Reclaiming My Life From Their Betrayal

Chapter 4

Word Count: 890 | Released on: 21/04/2026

t risk another close call. The next morning, Maria

amiliar. I told her you were my cousin, just filling in for the

re' s what you do now. Quit. I' ve deposited a year

he other end of the line.

One loose end tied u

she was a shark of a lawyer, the sharpest mind I knew. We met at

r lie. I slid the flash drive across the table. Her face, us

as she gripped her coffee cup. "All of them. Your

etly. "I just want to disappear. I want to leave

' s assets, not to mention a massive settlement

ike ash. "Their money is what they used to buy my silenc

reak. We can do that. We' ll prepare the divorce papers, cite infidelity. And a docum

nniversary" dinner Ivan had proposed. The location was set: a private room at The Oak Room, th

il that made my blood run cold. Debi saw my

rm Dr. Donovan' s dietary restrictions. The chef notes her

horror. "Benzos? They

niversary of their great deception, I might finally get emotional, or suspicious. They were going to se

there was some twisted, misguided love behind the

that had nothing to do with humor. "Of course,"

rabbed my hand. Her grip was firm,

m going to let them think their plan is work

ition. The legal renunciation of the Donovan name and fortune. With eac

nce I was a child in the system, before they found me. A name that was truly mine. The flight was for Saturday night,

ent, Ivan was there, humming

ting my eyes. "Have to fly out tonight, back t

He was going to Kiera' s.

I said, my

smissive peck on the chee

plied, the word

oneliness didn't hurt. It felt like freedom. I was no longer Aliana Donovan, the long-lost daughter, t

Chapter End

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Reclaiming My Life From Their Betrayal

Zhu Xiaying Modern

“I was Aliana Donovan, a resident physician, finally reunited with the wealthy family I' d been lost from as a child. I had loving parents and a handsome, successful fiancé. I was safe. I was loved. It was a perfect, fragile lie. The lie shattered on a Tuesday when I discovered my fiancé, Ivan, wasn't at a board meeting but at a sprawling mansion with Kiera Reese, the woman I was told had a mental breakdown five years ago after trying to frame me. She wasn' t disgraced; she was radiant, holding a little boy, Leo, who giggled in Ivan' s arms. I overheard their conversation: Leo was their son, and I was merely a "placeholder," a means to an end until Ivan no longer needed my family's connections. My parents, the Donovans, were in on it, funding Kiera' s lavish life and their secret family. My entire reality-the loving parents, the devoted fiancé, the security I thought I' d found-was a carefully constructed stage, and I was the fool playing the lead role. The casual lie Ivan texted me, "Just got out of the meeting. So exhausting. I miss you. See you at home," while he stood beside his real family, was the final blow. They thought I was pathetic. They thought I was a fool. They were about to find out just how wrong they were.”