A False Heiress's Guide to Love and Power

Chapter 1

At the airport’s arrival hall, a girl stepped out into the bustle, long hair loose around her shoulders, sunglasses and a mask half–concealing her striking features, wireless headphones resting around her neck. In one hand, she easily carried a small suitcase, her long, pale legs drawing more than a few lingering glances as she passed.

People stared, some whispering, half–convinced they’d just spotted a celebrity in the wild.

She halted, pushing her sunglasses up with a careless touch.

“Miss Alessia.” A middle–aged man in a tailored suit appeared before her, head respectfully lowered.

Alessia Tate slid off her sunglasses and tucked them into her collar. The small beauty mark beneath her eye only emphasized her allure.

“Are my parents home?”

“Yes, they’ve returned,” the man replied.

Alessia’s expression didn’t flicker with excitement or even the slightest hint of nerves. It was as if the people waiting for her were complete strangers.

“Butler, don’t forget the rest of my luggage,” she reminded, her tone languid.

“Of course, Miss. I’ll have it brought to your room shortly.”

another word. The butler Dawson followed at a respectful distance. Outwardly, he betrayed nothing, but inside, he couldn’t help

at birth–he’d have been a wreck, scrambling for the next flight home.

back. Poor girl, he thought. She probably had no idea what

respond. In truth, she wasn’t anxious or heartbroken–if anything, she’d almost kept traveling abroad, only booking her return ticket once the Tates

didn’t

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Chapter 1

car glided away

as glass. When she’d first learned

wasn’t that the Tates had mistreated her. Far from it. They’d always provided for her–financially, she’d been better off than any of her peers, with a monthly allowance that dwarfed theirs. But that

the Tates, children existed to carry on the family name and produce the perfect heir. Three children meant a backup–a spare, in case the second wasn’t a boy. If the second child had, in fact, been a son, Alessia wouldn’t

the siblings reached the right age, they were shipped off to the

academics.

was a girl; she didn’t have to fight for what she wanted. The downside? Her parents never paid

a little girl, she’d tried everything–excelled in school, hoping for a word of praise, anything to be seen. But she was never acknowledged, never celebrated like her brother and younger sibling. She let her grades slip, but even that failed to provoke

could ever change

nothing but a pawn, her only value lying in the marriage alliance she’d be expected to forge once she turned eighteen–one more calculated move to keep the Tate legacy

Alessia’s plans for escape had moved up by a whole year. The details had changed, but that was fine. If life had taught her anything, it

arrived,” Dawson announced,