Introduction

For twenty years, I lived a life of pampered luxury, the cherished heiress of the powerful Harrison family defined by our sprawling Hamptons estate, my loving adoptive parents, and my intense, often unsettlingly devoted brother Julian.

Then, a cold, thin file placed on my father's desk shattered everything. A hospital mix-up, two decades ago. The truth hit me like a physical blow, stealing my breath: the Maya Rodriguez on the report was me, and I was not a Harrison. The real heiress, Ava Sterling, was already on her way.

My world collapsed into a gilded cage when Julian, the brother who claimed to love me obsessively, refused to let me leave, physically isolating me in their opulent New York penthouse. After a shocking car accident left him with severe amnesia, I was rendered invisible to him, a "troublesome housekeeper" at the mercy of his ruthless fiancée Olivia and the cunning Ava. They unleashed a torrent of brutal torment, from physical abuse and public humiliation to being framed for theft, culminating in Julian casually condemning me to a fate worse than death.

How could the man who once fought for my affection now look through me with such blank, cold indifference? Every bruise, every psychological blow, amplified the crushing injustice of being treated as less than nothing, even as my connection to them had inadvertently saved Ava's life. Was there truly no escape from this nightmare, no recognition of the girl he once claimed was his?

Just as despair threatened to swallow me whole, a glimmer of hope appeared in the kindness of an old friend, Noah. When they demanded my rare blood to save the very girl who tormented me, I seized my chance, offering my life force in exchange for absolute freedom. This was my final, desperate gamble: would this ultimate sacrifice allow me to finally disappear and rebuild a life far from the toxic Harrisons, or was I forever doomed to be their pawn?