Synopsis
To get revenge for the fake heiress, Elena, my older brother Richard Chilton decided to make an example of me.
At my own engagement party—before every influential family in Seattle—he deliberately announced the wrong name.
With a calm smile, he declared that I, the true Chilton heiress, would be marrying Gregory Pearson… a waiter working the event.
For a split second, the ballroom fell silent. Then the laughter began.
“The Chilton heiress is marrying a waiter?”
“So this is the grand alliance the Chiltons prepared?”
Mockery rippled through the crowd, each whisper sharper than the last. I stood frozen under the chandeliers, humiliation burning through me as grief and fury tangled in my chest.
Richard, however, looked completely unbothered.
“You stole Elena’s spotlight at the dance competition the other day,” he said coolly. “She’s been upset ever since. Think of today as a little lesson.”
He didn’t even try to hide his favoritism.
“She’s spoiled and a bit immature. Don’t hold it against her. It’s just a joke,” he added lightly. “Besides, Dad and I would never actually let you marry a waiter.”
A joke.
In their eyes, my dignity was nothing more than a punchline—something to sacrifice to soothe Elena’s wounded pride.
