My Family Played Poor While Spoiling My Sister? Sorry, I’m the Real Heiress! Chapter 03

My Family Played Poor While Spoiling My Sister? Sorry, I’m the Real Heiress! Chapter 03

I stared at her in stunned disbelief.

“She’s telling the truth,” Dad jumped in to reinforce the lie, shuffling close to me and lowering his voice to a hiss. “Help us out here. Your sister’s grown used to comfortable living. She can’t handle suddenly moving to a rural home with her birth family.”

A dry laugh escaped me. “Meat is a luxury in our house, yet Harper gets pudding on demand. I work double shifts for tuition while she gets Apple products as gifts. That’s your definition of comfortable?”

He froze, realizing he’d accidentally exposed himself, and scrambled to fix his statement. “It’s different! We live in the city. Your sister has fragile health. She can’t endure such an abrupt lifestyle shift! Just play along for now. Once they leave, we’ll make it up to you.”

“Really?”

When they saw I wouldn’t cave, Mom launched into a loud, dramatic performance. “Lorelei! Blood is thicker than water. Reuniting with your birth family is such a blessing. Don’t turn your back on them.”

Seeing an opening to shift all trouble onto me, Harper hurried over with fake concern. “Lorelei, you shouldn’t reject your birth family just because their life is simpler. You can’t let greed make you abandon them.”

We remained deadlocked until the rural couple spoke again. “You can’t just pick who our daughter is out of thin air. This is too important—we need a DNA test.”

Harper’s face turned pale instantly, and she shot a helpless look toward my parents.

My pulse quickened. If these two were indeed Finch operatives as I suspected, they wouldn’t be easily fooled. Once the DNA results were published, everyone would learn the truth about who the real Finch heiress was.

Silence hung heavy as all four of us froze. The man smiled coldly. “Too scared? You planned to trick us with a random girl, but it won’t—”

“Who said we’re scared?” Dad cut him off abruptly. “Run the test. If the report proves Harper is our biological daughter, you take Lorelei and leave this city for good.”

The entire confrontation in the ward was being livestreamed on social media. Reporters were already camped outside the lab.

Dad and Mom wrapped their arms around Harper, speaking confidently into every camera lens. “The truth will come out. We will protect our biological daughter no matter what happens.”

I still couldn’t fully grasp their scheme, yet I had no choice but to comply. Harper and I stepped into separate testing booths one after another.

I waited, certain Harper’s identity fraud would be exposed at last—until the lab results arrived.

The probability of biological relatedness between Harper and my parents registered at 99.99%. For me, it sat at a mere 0.67%.

A cold sense of vindication settled in my chest, though I forced a crestfallen expression for the cameras.

Dad clapped a hand on my shoulder, his tone laced with sarcasm. “Blood ties can’t be forged. There’s no going back now. Go home with your birth parents.”

Mom feigned sorrow. “We’ve loved you for years, but Harper is our flesh and blood. Her feelings come first.”

Reporters in the crowd reacted immediately.

“Thank god! Finally, some decent parents in this whole heiress mess!”

“I knew it! Those rumors about them mistreating their bio kid were just fake news!”

“Lorelei seems calculating. The Myers raised her for eighteen years, and she tries to steal their affection. Those birth parents wasted eighteen years looking for her.”

At the edge of the crowd, my supposed birth parents stared at the report in disbelief. “This document must be tampered with. We demand another round of DNA testing with both Lorelei and Harper!”

Panic tightened my throat. They suspected the results were rigged—and if a second test proved I shared blood with the Myers, my parents’ fraud would be laid bare.

I scanned the mob for Harper, only to discover she’d slipped away without a trace.

“What part of ‘deal is a deal’ don’t you understand?” Dad snapped, rolling his eyes. “I already told you the rules. If the test confirms Harper is ours, pack up and leave.”

As they continued shouting over one another, a shrill scream pierced the noise from upstairs. “Someone’s on the roof! He’s got a girl hostage—he says he’s jumping!”