Chapter 1

Everyone went quiet as I kicked Tanya Hall to the floor.

Letitia Ingram, my personal butler, was shaking in fear. She tried to help Tanya, but a glare from me made her remain in her spot. "Letitia, despite working for the Gould family for so many years now, are you still unaware of who your real employer is?"

With her hands frozen in the air, Letitia looked at me in terror. "M-Miss…"

I strode up to the seat in the center, reserved for the daughter of the Gould family, and slowly sipped from a teacup before asking airily, "What's the matter? Do you want to help her up? Sure. Go ahead. Once my father comes home in a few days, I'll tell him to fire you."

Upon hearing that, Letitia turned pale from fright. She vehemently shook her head before hurrying over to me, too scared to even spare a glance at Tanya.

Tanya's eyes immediately pooled with tears. In that pitiful state, she turned her gaze onto the surrounding young women from various established families, and as expected, everyone looked at me with frowns on their faces.

Amy Wagner, the daughter of Hank Wagner, a sales manager at Gould Group, was the first to react. She rushed over to Tanya and helped her up. Then, she wagged her finger at me and screamed, "Hey! Who the hell are you? How dare you treat Tanya like this?"

"That's right!" someone else piped up. "Everyone knows that Tanya is the sole heir of Gould Group! Who do you think you are?"

I sneered. It made sense. In my previous life, I was weak and pathetic. My mother never attended such functions with me, allowing Tanya to do whatever she wanted. No one had ever seen me before, even though I was the real heir of the Gould family.

Lifting my head, I looked Amy in the eye and remarked, "You're just a manager's daughter. What gives you the audacity to stick up for her?"

"Why, you!"

Amy probably didn't expect me to have the guts to argue with her in public. Infuriated, she grabbed a teacup from the table and tried to throw its contents at me.

The other young women shrieked at the sight, but I calmly remained in my seat. With a flick of my hand, I watched as the tea splashed onto Amy's face and fear-stricken eyes instead.

Seeing this, Tanya shot to her feet and screamed at me, "Sophia! Don't think you can cause a scene here today just because you're related to my family! I was kind enough to bring you along so that you can expand your horizons a little. Don't you dare push it!"

Wiping the tea off her face, Amy shouted at the security guards behind her, "Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and chase her out. If you don't, I'll tell my father about this, and you'll all get in trouble!"

I held my head up high and smirked at the crowd. "I'm the daughter of James Gould, the chairman of Gould Group! Let's see who dares to lay a finger on me!"

Tanya's eyes flickered briefly in panic before she screamed at Letitia, "Letitia! Speak! Tell everyone who the daughter of the Gould family is!"

Alas, Letitia was terrified by what I'd said earlier, so she dared not answer Tanya's question. She merely bowed her head even lower.

Unruffled, I looked at Letitia and said coolly, "Get my mother here."

Letitia looked up at me in shock. After all, my mother, Naomi Briggs, had always turned a blind eye to everything Tanya did. Why would she help me?

Nevertheless, Letitia shakily hurried off anyway.

Seeing this, Tanya couldn't resist snorting. "Sure. We'll let Mom decide who's in the wrong here!"

I scanned the guests present. None of them held a higher status in society than me.

While this banquet was ostensibly held to celebrate Gould Group's opening of several subsidiaries abroad, in reality, it was a chance for these people to latch themselves onto the Goulds, the richest family in town.