Chapter 1

The former top heiress of North City was getting married, despite her reputation that was left in tatters for her alleged debauchery.

Naturally, high society was left in an uproar once word got out.

…

Cordy Sachs, who was dressed in a Franconia designer wedding dress, was looking at the reflection of her dazzling, beautiful face in the mirror.

After dating Kyle Jessop for three years, they were finally tying the knot—he still loved her even though everyone was trying to put her down.

Smiling expectantly with tears welling in her eyes, she reared her chin slightly as she lifted her skirt and started toward the door… only for rolling wisps of smoke to seep through the slit around the door, creeping into the washroom impatiently as if looking for an outlet.

A fire?!

Cordy's face fell. Pinching her nose as she stepped outside, she found the banquet hall that had been exceedingly lively a second ago now empty.

There was only the thick smoke and fire that seemed bent on consuming everything.

She did not hesitate to head toward the location of the exit in her memory, but she would be lying if she said she was not afraid of the rolling smoke and the blinding flames.

That was when a man suddenly charged inside the hall.

It was Cordy's fiance, Kyle Jessop.

Seemingly seeing salvation, she cried out as she coughed and spluttered, "Kyle, I'm here…"

Kyle, however, ignored her as he looked around anxiously.

Then, pausing for a moment as if finding his target, he did not hesitate to run in the opposite direction from Cordy, even though every second counted.

Then, as Cordy looked on, he picked up another woman who had been caught within the hall like Cordy and hurried outside.

"I knew you would come for me, Kyle…" Cordy could clearly hear the woman's enfeebled voice, at once tender and aggrieved. "I was so afraid…"

Cordy abruptly felt as if she was bludgeoned, her vision blacking out as she felt a dull pain over her chest.

The voice belonged to her stepsister, Noel Sachs.

And Kyle would put everything on the line to save Noel, but not her!

Her heart was in pieces as if sliced through by a razor blade, and it was a suffocation more lethal than the smoke around her!

As she was rendered speechless, the glass chandelier overhead suddenly came crashing down!

Clang!

It landed in front of Cordy, cutting off her escape even as she dropped to the floor, her soul seemingly displaced.

Kyle turned around just then and saw Cordy falling behind him—but he never stopped.

When Cordy looked up again, he had already dashed out of the hall without a care with the other woman in his arms.

She was on the verge of death, but she could still clearly hear him tenderly assuring Noel, "It's alright. I'm here now."

'I'm here now…'

Cordy blinked even as violent heat surrounded her but she felt utterly cold inside.

She could only watch as that familiar figure slowly disappeared from sight.

-

Cordy managed to survive—amid her despair, the firefighters arrived just in time and rescued her.

However, she had inhaled too much smoke and suffered blunt trauma on her right leg—she was unconscious when they got her out, and they rushed her to the hospital right after.

It was not until the next morning that she woke up.

There was a gentle breeze in the air—it was a beautiful early summer day in North City and a ray of sunshine landed on her pale, frail cheeks and her long, thick eyelashes.

She was looking coolly out at the blue sky and the clouds above. Her calm visage showed no emotion, and she was so still she could as well be still unconscious.

She did not realize that someone had suddenly opened the door to her ward, and she turned to find her father, stepmother, and Noel in the room already.

"Are you alright, Cordy?" Noel asked tearfully.

All Cordy could think about right then was the sight of Kyle saving Noel. She averted her eyes from them.

"You're always so rude! Don't you see that your sister cares about you?" her father, Simon Sachs, snapped right then.

On the other hand, Cordy's stepmother, Sue Yorkman, could see that Cordy did not want to talk. Sue quickly told him, "Simon, Cordy is just a child. We have more important matters anyway."

Simon did not want to waste his breath with Cordy either and said right away, "You probably know by now, but Noel's the one Kyle actually loves, and it's a lucky coincidence that the wedding was disrupted. So give them your blessing and announce the annulment of your engagement with Kyle."

Cordy laughed despite her fury and she asked Simon, "Why?"

"Because they love each other," Simon said with utter conviction. "You'd already dragged our family's name through the mud when you had a child out of wedlock! All of North City knows that, and did you really think the Jessops would accept someone with such a questionable past? They are giving you a way out, so take it!"

Cordy's questionable past went as far as she was eighteen.

Noel had tricked Cordy to show up at a bar, where she was drugged and ended up waking up in the bed of a man she did not recognize.

She was so distraught she did not even look at the man before running away, and she was too young to understand contraceptives. In fact, she was already five months pregnant before she realized what was happening, and Noel had sent the paparazzi after her when she tried to get the abortion despite her pain.

That was how Cordy ended up being the biggest laughingstock of North City.

Things went from bad to worse when the doctor told her that she could not get an abortion for health reasons, and she therefore kept the child. She eventually came to accept it, only for it to come out stillborn… but in her anguish, when she needed comfort the most, Simon ruthlessly sent her abroad, leaving her to her own devices and without a word of concern for seven years.

In fact, he never asked about her even though she just escaped death. And now, he was telling her to give up on Kyle for his precious Noel?!

How cold could a father be that he could tell her something so cruel, to rip open her old scars and draw blood?

"I guess being a mistress runs in the family," Cordy said with a sneer. "Drag the family's name through the mud? You already did when you married your mistress while my mother's body was still warm, and the child you had with her is somehow just half a year younger than me. No one else would dare claim the throne of infamy in this city when you're around!"

"Cordy…"

Simon was growling angrily, while Noel and Sue were humiliated by her insults.

Not in the mood to continue arguing with her so-called family, Cordy snapped, "If the Jessops really refuse to have me, have Kyle himself tell me! You have no reason to be here, so leave before I call the cops! What more do I have to get embarrassed about, right?"

Simon knew very well that Cordy was just delicate on the surface like her mother. Her stubbornness and unreasonable nature were ingrained in her very bones, and if they really upset her, no one was going to stop her!

"Don't make me send you abroad again, Cordy Sachs!" he barked before turning to leave, with Noel and Sue naturally hurrying off after him.

However, Cordy scoffed at Simon's threat—did he think she was still her old self from seven years ago, allowing him to do anything he wanted with her?

She would not allow anyone to walk over her and her life from now on!

"Mommy?"

A small, crisp voice brought Cordy to her senses just then…