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.”

and chuckled. “Well, that’s an interesting

and a woman showing up together in

nothing but a two-faced manipulator,

even gotten angry yet, but Tessa was

smirked. Every time she pulls one of her stunts, I’m the one who pays for it. What are

had left the country of her own accord, claiming that since the real daughter of the Reed family was back, she had

Stella been too kind these past two years? Or

your wedding. What do you think that

“I’ll

sounded alarmed. “What are you gonna

a lie, how could

that, she ended

turned to the mirror, looking at herself in the pristine white

trailed

rip, the fabric tore apart in her hands.

watching from a distance gasped in shock, but seeing Stella’s

finished changing into her own clothes,

at the

Ethan.

his cold voice came through. “Once you’re done trying

Two years.

Ethan had been nothing but gentle

attitude… was it because Lillian was

lips.

hour later, Stella stepped into Ethan’s

by the floor-to-ceiling windows, talking on

were sharp yet refined. His side profile alone was enough to make anyone

him, gifting him a face

Stella, he hurriedly said into the

to the couch and sat

from the call was gone. His expression turned cold as he looked at her.

met his icy

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

noticed the distance she put between them, and his expression grew