Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Replacement Heiress : Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 36

Morning in Nina’s new prison was exactly as Rita had promised—rigid, exhausting, and completely devoid of free will. First, the alarm. That godforsaken alarm blaring at 5:30 a.m., jolting her awake like she was being drafted into battle. No snooze button. No mercy. Then came the real torture. "Step out of your room and proceed to the gym," Rita instructed. Oh, joy. Forty-five minutes of sheer hell followed. Push-ups, crunches, endless cardio—like she was training for the Olympics instead of impersonating a dead girl. And to top it all off, she was informed that this delightful routine would be a permanent part of her daily schedule. By the time it was over, her limbs felt like jelly. But instead of collapsing on the floor like her body desperately wanted to, she was told to return to her room—for precisely thirty minutes—to "refresh and dress accordingly." And yes, even how she dressed was dictated to her. Next stop: the waiting room. There, she was expected to memorize

The rest of the day after the board meeting passed in a blur—yet somehow, it still managed to be exhausting. By the time dinner concluded, Nina felt as if she had been wrung dry. When she was finally dismissed to retire for the night, she nearly sagged with relief. Back in her room, she peeled off her clothes and sank into the bathtub, letting the warm water envelop her like a cocoon. Her muscles ached, her mind swirled with thoughts, and despite the overwhelming fatigue, she couldn’t stop herself from comparing her past life to the one she now inhabited. It was almost laughable. Before, she had been fighting to survive—scraping by, doing whatever was necessary just to keep going. And now? She was still fighting, just on a grander, far more dangerous scale. Life was brutal, no matter one’s position. The only difference between the wealthy and the desperate was the resources at their disposal. But comparisons were meaningless. No matter how difficult things became in this new exis

What do you mean I’m getting adopted?” Nina barely recognized her own voice—sharp, disbelieving, tethering on the edge of something dangerously close to panic. Don just chuckled, as though she’d cracked a joke instead of demanded an explanation. “I think you should be happy,” he said smoothly, slipping a phone from his pocket. “Fate has finally smiled on you.” His fingers moved across the screen, and then he turned the phone toward her. “Take a look at this. Do you recognize the girl?” She didn’t move. Didn’t even glance at the screen. Because none of this made sense. Because she didn’t trust him. Because she was this close to losing her mind. So she just stared at his face, unmoving. Don sighed, exasperated. “Come on, just look.” She didn’t want to. But if humoring him meant getting this bizarre conversation over with faster, then fine. Snatching the phone from his hand, she dragged her gaze to the image on the screen. At first, she barely processed what she