1

534words2026-01-26 11:23

I had been with Gavin Payne for years when he found out I was a fake heiress.
He still treated me the same, saying he loved me for who I was.
Yet, at our engagement ceremony, he publicly flung my hand away and slipped the ring onto Isabella Wright’s finger.

He sneered at me viciously, "A shameless fraud! The one I should be marrying is Isabella."
I decided to grant their wish. Right then, I announced I’d be with Leo Vance, the illegitimate son of the nearly bankrupt Vance family.
Everyone laughed, calling me insane.
Yet later, at my wedding with Leo, Gavin showed up clutching the ring he gave away to Isabella, desperately begging me to him.
A month before Gavin and I were to be engaged, my parents found their biological daughter, Isabella Wright.
Honestly, she inherited Mom's beauty. Even dressed simply, her features were striking.

At our first meeting, she eyed me with hostility, asserting her status as the true heiress,
"Mom, Dad, now that your real daughter is back, shouldn’t she leave?"
Mr and Mrs Wright looked uncomfortable.
"Isabella, we know you've suffered all these years. But Amelia’s birth parents are gone. We’ve treated her like family. Couldn’t you two be like sisters?"

"No! Why should I? She stole my life! Now that I’m back, she should get out! I’m your real daughter, aren’t I?"
Mr Wright lost his temper, scolding Isabella,
"Enough! You are our daughter by blood, but Amelia is the daughter we raised for over twenty years."
"The fault was ours for losing you, not hers. We will do everything to make it up to you, alright?"
Isabella stopped arguing, sulked, and retreated to her room.
I told Gavin everything about Isabella then.
He replied in his gentlest voice,
"Amelia, what I love has always been you. It was never about your identity."
I was touched. I knew the Paynes valued family background, yet Gavin insisted marrying me under the family pressure.
Until he visited the Wright estate and met Isabella in person.
Isabella had hired stylists, got custom outfits and makeup.
She looked every inch the heiress. Next to her, I seemed... mature.
Isabella spotted Gavin and immediately latched onto his arm, cooing "Gavin darling". Despite her parents' signals, she clung on.
"Gavin darling, logically, I should be the one marrying you. I'm the true Wright heiress."
"Shame... you're marrying Amelia instead. I guess I wish you well."
Gavin looked uncomfortable but didn't shake her off. Isabella shamelessly demanded his number.
After that, whenever Gavin was around, Isabella schemed.
She'd slap herself in front of me, claiming I did it.
Or, at parties, throw herself into the pool, saying I pushed her.
Or run into the rain, call Gavin for "rescue", claiming I kicked her out.
The stunts got wilder. Gavin believed them all. He called me jealous, called me vicious. Arguing was useless, so I never fought with him.
I didn't care since the engagement was set. Isabella's antics were just her lashing out over lost years.
She wanted my room? Fine. My designer bags, jewelry, clothes? Hers.
Anything I valued, she coveted.
But I was too confident in our bond, or just in myself.