My Childhood Sweetheart Breaks the Engagement, and I Marry His Family’s Bastard Instead

Everyone knew I was the woman Mr. Sterling, the family patriarch, had personally chosen for an arranged marriage. He’d decreed that whoever I married would be the one to inherit the vast Hayes fortune.

At the engagement party, I wore my custom-made gown, ready to step onto the stage and announce the union between the Hayes and Peterson families.

But my fiancé, Derek Hayes, had Tiffany Peterson, my adopted sister, clasped firmly by the hand. He pulled her into the center of the crowd, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.

“Tiffany and I are deeply in love; she’s the only woman I’ll ever marry.” “Scarlett is too headstrong, too unruly—she’s simply not fit to be a Hayes.”

My engagement was suddenly switched to my adopted sister, and everyone’s eyes on me were a mix of pity and mockery.

What they didn’t know was that Mr. Sterling had chosen me because my mother was the heiress to the formidable Vance family, a discreet yet incredibly powerful lineage. Someday, I would return to the Vance family and inherit its empire.

Since Derek had made his choice, the Hayes heir would naturally have to be someone else.