Chapter 1 After my wealthy biological father acknowledged me, the first thing he did was toss me a platinum unlimited card. He laid down one rule: I could spend the card however I pleased, but I was never allowed to call him "Dad." That title was reserved only for his precious fake daughter. Clutching the card nervously, I treated myself to a simple $1.50 soft-serve cone. I was happily licking the ice cream when the so-called daughter fell to her knees in front of me. "Anna, are you mocking me? Showing off that I'll never be able to afford even something this simple?" My brother Christopher slapped me twice across the face on the spot. "You may have money now, but love isn't unlimited. It only belongs to Madeline. She's the only sister I'll ever recognize." Then my father, Richard Harrington, hurled scalding water at my face. "Someone like you, who can't hold her head high, doesn't deserve to be called a Harrington daughter." As punishment, they shipped me off to the war-torn oil fields of West Africa to work like a child laborer. Ten years later, I entered a glittering ballroom, ice cream cone in hand, only to run straight into Christopher, dressed in a hand-tailored suit. "After all these years, you still can't make yourself presentable," he sneered. I couldn't be bothered to argue. "Let go of me. My father's waiting. And if I don't hurry, this ice cream will melt." He towered over me with contempt. "Father? Who gave you permission to call him that? There's only one Harrington heiress, Madeline. No one else can take her place." I rolled my eyes. Please. Who said I was talking about that man? The one waiting for me was my adoptive father-Edward Westbrook, a Texas oil tycoon with a notorious sweet tooth. I was desperate for him to try this ice cream. *** I craned my neck, scanning the hall for Edward's familiar figure. Tonight was Alexander's engagement party. The butler had given me the address. I knew I was in the right place. Chapter 1 3.85% Christopher yanked my arm back. "Everyone here is Raymont's elite. You showing up like this only disgraces the Harrington family." I smirked. "I'm not a Harrington anymore. So how could I possibly disgrace you?" His face twitched, but he forced a laugh. "Still the same trashy country girl. Sharp tongue, no substance." 1 shook off his grip and strode toward the entrance. The security guards blocked me. "This isn't a place for strays to barge in," one sneered. He looked me up and down with open contempt before muttering to his partner, "What a joke-some beggar trying to sneak into a gala." I looked down at myself. My pale pink custom dress was now dirty and wrinkled from running here. Christopher's voice dripped with disgust. "So because the family disowned you, you've given up on yourself? Dressing like a beggar? Aren't you ashamed?" "Get lost!" he barked. I frowned. "I'm here for my family's engagement party." Alexander had returned from abroad for business, yet claiming he'd found the perfect match for an arranged marriage. Edward and I had come directly from our Hamptons estate to Baymont for this party. Christopher's mouth curved into a strange smile. "Family? You still covet the Harringtons, don't you? Who gave you the right to call yourself one of us?" Confusion gnawed at me. Was a Harrington getting engaged tonight as well? "In ten years abroad you've learned nothing," he spat. "I was willing to show you mercy, to let you reclaim your place in the family. But clearly, you haven't changed at all." I laughed coldly. So he hadn't forgotten I was cast aside for a decade. At twelve years old, I'd been dumped in West Africa, alone and terrified. Bombs and gunfire rained daily. Survival was a miracle. By chance, I saved a wounded man from an ambush. I cared for him, splitting my meager scraps of food in the refugee camp until he recovered. When he finally brought me back to his home, I was stunned speechless. An eighty-story penthouse tower, a testament to unimaginable wealth. Chapter 1 3.85% Only later did I learn the truth, that the battle P'd lived through was nothing more than rival oll magnates fighting for territory. The man I'd rescued had been Edward Westbrook himself. After his recovery, he crushed his enemies and claimed the entire oil empire as his own. The wars ended. The land fell silent. To the people of the oil fields, I became a talisman of fortune. They called me the Oil Princess. All those years, if the Harringtons had cared even once to look, they would have seen I had long since been adopted by Edward Westbrook. But before I could speak the truth, a bright, cheerful voice rang out. "Chris, today's my big day. Don't fight with her, okay?" A girl in a pastel pink gown came gliding out from the hall, radiant and smiling. The moment I saw her face, my whole body began to shake. Her face was hauntingly like that of the woman who had left me trapped in a garbage dump for years. 3.85%