Ficorpio
Chapter 1
You were a consummate sweetheart fraud, so skilled at playing innocent that everyone had been fooled—everyone except your fiancé, Logan Sterling. He had seen through you from the beginning.
He was always grabbing your wrist through clenched teeth, his eyes sharpened with ice. “Stay away from Lily Bennett. I won’t let you lay a finger on her.”
Lily was your nominal older sister—and Logan’s one true love, the girl he had never stopped idealizing.
Later, at a family gathering, you announced in front of everyone that you were breaking off the engagement. You had expected Logan to be relieved, perhaps even to applaud.
Instead, his expression darkened as he stalked toward you and pinned you against the wall. His voice came from beneath the shadow he cast over you, low and sinister.
“Why don’t you want me?”
At dinner, your mother had prepared a large platter of plump seasonal mitten crabs.
You had never been good at cracking shells. The moment your fingertip touched the hard shell, its sharp edge sliced your skin. A bright bead of blood immediately welled up.
Lily glanced at your hand. The corner of her mouth lifted in undisguised contempt.
“You don’t even know how to open a crab? Have you never eaten one before? Honestly…”
She left the rest unsaid, but the disdain in her eyes pierced like a needle.
The lively dinner table fell silent.
The truth was, this really was your first time eating crab.
A plot more melodramatic than anything on television had happened to you in real life.
Seventeen years ago, your mother, Claire Bennett, had gone on vacation with your father, Richard Bennett, when she suddenly went into premature labor. They had no choice but to rush to a small hospital in a nearby town.
Another family welcomed a baby girl there that same day.
Whether it had been an honest mistake or something deliberate, you and that family’s newborn daughter had been switched at birth.
Seventeen years later, a routine medical examination revealed that your blood type did not match the Bennetts’. The secret buried all those years finally came to light. Richard and Claire traveled thousands of miles to find you, then “bought” their biological daughter back from that family for a million dollars.
Lily was the adopted daughter who had occupied your life for seventeen years.
Once she learned the truth, she clung to Claire and Richard, sobbing and screaming that they were the only parents she recognized. She refused to return to her impoverished biological family.
Your parents were too softhearted to throw her out. They continued to spoil her as they always had, telling outsiders only that you were fraternal twins and that you had been accidentally taken away as a baby.
But seventeen years of being indulged had already turned Lily arrogant and selfish. She believed you had stolen the affection and comfortable life that should have belonged to her, and she looked for ways to make trouble for you at every opportunity.
Chapter 2
Your parents and your brother, Ethan Bennett, knew it was wrong. But more than a decade of affection stood between them and any real punishment. They could not bring themselves to be too harsh with her.
You lowered your head and stared at the cut on your fingertip. When you spoke, your voice was soft, carrying the faintest trace of carefully hidden hurt.
“Yes. This really is my first time eating crab.”
“Before this, I hardly ever ate pork, let alone crab.”
“When I was little, I usually ate stale bread rolls that had been sitting around for days. They were hard as stones. Every time I swallowed one, it felt like it was scraping my throat raw…”
You forced the corners of your mouth upward. When you lifted your head, you happened to reveal your reddened, shining eyes.
“Sis, crab must be delicious, right? You probably ate it all the time, didn’t you?”
Claire’s face changed instantly. She picked up a crab, quickly worked the meat from its shell, and placed a full plate in front of you. Turning away, she wiped at the corner of her eye.
“It’s all right. That’s behind you now. From now on, Mom will buy you crab every day if you want. You can eat as much as you like.”
Richard fell silent as well. He reached over and gently patted your shoulder.
“You’ve had a hard life, sweetheart.”
Then his expression hardened. He turned sternly toward Lily.
“Eat your dinner. No talking during meals. Have you forgotten even the most basic manners?”
Ethan gave Lily a disapproving look and pushed the crab meat he had already picked from his own bowl toward you.
“If you like it, eat more.”
Lily had always been the center of attention in the Bennett family. When had she ever been treated with such coldness? She clenched her chopsticks so tightly that her knuckles whitened, clearly about to slam them onto the table.
Logan, who had been silent until then, suddenly tugged at her arm and handed her the crab meat from his own plate.
“Don’t be upset. Eat mine.”
At last, someone had taken her side. The anger on Lily’s face eased slightly, and she raised her chin at you in open challenge.
You looked up at Logan. His dark eyes were fixed heavily on you, full of impatience and hostility.
You gave him a faint smile. The instant his face darkened, you lowered your head with satisfaction and continued eating the crab meat in your bowl.
Logan Sterling was, nominally, Lily’s fiancé.
More accurately, he should have been yours.
The Sterlings and the Bennetts had been longstanding family allies. Before either family’s children had even been born, their parents had arranged a childhood engagement pact.
Logan and Lily had grown up together, childhood sweethearts bound by years of affection.
Chapter 3
So even after you returned, neither family had brought the tangled matter into the open.
The Sterling family certainly did not want their son marrying an adopted daughter. But Logan loved Lily, and they had no way to force him otherwise.
After dinner, you decided to go upstairs and rest.
You had barely reached the hallway when a powerful hand seized your wrist. Pain shot through you, and you could not stop yourself from frowning.
When you turned around, you found Logan standing there, his face cold and severe.
To be fair, Logan was striking. He had high, straight brows, handsome features, and an irreverent edge that made him look perpetually defiant. Whenever he looked at someone, he carried the bright, reckless confidence of youth.
Unfortunately, he was an empty-headed fool.
Suppressing your irritation, you made your voice soft as water.
“Logan, did you need something?”
His expression twisted as if he had swallowed something foul. He frowned and snapped, “Who gave you permission to call me that?”
Before you could answer, he stepped closer and looked down at you. He was nearly fully grown now, tall enough for his shadow to fall over you and leave you feeling inexplicably oppressed.
His eyes narrowed. The disgust in his voice was impossible to miss.
“Drop the fake-sweet act. I knew you were nothing but a low-class fraud.”
You froze for half a second and instinctively tried to pull your hand free.
“Logan, what are you talking about? You’re hurting me.”
He flung your wrist away with such force that you stumbled.
“Your sweetheart act doesn’t work on me! Stay away from Lily. What happened back then wasn’t her fault. She was a victim too. Don’t push your luck!”
You cursed him silently.
What an idiot.
You had no interest in wasting another word on him. You let the mask fall from your face, turned, and started to walk away.
“Ha. There it is,” he sneered behind you. “I knew you’d show your true colors. I’m warning you—don’t hurt Lily. If you know what’s good for you, keep your head down. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”
You stopped and turned around. Without changing your expression, you mouthed two words at him:
“Go to hell.”
Logan’s brows shot up, fury blazing in his eyes.
“What the hell did you say?”
You immediately changed your expression. You blinked twice, and your eyes filled with tears.
“Logan, did I do something wrong? You pulled me so hard. My wrist really hurts…”
You raised your wrist. The red marks his fingers had left were clearly visible.