Chapter 1

At our prep school’s centennial gala, the housekeeper's son was busy masquerading as me—the son of the richest man in the city.

He was wearing a bespoke suit and a million-dollar watch, sitting in the center of the hall, chatting amiably with the school board.

"This is just my housekeeper's kid," Christian said, pointing at me. "If I hadn't begged my dad to sponsor him, he wouldn't even have made it past the front gates of this school."

He kicked his foot out, looking down his nose at me. "Come here and wipe my shoes clean, Ethan. Otherwise, I’ll tell Chloe, and you know how that ends."

If this were my past life, I might have meekly obeyed. But now...

I smiled, and planted my boot right into his smug, hypocritical face.

Christian went flying backward, chair and all. Beside him, Mr. Harrison, our homeroom teacher, went pale with shock.

"Are you out of your mind, Ethan?!" Harrison shrieked. "How dare you kick Mr. Vance's son? I’ll make sure the headmaster expels you today, you absolute trash!"

Just because Chloe had grandly presented Christian to the school on day one and donated a brand-new library building on behalf of our family, Harrison had become Christian's ultimate bootlicker.

And because of Christian’s subtle hints, the teachers and my classmates spent the entire year bullying and isolating me. It drove me into a deep depression, eventually causing me to bomb my SATs and miss out on college.

In my past life, I endured it all in silence because Chloe told me she loved quiet, obedient brothers who didn't cause trouble.

But now, I just sneered. I looked Harrison dead in the eye and said, "Open your blind eyes and take a good look at who the real heir is. Whose father actually paid for that library? Expel me? Try it, and I’ll have my dad tear this entire school down to the ground."

Harrison was stunned for a second. But when his eyes swept over my cheap, ordinary clothes, his face twisted into sheer disdain. He clearly thought I had lost my mind.

Just then, Chloe spotted the commotion from across the hall. She rushed over, her stilettos clicking sharply against the marble floor.

She immediately knelt down, wrapping her arms around Christian to help him up. When she saw the muddy footprint on his face and the blood gushing from his nose, she lost it.

Before I could even blink, she stood up and slapped me hard across the face—twice.

"Christian was doing you a favor by letting you clean his shoes, Ethan!" Chloe screamed, her face contorted with rage. "How dare you lay a hand on him? I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!"

She raised her hand to strike me again, but Christian caught her arm.

Looking utterly victimized yet incredibly magnanimous, he choked out, "No, Chloe, don't. Let it go. I don't want to cause a scene and embarrass the Vance family."

Seeing how "sensible" her precious Christian was, Chloe’s disgust for me only deepened.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, chin tilted high, and looked down at me like I was dirt.

"Since Christian is kind enough to plead for you, I won't touch you. But you are going to get down on your knees and beg for his forgiveness right now."

The surrounding classmates immediately started chiming in, eager to please the "heir." "Look at how noble and forgiving Christian is! A parasite like Ethan should just get on his knees and apologize!"

Harrison stepped forward, grabbing my shoulders to force me down.

I violently shook him off. Pointing straight at Christian, who was still clinging to Chloe, I sneered, "A housekeeper's son expects me to kneel and apologize? What kind of garbage is he supposed to be?"

A collective gasp echoed through the crowd. "Is he insane? Did he just call Christian a housekeeper's son?"

"Look at Christian's outfit! His watch alone is worth millions. How could he be a housekeeper's son?"

I had always preferred to live quietly and blend in, so I never cared about flashy clothes.

Because of that, our housekeeper and Chloe had taken all the bespoke suits and luxury watches from my walk-in closet and handed them directly to Christian.

They had even stolen my very identity, treating it as theirs by default.

In my past life, I didn't care enough to fight back, which eventually led to my agonizing death.

But now that I’ve been given a second chance, I won't let them run wild for a second longer.

I stepped forward, grabbed the lapels of Christian's expensive suit, and ripped it down the middle. Then, I yanked the luxury watch off his wrist and tossed it straight into the nearby trash can.

"A servant’s son playing master? Know your place."

Christian let out a strangled shriek of agony and scrambled toward the trash can to fish out the watch.

Beside him, Chloe was shaking with rage. Her eyes turned ice-cold as she hissed a threat at me.

"Shut your mouth! You’re just jealous of Christian, so you’re making up these disgusting lies. If you keep this up, don't blame me for having you kicked out of the Vance Group!"

Chloe pulled her executive ID badge from her purse. "As the General Manager of the Vance Group, I officially declare that Christian is the one and only true heir to the Vance family!"

I burst out laughing at her utter shamelessness.

"Chloe, did early-onset dementia rot your brain, or are you just blind?" I mocked. "You can't even tell the difference between your own brother and a housekeeper's son? If you don't need those eyes of yours, you should donate them to science."

Chloe never expected that I, the brother who used to hang on her every word, would dare challenge her in public.

Her chest heaved with fury as she whipped around to face the headmaster. "What are you standing there for? Expel this delinquent and throw him out of this school immediately!"

Headmaster Sterling hesitated for a second before signaling the security guards to escort me out.

I cast a cold glance at him. "Headmaster Sterling, they might be blind, but surely you haven't lost your mind too?"

Unlike Harrison, the headmaster actually knew who I was. My father had personally introduced me to him when I enrolled.

Yet under the heavy pressure of Chloe’s executive authority, Headmaster Sterling looked at me with a pleading expression.

"Just... get down and apologize to Christian, Ethan," he muttered quietly. "Otherwise, my hands are tied. I’ll have to kick you out."

He waved his hand, signaling the security guards to move in.