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.”

raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Well, that’s an

up together in the OB-GYN

manipulator,

gotten angry yet, but Tessa was already

and smirked. Every time she pulls one of her stunts, I’m

daughter of the Reed family was back, she had no right to stay. And yet here she was again—cozying

kind these past two years? Or

your wedding. What do you think that

darkened. “I’ll call

alarmed. “What

someone’s selling a lie, how could I not buy into

she

the mirror, looking at herself in the pristine

fingers trailed over

the fabric tore apart in her hands. She

boutique employees watching from a distance gasped in shock, but seeing

she finished changing into her

glanced at

Ethan.

through. “Once you’re done trying on the dress, come

Two years.

been nothing but

in attitude… was it

flitted across Stella’s lips.

an hour later, Stella stepped into Ethan’s

floor-to-ceiling windows, talking

his features were sharp yet refined. His side profile alone was enough

gifting him a face that was unmatched

said into the phone,

the couch

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

met his icy

didn’t sit next to him like she

distance she put between them, and his expression grew