They Say I'm a Fake Heiress, But Mom Gave Birth to Me

I'm a mama's girl, and my mother is one of the most feared people in the elite social circle.

When I was little, I was snatched by traffickers. She crossed ninety-nine mountains through the night to get me back.

And she personally crippled the traffickers' hands and feet.

When I grew up, I fell for Tristan Gilbert, the most handsome male celebrity in Los Angeles.

One little plea from me, and without a word she had Tristan trussed up and delivered right in front of me.

"My daughter wants him, my daughter gets him."

After we married, Tristan didn't dare stir up a single scandal.

When I asked why, a shiver ran through him.

"The future me called and warned me. If I ever cheat, that psycho mother of yours will torture me until I wish I were dead."

But three years later.

He cheated anyway.

He brought his female assistant home right out in the open.

And tossed a paternity report at me.

"You're not your father's real daughter. Ada Fox is the true lost heiress of your family!"

I felt a flicker of panic and pressed him at once.

"Then am I my mother's real daughter?"

He grunted, his whole face full of contempt.

"So what if you are? Your mother must have slept with some lover and had you!"

"Your mother can be as ruthless as she likes, but she's still just a woman."

"The second I tell your father about this, he'll throw both you cheap little bitches out of the house!"

The knot in my chest finally loosened.

Whether I'm my father's daughter doesn't matter. All that matters is that I'm my mother's child.

Because my father only married into the family.

My mother is the true mistress of this house.

Since Tristan cheated, then I'll make that phone call from three years ago come true.

...

If I could.

I'd want my mother to rush home right now and clean house herself.

But she's away on business in the United States, so all I can do is call her.

The call hadn't even connected.

When Tristan yanked the phone out of my hand, dropped it under his foot, and ground it into the floor again and again.

"Trying to go tattle to your mommy again?"

He laughed, mocking.

"You really are the famous mama's girl of Los Angeles. Twenty-five years old and still this useless."

"Without your mother here this time, can you still throw your weight around?"

I stared into Tristan's eyes, unable to believe it.

Three years of marriage.

He had never once dared to be rough with me.

He was even afraid a single kiss might make me cry.

On rainy days, he'd carry me on his back so I wouldn't soak my shoes and socks.

When my cramps hit, he'd stay up all night changing the hot water bottle, gently rubbing my belly.

In the car accident, he shielded me on instinct, and it didn't matter to him that three of his own ribs broke.

At night.

He would softly kiss my forehead.

"Ivy Swanson, I think I've really fallen in love with you."

I thought three years of love had finally bloomed.

I never imagined the bloom would last only a heartbeat.

"What's this? Without your mother backing you up, you can't even talk?"

Ada, standing at Tristan's side, was grinning ear to ear.

"Just like a three-year-old who never got weaned."

"No wonder Tristan's heart wandered!"

But what could I do about having a ruthless mother I could lean on?

When I was little and got bullied by a classmate.

One call from her, and that classmate's whole family moved out of Los Angeles overnight.

When a teacher had it in for me, she marched straight to the school without a word and made her point.

After that, I walked the halls untouchable.

Playing rock-paper-scissors with her, I only ever threw scissors.

Because she was my rock and my paper.

My thoughts came back to the room.

I looked straight at Tristan and said coldly.

"Don't push this too far. Tristan, aren't you afraid that phone call from three years ago will come true?"

Three years ago, right after Tristan married in.

He'd said to me, his face full of fear.

"The future me called and warned me I could never cheat."

"The moment I betray you, your mother will torture me until I wish I were dead, until I'm living worse than a stray dog!"

I thought bringing it up would give him at least a little pause.

But the man just gave a scornful little snort.

His tone light as air.

"So what if that dream is real?"

"You and your mother are about to be thrown out on the street. You can't even save yourselves. What makes you think you can come after me?"

Ada jumped in right behind him.

Her eyes turned vicious as she looked at me.

"Ivy Swanson, I'm the real heiress of this family. I'm your father's real daughter!"

"You stole twenty-five years of the happy life that should've been mine, and it's time you gave it all back, Tristan included!"

"Let me spell it out for you. You're the mistress who came between us!"

My brows drew together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ada wore a smug look.

"Tristan and I have been lovers for three years now."

"If you hadn't forced your way in and taken him, the two of us would already have a kid old enough to run errands!"

Something heavy pressed down on my chest, a dull, suffocating weight.

No wonder he'd been out all night, over and over these three years.

No wonder every time he came home late, there was an unfamiliar perfume clinging to him.

Back then I was lost in the fantasy of being in love.

I never let myself think about it too hard.

Looking back now, I really had been slow. I never once realized the man beside my pillow was also warming someone else's bed.

I already knew, plainly, that Tristan was rotten to the core.

And still, humiliatingly, my eyes went red.

Three years of feeling.

I couldn't switch off from him in a single instant.

This time, Tristan didn't gently wipe my tears away the way he always used to.

"Enough! What are you crying for? I'm not going to coax you like before."

He held Ada against him, softly stroking her belly.

Then he gave me his order.

"I know you love me more than your own life. So here's the deal. Serve as Ada's maid, wait on her properly until she gives birth, and I'll go easy and stay married to you. I won't even tell your father about your mother's affair."

My face stiffened.

I'd once told Tristan I wanted a child of our own.

He'd said, "Having a baby would ruin your figure. I only want you beautiful."

He'd said it was precisely because he loved me so much that he couldn't bear to put me through the pain of childbirth.

Only in this moment did it finally hit me.

He simply never wanted to have a child with me. That was all.

Once I'd gotten myself back under control, I shot back at him, sour and sharp.

"I was born to be honored, never to be a servant."

"Tristan, telling my father won't do a thing. The ones getting thrown out will be the two of you."

"Because in this house, my mother is the one in charge."

The pair across from me froze for a second.

Then they burst out laughing.

"Oh, please, Ivy Swanson. If you're going to lie, at least use your head."

"Your family's company is run by your father. Your mother's just a woman. How could she possibly build a company?"

But my father was nothing more than a secretary running errands for my mother.

My mother was the real boss behind it all.

"Tristan's right. Your mother isn't out working street corners, is she? How else would money come that fast?"

Ada folded her arms across her chest.

Her face full of contempt.

That tired little judgment drove straight into my heart.

It struck me as unbearably ironic.

This world had truly lost its mind.

The bar for a woman's success was set so impossibly high.

And the cost of dismissing a powerful woman was so cheap.

As if the moment a woman rose above the crowd, it had to be her family's doing, and if not that, her husband's, and if not that either, then she must have sold her body...

I couldn't hold the fury down anymore. My hand flew up and cracked across Ada's face.

Ada cried out and stumbled back into Tristan's arms.

Her eyes went red, brimming with tears.

"Tristan, it hurts so much. You won't let me and the baby suffer, will you?"

Tristan held Ada tight against his chest and glared at me.

"Divorce. We're getting a divorce. You're exactly like your mother, a domineering shrew!"

Then he grabbed me.

Dragged me.

Shoved me into the car.

In all the years I'd known him, he'd rarely lost his composure like this.

He drove to the county clerk's office at breakneck speed.

Inside the lobby, he slapped the divorce papers down in front of me.

"Sign it. Fast. I've still got to file the marriage license with Ada."

I picked up the pen, my face unchanged.

"Fine. I'll sign."

Once we were divorced, I'd love to see who'd hand him his connections in the industry.

I signed my name without a moment's hesitation.

The seal came down, and three years of marriage ended just like that.

The divorce certificate in hand.

He was ecstatic.

"The wedding photos have to look sharp. Ada, wait for me a second!"

He turned and pulled a brand-new suit and dress shoes out of the car and changed into them.

Ada took out a spotless white veil and pinned it into her hair.

I stood off to the side, watching all of it.

And suddenly three years ago rose up in my mind.

The day he and I registered our marriage.

That day, the man who cared so much about his image hadn't fixed himself up at all.

Hadn't shaved.

Just an ordinary short-sleeved shirt.

I'd told him to change into something nicer.

He'd said it was too flashy, that he'd be recognized as a celebrity.

Said he was afraid his obsessive fans would come after me.

I believed him.

But now I finally understood. That had just been an excuse to brush me off.

We walked out the doors of the clerk's office.

Ada was pressed close against Tristan, happiness she couldn't hide all over her face.

We hadn't gone two steps.

When Tristan's obsessive fans really did swarm us.

They kept looking me and Ada up and down.

The whole scene dissolved into shouting.

"Which one of them is the one seducing our Tristan?"

"He belongs to all of us. What gives her the right to hog him? She's getting taught a lesson today!"

More and more of them crowded in.

The clerk's office staff stepped up to hold them back, but it was no use at all.

Tristan panicked.

He could only put on a show of being devoted to me.

He leaned in close and spoke gently.

"Baby, I have to go on ahead."

Before he left.

He pressed his lips near my ear and dropped his voice.

"Ada's carrying my child, she can't get hurt. You hold them off first. I'll send someone to save you later."

That one word, "baby," set the fans' fury completely ablaze.

They all rushed at me in a single mob.

I had no time to dodge. They shoved me to the ground.

Countless hands came down on me, fists and feet raining down one after another.

"You little slut, what right do you have to marry Tristan? We're going to beat you to death today!"

Tristan seized the chaos and took Ada away.

They got into the car.

Ada rolled down the window and gave me a smug little smile.

"Ivy Swanson, I hope you make it back alive!"

I thought I was really about to die.

At the critical moment.

Mom rushed in.

She moved fast.

In two or three motions she flung off the fans pinning me down.

"You've got some nerve, laying hands on my daughter. You must be tired of living!"

One phone call.

And a group of powerfully built bodyguards arrived.

Watching Mom's grim face.

They didn't dare breathe.

They could only say, deferential,

"Ms. Swanson, every tear Miss Swanson cried, we'll pay back double to those troublemakers!"

The grievance I'd held in for so long finally broke loose.

I threw myself into her arms and sobbed out loud.

"Mom, you weren't there, and they beat me so badly."

"You have to get me my revenge!"

After Mom calmed me down, she took me home with her.

By then.

Tristan and Ada were laughing and horsing around on the sofa.

The moment he saw Mom's dark expression, Tristan instinctively pulled away from Ada, his whole body going tense.

Beside him, Ada tugged at his arm, completely unbothered.

"Tristan, at this point there's no need to be scared of them. I'm the real heiress of this family. She can't do a thing to us."

Mom heard that.

A cold laugh slipped out of her.

"You? What exactly do you think you are?"

"In this house, my daughter Ivy Swanson is the only heiress there will ever be."

I thought she would do what she always did.

Teach them a proper lesson.

I didn't expect what came next.

A strange odor drifted through the air.

My legs and Mom's went out from under us at the same time, and we both dropped to the floor and lost consciousness.

Watching us collapse, they showed no surprise at all, only smug satisfaction.

"Finally worked. That knockout drug really does the trick."

Ada's face appeared above me, twisted with a manic grin.

"Ivy Swanson, aren't you the little mama's girl? You and your mother, thick as thieves, best in the whole wide world?"

"Then let me give you both a fun little game. I promise you'll have the time of your lives."

She clapped her hands.

Several men pushed in through the side door.

They looked us over with leers, ugly grins on their faces.

Ada crouched down then and shoved a fistful of pills into my mouth.

She watched my body burn up, my face flushing red.

She patted my cheek, thrilled with herself.

"Why so quiet all of a sudden? Scared now?"

"Then beg me. Beg me like a dog, right now, and maybe I'll tell them to be gentle."

Beside her, Tristan spoke up quietly.

"Forget it, Ada. Her mother's the one we're after"

The woman flew into a rage.

She shrieked.

"No, they've both wronged me. Ivy Swanson stole my life, took the nest that was mine. This is the price for it!"

She let out a sinister little laugh.

"Once they're done with you, it'll be your mother's turn."

"And when your father gets here, what do you think he'll make of her?"

"I bet he'll blow up on the spot and throw you both out on the street."

I looked over at Mom, still unconscious.

And I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

Ada clicked her tongue and kicked me hard.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Laughing at your mother?"

But I was laughing at Ada.

Death at her door and she couldn't even see it.

Wasn't that funny?

Ada gave up on me.

She turned and walked toward my mother.

"You cheap little thing. When your husband gets here and sees you looking this filthy, do you really think he'll still want you?"

She bent down to strip off my mother's clothes.

The next second, my mother's eyes snapped open.

Her hand shot out and seized a fistful of Ada's hair.

She hauled her up and flung her hard, sending her crashing to the floor across the room.

Ada screamed with pain, her face full of disbelief.

"How is this possible? You breathed in the drug, you passed out. How can you be perfectly fine?"

What she didn't know.

My mother had spent years moving among every kind of person.

Drugging, sabotage, dirty tricks she'd seen it all a thousand times.

A little knockout powder was nothing to her.

Ada clutched her bruised body.

And called my father.

Told him to come and back her up.

Tristan stepped up too and warned me.

"You two are finished!"

"Ada is the true heiress of this family. When my father-in-law gets here, he'll make you both pay!"

Mom and I sat calmly on the sofa, sipping tea while we waited.

It wasn't long.

My father arrived, his whole face terrifyingly dark.

The moment Ada saw him, she burst into tears of joy and threw herself into his arms.

"Dad, you have to teach these two shameless women a lesson! I've drifted out there alone all these years. You owe me. You have to make it up to me today!"

But after all her sobbing, the man wasn't moved in the slightest.

Instead he shoved her hard away from him.

And struck her across the face.

"In this house, my wife has the final say. Who do you think you are, screaming at my wife like that?"