"Now that you're out, live right. Your family is waiting outside. Go on, head home."
With the guard's polite reminder in her ears, Vivian Sterling slowly stepped out through the prison gates.
She lifted her head. The sunlight hit her eyes so hard it stung, sharp and blazing, but she still didn't look away. How long had it been since she'd felt sunlight this fierce on her skin?
At the same time, not far away, a young man got out of a Bugatti.
"Vivian."
Only then did Vivian look at the man standing in front of her, dressed in a tailored suit, handsome, polished, every inch the rich young master.
"Mom and Dad asked me to pick you up," he said. "You've suffered these past five years. As compensation, you're still part of the Sterling family. You'll continue to enjoy everything you used to have."
His tone was flat, businesslike, though there was a faint trace of guilt underneath it.
Honestly, Marcus Sterling had expected someone fresh out of prison to look a mess, rough, worn down, completely ruined.
But the Vivian in front of him was clean and put together. Her complexion was healthy, her features bright. If anything, she looked even more striking than before.
That fake, hypocritical face of his made her stomach turn.
"You all teamed up and made me take the fall for Rosalie, and now you're here to pick me up and talk about 'compensating' me?" Vivian's eyes were cold. "Don't you hear how ridiculous that sounds?"
Marcus frowned, impatience flashing across his face.
"Vivian, my patience has limits. This isn't the time for you to throw a tantrum."
Vivian looked at him like he was something filthy.
"Get lost."
Marcus clearly hadn't expected five years behind bars to change her this much. Back then, Vivian had been graceful, lively, the perfect image of a wealthy young lady. But now, aside from that same beautiful face, there was nothing left of the girl she used to be. Her whole aura had changed.
He didn't even want to bother with her, honestly.
But then he thought of Rosalie's guilty eyes, and their parents' repeated instructions.
So he forced himself to stay patient and said, "You're not the old Vivian anymore. And with a criminal record, how exactly are you supposed to survive in society now? If you don't want to end up begging on the street, you'd better come back with me. Mom and Dad have been thinking about you this whole time. Rosalie even made a cake and is waiting for you to come home. Don't disappoint her."
Vivian gave a cold laugh.
"My criminal record exists because of you people."
Her gaze sharpened, like a blade unsheathing inch by inch.
"Especially you, my so-called wonderful big brother, Lawyer Sterling."
Back then, when she had been sent to prison in Rosalie's place, Marcus had pulled a lot of strings. And he wasn't the only one. Rosalie's two biological brothers had helped too. So had the couple who were supposed to be her parents.
Marcus's expression shifted.
"You should understand this much," he said in a lower voice. "Rosalie is my real sister. You took her place and lived in the Sterling family for eighteen years. You owed her that from the start."
Vivian stared at him for a second, then let out one short, icy laugh.
"Wow. You people are seriously insane."
After cursing him out, Vivian Sterling just turned and kept walking.
Marcus Sterling frowned hard and called after her, "Vivian Sterling, once you leave the Sterling family, you’re nothing. I’m telling you, you’d better not blow this chance. When you can’t even survive out there, don’t expect to come crawling back."
Right then, a Maybach rolled to a stop in front of Vivian.
The rear door opened, and a man got out. He walked up to her, posture respectful, then bent slightly. "Excuse me, are you Miss Vivian?"
Vivian nodded. "I am."
The man’s attitude instantly became even more careful, almost deferential. "My deepest apologies for being late, Miss Vivian. Please, get in the car."
The moment Marcus saw that scene, his expression changed on the spot. Pure shock.
The car itself wasn’t the scary part. It wasn’t outrageously expensive.
But the plate number was 0000.
That alone was enough to show just how untouchable the owner was.
Vivian gave a quiet "Mm," then paused before getting in. She turned, looked straight at the stunned Marcus, and said in a cool, sharp voice, "Lawyer Sterling, go back and tell Rosalie Sterling this for me. Those five years I spent in prison? I’ll return every second of it to her."
After saying that, she stepped in with those long strides of hers and got into the car without looking back.
Marcus froze for half a beat, then clenched his fists so tightly the veins on the back of his hands stood out. His face darkened by the second.
Who was it?
Other than the Sterling family, who else would come pick her up the day she got out of prison?
Could it be Vivian’s biological parents?
But weren’t they both dead?
And now she even dared threaten him?
Looks like prison really messed with her head.
Once the car started moving, the man in front said politely, "Miss Vivian, Mr. Hawthorne was very excited when he heard you were being released. He originally planned to come in person, but the old master suddenly fell ill today, so Mr. Hawthorne sent me to pick you up instead."
Vivian gave a faint response.
She leaned back into the seat, closed her eyes for a second, and silently sorted through all the family ties and social connections tied to this identity in her mind, piece by piece.
She was not Vivian Sterling.
Vivian Sterling had already died in prison.
She died when the depression got so bad it hollowed her out, and then the massive blood loss during childbirth finished the job.
As for her, her real name was Gu Jiuyin. She’d been stabbed straight through by the master she trusted most. Right before she died, the old man had told her he was sending her somewhere, somewhere she could go back to living a normal life. Then, boom, she was dead.
Just as the prison guards were about to drag the original Vivian’s body out to be cremated, she woke up at exactly the right moment.
And from then on, she took over this body.
Vivian Sterling, the so-called daughter of the Sterling family in Jiangcheng, had always been a fake.
Five years ago, after the real daughter came home, she went from being the family’s favorite to something everyone looked at like trash. And none of that happened by accident. Rosalie Sterling set her up step by step, framed her little by little, and slowly turned everyone in the Sterling family against her.
Vivian had been terrified too—terrified of having nowhere to go, terrified the Sterlings would throw her out. So she kept backing down, kept trying to please them, kept swallowing every grievance whole.
But it still changed nothing.
Then came her eighteenth birthday party.
Rosalie sent her straight onto a gigolo’s bed with a single spiked drink. Once they were caught, every single person in the Sterling family was disappointed in her.
No matter how much she explained, no one believed a word.
In their eyes, she was loose, restless, the kind of girl who couldn’t stand being lonely and just fooled around with anyone.
After that, Rosalie hit someone with her car and ran.
The entire Sterling family lied for her. They all gave false testimony, then turned around and fed Vivian one sweet lie after another. They told her she was already ruined anyway, that her name was dirty, that her roots were rotten. If she took the blame for Rosalie, they said, they would forgive everything she had done before and accept her back into the family.
They even promised that afterward, the Sterling family would pay off the victim’s family and get a settlement signed, so she wouldn’t have to go to prison.
And she, poor fool, actually believed them.
She thought that as long as she confessed in court, she could stay in the Sterling family, win back their forgiveness, and they would definitely get her out.
What waited for her instead were cold handcuffs...
and five full years behind bars.
Her name and Gu Jiuyin’s were only one character apart. Since the old man had sent her here, there had to be some kind of connection between her and Vivian Sterling.
"Since I’m using your body, I’ll avenge you. No matter what."
She made that promise silently in her heart.
Just like those people in prison who used to bully her—none of them got away clean. Every last one of them paid the price.
"Miss Vivian, should I take you to Mr. Hawthorne’s villa first so you can wait for him there?" the driver asked politely.
Vivian opened her eyes, her voice cool and flat. "Where is Old Master Hawthorne?"
"At the old residence."
"Then let’s go."
The driver froze for a second. "Alright."
Weird. Seriously weird. For some reason, he just listened to her and turned the wheel, heading straight for the Hawthorne family estate.
At the Sterling house.
The whole family was gathered in the living room. The second Marcus Sterling came back, the mood in the room dropped hard. Everyone looked grim.
When Mr. Sterling heard what happened, he instantly blew up. "She still isn't coming back? Wow, she's really full of herself now. Just because she did a few years in prison for Rosalie doesn't mean she gets to hold that over us."
Marcus glanced at the cake on the table, the one that had clearly been prepared with care, and frowned. "What a waste of Rosalie's effort."
Nathan Sterling, the second brother, didn't look worried at all. "Let her be. Once she can't survive out there, she'll come crawling back on her own."
They all knew it.
Right now, Vivian Sterling had nowhere to go except the Sterling family.
Rosalie wiped the tears from her face, looking all hurt and pitiful. "She's still blaming me. She still hasn't forgiven me."
The third brother looked annoyed and pulled her into his arms. "Why should she blame you? If she hadn't stolen your place in the first place, you wouldn't have suffered for eighteen years. She owed you to begin with. Even going to prison for you was the least she should've done."
Then Rosalie seemed to suddenly remember something. She lifted her head at once. "Wait. Marcus, you said a luxury car picked her up just now, right? What kind of car was it? Vivian just got out of prison. Other than us, who else would even go pick her up?"
