Chapter 1

I was the true heir of a billionaire family, swapped at birth in a hospital mix-up.

But the moment I was brought back home, the family suddenly declared bankruptcy.

Our mansion was seized, and I ended up on the streets with my parents and my wife.

The shock was too much for my parents; one ended up paralyzed, and the other passed away.

My wife supposedly had her legs broken by debt collectors, and the trauma supposedly turned my son into a shell of a child.

To pay the mountain of medical bills, I worked countless part-time jobs, living like a stray dog.

One night, I took a gig as a valet for a high-end gala at a five-star hotel.

I walked into the ballroom, and my entire world stopped spinning.

1

At the center of the Golden Anniversary celebration, the two people kissing were my "dead" mother and my "paralyzed" father.

On the dance floor below them, my "crippled" wife was performing a graceful ballroom dance.

My son was nearby, chatting with some foreign kids in fluent, perfect English.

I stood there like a statue, watching this happy, wealthy family.

Was I hallucinating from the sheer exhaustion of working three shifts?

Wasn't my family supposed to be broke and suffering?

I rubbed my eyes until they stung, then turned to the commemorative plaque at the entrance.

The gold-leafed photos showed my parents, my wife, and my son.

And standing right there with them was the imposter―the fake heir who had replaced me.

They looked like a perfect, intimate family.

Suddenly, someone smacked me hard on the back of my head.

It was the wealthy car owner who had hired me to drive him home.

He looked at me with pure disgust.

"What the hell are you staring at?" he snapped.

"Don't get any ideas. This is the 50th Anniversary gala for the Thorne family."

"Be smart and stay out of the way, or I'll make sure you never work in this town again!"

I touched my head where he hit me. It throbbed with a very real pain.

Up on the stage, my parents didn't vanish into thin air.

This wasn't a nightmare. This was my reality.

But why?

If they weren't bankrupt, why did they lie to me for years?

I couldn't believe it. My father, who claimed he wanted to end his life so he wouldn't be a burden, had never actually cared about me.

I couldn't believe that the wife who ate stale bread with me had never actually loved me.

My mind was a chaotic mess, and my eyes began to burn with tears of rage.

The car owner kicked me impatiently.

"Can't you speak? Are you a damn mute too?"

He gave me a hard shove. I wasn't prepared for it and went crashing into a pyramid of champagne glasses.

The sound of shattering glass echoed through the silent ballroom.

In an instant, every eye in the room was on me.