I Begged The Real Heiress To Take My Life Away Chapter 02

I Begged The Real Heiress To Take My Life Away Chapter 02

Eleanor’s brow furrowed. “Daisy Sterling, what nonsense are you pulling now?”

I turned to her, looking utterly devastated.

“Mom. No, wait, Mrs. Sterling.”

“The real heiress is back. You should throw me out right now!”

“Being the Sterling daughter is way too hard. My brain was not built for this.”

I started digging through my pockets.

“Here’s my room key.”

“Here’s the Sterling black card.”

“Here’s my golf lesson schedule. Five a.m. tomorrow.”

“Here’s my German tutor’s number. He comes at ten thirty at night.”

“And here’s the reading notes for Global Macro and Asset Allocation my brother assigned me. I haven’t read a single page. It’s yours now.”

I dumped the entire armful into Josie’s arms.

“Sis, starting today, you’re the Sterling daughter.”

“You handle the elegance.”

“You handle inheriting the company.”

“You listen to Dad explain renewable energy investments over dinner.”

“You go to Mom’s charity galas and let her correct the way you stand, sit, smile, and sip soup.”

“You put up with my brother telling you at six a.m. every single day that your existence is dragging down the Sterling family’s operational efficiency.”

Josie froze solid.

I held her hand, sincere as could be.

“Save me.”

“Please.”

“I can leave right now.”

My father set his wine glass down hard.

“Daisy Sterling!”

I flinched, my shoulders shrinking on instinct.

Weston’s voice came out low and heavy.

“Do you understand what occasion this is?”

I nodded.

“I understand completely.”

“It’s the gala where the real heiress comes home.”

“So now that the family’s officially reunited, can this extra person finally head home?”

Someone in the crowd choked back a laugh.

Eleanor’s face went thunderous.

“Daisy Sterling, isn’t embarrassing this family in public enough for you?”

I mumbled under my breath. “Mom, I’m not a Sterling anymore. If I embarrass anyone now, it’s the Doyles.”

Josie finally found her voice again.

She yanked her hand back and said coldly:

“Cut the innocent act.”

“You think playing dumb makes you look blameless?”

“You took my parents, my brother, my whole life, and you think one ‘I want to leave’ pays that off?”

I waved my hands quickly.

“It doesn’t pay it off.”

“That’s why I’m planning to move out tonight. I’ll even wash the sheets for you first.”

“You can have my whole closet. Just don’t wear the pink stuff. Mom says it makes people look less polished.”

Eleanor: “Daisy Sterling!”

I shut my mouth.

Josie stared at me, pure suspicion in her eyes.

She’d probably prepared eight hundred different insults to throw at me.

Things like impostor.

Fraud.

Parasite.

But I was being way too cooperative.

I was so cooperative that she looked like someone trying to start a fight with a marshmallow.

Sebastian finally spoke.

“Daisy Sterling.”

His voice was flat.

I straightened immediately.

“Sebastian.”

“You really want to leave?”

“Yes.”

I answered so fast it surprised even me.

Something in his gaze darkened slightly.

“Eighteen years the Sterlings raised you, and you don’t feel the smallest bit of attachment?”

I thought about it.

“I do.”

A flicker of something softened in his eyes.

I said, dead serious:

“Rosa’s shrimp and cheese grits from the kitchen. I’ll really miss those.”

Sebastian: “…”

My father took a long breath, like he was holding himself back from physically tossing me out of the ballroom.

Josie let out a cold laugh.

“Fine.”

“Since you want to leave so badly, go.”

“Go back to where you belong.”

She pulled a piece of paper from her bag.

“Your real parents’ last name is Doyle. They run a breakfast diner on the south side of town.”

“Two hundred square feet, storefront and all. You live in the back. No housekeeper, no driver, no walk-in closet.”

“Daisy Sterling. That’s your real life.”