't bother with him. "Just looking at you makes me sick. Get out of my way."

"You're going to apologize to Luna today." Louis's face darkened.

Sylvia rolled her eyes at him. "Who are you to get involved in Lynn family business? You haven't even married her yet, and you're already acting like you belong here?"

Luna's voice broke into a whine. "He's my fiancé."

Sylvia looked at Louis. She knew exactly what kind of person he was at his core: a self-indulgent, two-faced player.

The Hill family's real assets were still in his grandfather's hands, and Louis wasn't the old man's pick to inherit. Louis was little more than a name with nothing behind it, looking to marry well to get ahead.

Her adoptive father Jeffrey Lynn thought he was latching onto the Hill family, and the two of them had their own agendas that happened to line up perfectly.

That was exactly why Sylvia had never wanted to marry Louis in the first place.

Now that Louis and Luna were together, all she could do was silently wish them luck.

When Sylvia didn't say anything, Luna took it as a sign that she'd run out of arguments. Just then, Jade Winters walked in. Luna threw herself into Jade's arms. "Mom! Sylvia's upset because I took Louis away from her!"

Jade held Luna and stroked her hair gently. "Alright, Luna, stop crying. So what if she's upset?"

"Louis is only ever going to marry you."

After comforting Luna for a moment, Jade looked up at Sylvia, and her expression turned cold. "Sylvia, you should really be grateful to the Lynn family. Do you have any idea what your birth family is like?"

"They're broke people from the slums who can barely eat. Your mother is seriously ill. Your brother is disabled. Your father is the only able-bodied one in that house, and he got injured not long ago."

"I even thought about keeping you here out of the bond we've built over all these years, to spare you from all that hardship." She laughed bitterly. "And instead, you've been making things difficult for Luna at every turn, putting her through misery."

"Like family, like child, I suppose. No matter how many years the Lynn family spent trying to raise you right, it clearly didn't take."

"At the end of the day, the slums are where you belong."

A month ago, Luna had shown up at their door as the Lynn family's real daughter, and that was when the family discovered Sylvia wasn't theirs by blood.

Over that month, Sylvia had seen the Lynn family show their true colors.

Jade, who had once been warm and caring, now spoke to her with cruelty. Jeffrey, who had always doted on her, now looked at her like she was a stranger. Whenever Luna cried or played the victim, they wouldn't even let Sylvia explain herself. They simply assumed she had been cruel to Luna and demanded she apologize.

Sylvia knew the Lynn family only had room for one daughter. There was no point fighting over a family that wasn't hers to begin with.

She rested her hands on her suitcase and watched Jade keep up the performance, then cut right through it. "You actually wanted to keep me here?"

Looking at that familiar face, now so strange to her, a thought suddenly surfaced: did she really not know what happened back then?

Never mind. That wasn't something to think about right now.