The Returned Heiress Who Never Fit In

Chapter 1 She Plays Dirty, I Pay the Price!

The day Stella Dawson was born, the family maid threw her away—just so her own daughter, born on the same day, could have a better life.

Eighteen years later, her family finally found her. But instead of guilt and compensation, what awaited her was something else entirely.

“You’re gorgeous!”

Stella stood in front of the mirror, dressed in a wedding gown. The fitted bodice hugged her slender waist, and the voluminous skirt made her look like a fairytale princess.

Even without makeup, her delicate features were striking.

The boutique manager helping her adjust the gown couldn’t help but praise her.

“Mr. Keene didn’t come with you? Men and women have different tastes when it comes to these things.”

Stella smiled politely. “He’s busy with work. Couldn’t get away.”

As soon as she finished speaking, her phone buzzed. She glanced at the caller ID before picking up. “Tess?”

“Stella, I just saw Lillian with Ethan!”

Stella’s expression froze.

The satisfaction on her face disappeared bit by bit, buried under the weight of Tessa Miller’s words. Her gaze turned cold.

Ethan Keene was her fiancé. Their wedding was in a week.

And just hearing Lillian Reed’s name made a flicker of disgust cross her eyes. Lillian—the maid’s daughter. The girl who stole her parents at birth and now had the nerve to come after her fiancé.

Stella shot a look at the boutique manager, who instantly understood and nodded.

With a simple hand gesture from the manager, the other employees quickly left the room.

Once they were gone, Stella glanced at her manicured nails and asked casually, “Where’d you see them?”

Tessa hesitated. “The hospital. OB-GYN department.”

eyebrow and chuckled.

man and a woman showing up together in the OB-GYN department—what could

two-faced manipulator, and Ethan’s a bastard. Call

even gotten angry yet,

took a slow sip of water from the glass in front of her and smirked. Every time

accord, claiming that since the real daughter of the Reed family was back, she had

kind these past two

huffed. “She came back right before your wedding. What do you think that means?

“I’ll call you

“What are

someone’s selling a lie, how could I

that, she

looking at herself

trailed over

fabric tore apart in her

a distance gasped in shock, but

finished changing into her own clothes, her phone buzzed

glanced at

Ethan.

his cold voice came through. “Once you’re

Two years.

two years, Ethan had been nothing but gentle and considerate

This change in attitude… was it because Lillian was

Stella’s lips. She didn’t even bother replying—just

later, Stella

by the floor-to-ceiling windows, talking on the

refined. His side profile alone was

favored him, gifting him a face that was unmatched in

said into the phone, “Eat

to the couch and

was gone. His expression turned cold as he

met his

but didn’t sit next to him like she used to. Instead, she took a seat

the distance she put between them, and his