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The Heiress They Threw Away
Novelix
Completed
I spent five years gutting fish in ice water to feed a husband who gambled away every cent I earned — then he texted me he was selling me to a man who runs girls out of a nightclub. I grabbed my fish knife and headed for the door, but a Rolls-Royce pulled up first. The man inside said he was my father. DNA confirmed: I'm the lost daughter of the richest man in the province, missing for twenty-two years. But coming home doesn't mean safe — the uncle who threw me away when I was three is already plotting to destroy me all over again, and the only person willing to fight for me is the fake heiress who's supposed to hate me most.
Chapters (3)
第1章
My deadbeat husband steals every cent I've saved in five years of gutting fish—and then sends me a text.
Come up with five hundred thousand by noon tomorrow, or I'm handing you over to Marcus Wang.
I read it twice.
Then I reach for my fish knife.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
That's not a debt.
That's a death sentence.
Marcus Wang runs a club on the south side.
Last month, one of the girls working for him jumped from the roof.
Jason knows exactly what kind of man Marcus is.
He also knows exactly how much money I've saved.
One hundred thousand dollars.
Every cent of it is gone.
I spent five years standing in freezing water before sunrise, slicing fish until my hands cracked, while Jason slept late and called himself an entrepreneur.
He took that money to an underground poker game.
Now he's five hundred thousand deeper.
And apparently, I'm the collateral.
I shove the knife into the back of my waistband and head for the door.
I'm going to get my money back.
If Jason refuses, I'll find another way to make him talk.
I don't make it three blocks.
A black Rolls-Royce glides to the curb beside me.
The rear window lowers.
A man in an immaculate suit stares at me like he's seeing a ghost.
Beside him, a woman covers her mouth.
Her eyes are already full of tears.
"Are you Mia?"
I tighten my grip on the knife.
"Who are you?"
The man steps out.
He looks at my cracked boots.
My stained jacket.
My hands.
Then he looks at my face.
"I'm Henry Lu."
His voice breaks.
"I'm your father."
The woman gets out behind him.
"I'm your mother."
I almost laugh.
Instead, I stare at them.
They tell me their daughter disappeared twenty-two years ago.
They tell me they've been looking for her ever since.
Then they show me the DNA report.
The name on it is Mia Lu.
My name.
Or the name I apparently had before the world lost me.
An hour later, I'm standing in front of a thirty-thousand-square-foot estate.
I've spent years looking at this hill from the fish market.
I used to wonder what kind of people lived behind these gates.
Now I'm standing inside their home.
My home.
I don't even make it through the first room before a bowl of bone broth flies past my shoulder.
It explodes across the marble.
"God, you reek."
The girl standing in front of me looks like she belongs on a magazine cover.
Designer dress.
Diamond bracelet.
Perfect hair.
Her eyes stop at my boots.
"Don't think because Mommy and Daddy found you that you get to walk in here and take my place."
She folds her arms.
"Try it, and I'll put you right back where you came from."
Faye.
The girl who has lived my life for twenty-two years.
My replacement.
My sister.
My hand moves toward the knife.
Then something flashes across my vision.
Golden letters.
Floating in the air.
I freeze.
No one else reacts.
The words hang there for three seconds before fading.
【Do not attack her.】
I blink.
Nothing.
Then another line appears.
【She protects the people she considers family.】
My heart skips.
I look at Faye.
She doesn't see anything.
I look back at the empty air.
A third message appears.
【If you want to survive this family, stop fighting like a cornered animal.】
I swallow.
What the hell is this?
For one terrifying second, I wonder if I've finally lost my mind.
Then I remember the knife in my waistband.
The five hundred thousand dollars.
Jason.
Granny Fang.
Survival doesn't leave much room for insanity.
So I make a decision.
I let my knees buckle.
Faye's eyes widen as I grab her leg.
"Please."
"What are you doing?"
"Don't kick me out."
Her face twists.
"Get off me."
I cling tighter.
"Jason took all my money."
Her hands stop trying to push me away.
"He says he's going to hand me over to Marcus Wang."
Faye's expression changes.
Just a fraction.
Enough.
I keep crying.
"I know I don't belong here."
"I know I'm not like you."
"I didn't even finish school."
"I stink like fish."
"I don't have anywhere else to go."
Faye stares at me.
I bury my face against her knee.
"Please."
"I'll leave once I'm safe."
"I won't take anything from you."
That last sentence gets her.
Her jaw tightens.
"Are you stupid?"
She grabs my collar and hauls me upright.
"Someone steals your money and threatens to sell you, and you just cry?"
Her eyes flick toward the knife behind my back.
"What's that for?"
"Cutting fish."
She snorts.
"Right."
My phone buzzes.
Jason.
Faye sees the name.
"Speaker."
I answer.
Jason's voice fills the room.
"Where the hell are you?"
"Think you can hide now?"
"Tomorrow. Noon. Five hundred thousand."
"And if you don't have it, I'm going to that fish market."
His voice drops.
"I'm starting with that old woman."
My blood runs cold.
Granny Fang.
The woman who fed me when I was three.
The woman who taught me how to hold a knife.
The woman who kept me alive when nobody else wanted me.
Jason knows exactly where to hurt me.
Faye takes the phone from my hand.
"Who the hell are you?"
Jason laughs.
"One of that tramp's rich friends?"
Faye's eyes narrow.
"Five hundred thousand?"
She smiles.
"Fine."
"Where are you?"
Jason gives her the address.
Faye hangs up.
"Mr. Zhao."
The family steward appears immediately.
"Miss Faye."
"Call the police."
She hands him the phone.
"Then find Jason Chen."
"His debts. His creditors. His bank accounts. Everything."
She turns toward me.
"Get your coat."
I stare at her.
"Why?"
Her expression hardens.
"Because we're going to find your husband."
She grabs her purse.
"And I'm going to teach him what happens when someone threatens my sister."
第2章
The car tears through the city.
Faye sits beside me with her arms crossed, staring out the window like she's personally offended by traffic.
I keep looking at my hands.
Five years of fish scales and cold water have left their mark.
Cracked knuckles.
Scarred palms.
Nails that never stay clean.
I used to think those hands were proof that I was building a life.
Now I realize they were proof that I was carrying someone else's.
Jason wasn't always cruel.
That's what makes it worse.
When we meet, two men corner me behind the fish market.
Jason comes running.
He gets punched in the mouth protecting me.
Then he takes the twenty dollars in his pocket and presses it into my hand.
"Keep it."
"You're broke."
He smiles through the blood.
"Long as I've got food, you won't go hungry."
I remember believing him.
I remember how he used to pull me close after work.
I would smell like fish guts.
He never complained.
"Everyone else thinks you stink."
He'd bury his face in my hair.
"I don't."
That was how he got me.
Not with money.
With kindness.
Or at least what looked like kindness.
After that, every request sounded reasonable.
Rent.
Equipment.
A business opportunity.
One last investment.
Every time, he promised he'd pay me back.
Every time, I believed him.
Because growing up unwanted teaches you something dangerous.
You'll accept almost anything if it feels like love.
The car slows.
Faye glances at me.
"What's that face?"
"What face?"
"The one that says you're blaming yourself."
"I'm not."
"You are."
She looks away.
"Don't."
I almost smile.
"Don't what?"
"Don't start thinking this was your fault."
Her voice is quieter now.
"He's the thief."
Not you.
She doesn't say the last part.
She doesn't have to.
Mr. Zhao's voice comes from the front.
"Miss Faye."
"What?"
"We checked the marriage records."
Faye looks at me.
"There's no marriage."
I stare at her.
"What?"
"No registration."
My stomach drops.
"But we had a ceremony."
"Fake."
One word.
That's all it takes.
Five years vanish.
The apartment.
The ring.
The photographs.
Every time Jason called me his wife.
All of it.
Fake.
I look down.
A faint golden line appears across my vision.
【Some debts are designed to look like love.】
I stare at it.
No numbers.
No prophecy.
No answer.
Just one sentence.
Then it disappears.
For some reason, that scares me more than the warnings.
Faye notices my silence.
"Hey."
I look at her.
"You okay?"
I nod.
She rolls her eyes.
"Terrible liar."
My phone buzzes.
Mr. Zhao has pulled Jason's financial records.
Faye reads them.
Her expression changes.
"He lost your hundred thousand at an underground poker game."
I close my eyes.
"Then he borrowed five hundred thousand from Marcus Wang."
"At forty percent monthly interest."
I open my eyes.
"Forty?"
Faye looks disgusted.
"That's not a loan."
"No."
"It's a trap."
She turns the tablet toward me.
At the bottom of the document is a line that makes my stomach twist.
Collateral: Mia Lin.
My fingers curl.
Jason didn't just steal my savings.
He put me down as security.
He planned to lose.
He planned for Marcus to come after me.
I look out the window.
For five years, I thought Jason was the person who saved me.
Now I understand.
He was just waiting for the right price.
Faye suddenly reaches over and squeezes my wrist.
"Don't think about him."
I look at her hand.
She notices.
Immediately lets go.
"I mean it."
"I'm not."
"Good."
A pause.
Then she mutters, "And stop looking like you're about to cry."
"I'm not crying."
"You were."
"I wasn't."
"Whatever."
Mr. Zhao speaks again.
"We found Jason."
Faye straightens.
"Where?"
"Southside Fish Market."
My lungs stop working.
"Granny."
Faye turns.
"Who?"
"Granny Fang."
I unclip my seat belt.
Faye grabs my sleeve.
"Wait."
"He's there."
"I know."
"No."
I look at her.
My voice breaks.
"He's there."
This time, she sees it.
Not weakness.
Fear.
Real fear.
She releases my sleeve.
"Mr. Zhao."
Her voice goes cold.
"Drive faster."
第3章
The Southside Fish Market comes into view.
My stomach drops.
This place has been my whole life.
Now Jason has turned it into a threat.
I jump out before the car fully stops.
"Mia!"
Faye's voice follows me.
I run.
Rotten fish.
Salt.
Blood.
Standing water.
Then I see her.
Granny Fang is on the ground.
Two men hold her down.
Jason stands over her.
His boot presses against her back.
"Half an hour."
He checks his phone.
"If Mia doesn't show, I start with her fingers."
My vision goes red.
"Let her go!"
Jason looks up.
His face splits into a grin.
"There she is."
I step forward.
"The debt is mine."
"Deal with me."
"Leave her out of this."
Jason laughs.
"You still think you have a choice?"
He kicks Granny Fang's stall.
Wood splinters across the concrete.
Then he looks past me.
At Faye.
His eyes change.
Greed.
Faye's bodyguards move forward.
Jason whistles.
"Well."
He looks her up and down.
"Who's the rich girl?"
Faye's expression turns deadly.
Jason smiles.
"You want to help your friend?"
He says something filthy.
Something that makes my stomach turn.
I step in front of Faye.
"Jason."
He blinks.
I keep my voice low.
"Don't talk to her."
He laughs.
"Or what?"
"I'll gut you."
The smile disappears.
For the first time tonight, Jason looks at me like he remembers who I am.
Not the woman who cries.
Not the woman who hands him money.
The girl from the fish market.
The girl who knows exactly where to put a knife.
He pulls a stun baton from his belt.
Blue electricity crackles.
He kicks my fish knife away.
Then presses the baton against Granny Fang's neck.
"Enough."
He throws a paper at my feet.
"Sign it."
I look down.
Marcus Wang's name is printed across the top.
A contract.
Employment at his club.
My signature at the bottom.
"Sign."
Jason presses the baton closer.
"Or she dies."
Faye steps forward.
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand."
She pulls out a black card.
"A million."
She tosses it.
Jason catches it.
His eyes light up.
Then the bald man behind him whispers into his ear.
Jason's smile returns.
He throws the card back.
"No."
Faye's face goes still.
Jason looks at me.
"Money isn't the point anymore."
He points at the ground.
"Kneel."
My breath catches.
"Three times."
He wants the whole market to watch.
He wants me humiliated.
He wants me to say I am worthless.
I look at Granny Fang.
She's shaking her head.
No.
Don't.
My knees bend.
I can survive humiliation.
I have survived worse.
But before I touch the ground, someone grabs my arm.
Faye.
She pulls me upright.
Her face is white with rage.
"A Lu kneels for no one."
Jason laughs.
"She's not a Lu."
"She's a stray."
Faye's eyes turn colder.
"Say that again."
Jason does.
"A stray."
Faye steps closer.
"You really don't know who you're talking to."
He raises the baton.
"Take another step and Grandma fries."
Faye doesn't stop.
Neither do I.
For the first time, we stand shoulder to shoulder.
I glance at her.
She doesn't look at me.
But her hand finds mine.
Just for a second.
Then the air changes.
Golden letters flash across my vision.
Not words.
A countdown.
【10】
My heart pounds.
【9】
I look toward the market entrance.
Nothing.
【8】
Jason keeps shouting.
He doesn't notice.
【7】
Faye notices my expression.
"What?"
I whisper.
"Something's coming."
【6】
Headlights appear beyond the gates.
【5】
Jason turns.
【4】
Faye's fingers tighten around mine.
【3】
Six black Maybachs tear through the entrance.
【2】
Jason's face drains of color.
【1】
The doors open.
