All Chapters of Daughters Reborn: Swapped Lives: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The ache in my skull hadn't fully faded when a shrill, all-too-familiar voice cut through my ears."Nobody in the world is better than a mother! What kind of mother doesn't love her own child? I'm going with Mom! A man like Dad just isn't equipped to handle everything on his own—there's nothing to be done about it."The rising lilt at the end of her sentence gave away exactly how pleased with herself she was.Dad's face went livid with fury. He raised a trembling finger and pointed it at Keira McKellen's face."You... you..."He never managed to finish the sentence.Mom, on the other hand—a woman who was rarely moved by anything—let a flicker of satisfaction cross her usually unreadable eyes."No surprise there. She's my daughter, all right. She knows how to read a room."She'd always looked down on me for being too soft-hearted, and now there was even less room in her eyes for me, her older daughter. She didn't even bother sparing me a glance. She never wasted her time on peop

Chapter 2

The first person I saw when I got home with Dad was Julia Willis, sitting on the sofa.She was the woman my father used to call his "mistress."She was over forty, but she'd taken good care of herself, and every small movement she made still carried the kind of grace a grown woman earns with time. When she saw me come in, she gave the apron at her waist a nervous little tug."Anne... your dad mentioned you liked these dishes, so I gave them a try." She hesitated. "If they're not good, just tell me. Don't force yourself to eat something you don't like."I walked straight up to the table without any hesitation, picked up a bite, and ate it. Under their two nervous stares, I let a smile spread across my face."It's delicious, Aunt Julia. I really like it."Both of them relaxed at once, clearly caught off guard by how I was acting. In my old life, the moment I so much as saw Julia, I'd have gone at her like a wildcat, ready to claw her face off. They had no idea I already knew the wh

Chapter 3

The classroom noise died the instant I walked in.Every head turned toward me at once, every pair of eyes thick with disgust and contempt, as if I'd committed some unforgivable sin. But with a grown woman's soul inside a teenager's body, why would I care what any of them thought?I got to my seat and found my desk covered edge to edge in scrawled handwriting.[Gold digger! Taking the mistress's side! Shameless!][Betrayed her own sister and mother! No regard for family! Tramp!][Fake and holier-than-thou!]Lines like that jabbed straight into my eyes. Everyone was waiting for me to explode, or maybe collapse over my desk sobbing—those were the only two outcomes they could picture. Some of them had actual bets riding on it.Instead, I just wiped the words off my desk and pulled out my textbook, my expression blank, seconds before our homeroom teacher walked in. Nobody could focus through that whole class period. The second the bell rang and the teacher stepped out, I marched st

Chapter 4

By the time we were two-thirds through junior year, Nicolas Ferrell came into my life.Just like in my last life, he'd barely had a few days to settle back in the country before his family shipped him off to our school, straight into the honors class at the district's top high school. He didn't look anything like the rest of us bookworms—tall, good-looking, he stood out the second he walked through the door.I had to admit, that face of his really did the work. Otherwise, even with everything else I had going on, I wouldn't have bothered carving out time to figure out how to win him over. But honestly, what interested me most was his family—the golden son of one of the city's most powerful circles. He was my best shot at finally getting free of my mother's grip for good.I counted down the seconds in my head. Three, two, one—"Ah! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"The stack of files in Keira's arms hit the floor right as she crashed into Nicolas, her wide, innocent eyes blinking up

Chapter 5

A handful of vicious-looking men sat huddled up front, deep in discussion about something. I turned my head and found Nicolas watching me instead, studying me with a pair of sharp, dark eyes. It startled me so badly I nearly screamed. He caught it just in time, wiggling his eyebrows at me until I swallowed the sound back down, and I asked him quietly, "What are you doing here?"He seemed far calmer than I felt, idly nudging a pebble on the floor with his foot."Kidnapped, obviously. Comes with the territory when you're rich. Haven't you ever watched a drama?"Of course, I knew this was a kidnapping. What I couldn't figure out was why this had never happened in my last life. While I was busy racking my brain over it, the kidnappers noticed we were both awake and swarmed over."Relax, our two little cash cows. We've already called your families. If we're lucky, we'll have the money by this afternoon. Don't worry—we're men of our word."Hearing them use the word "word" actually p

Chapter 6

At the police station, my father had already thrown everything within reach onto the floor. Aunt Julia was crying so hard she nearly fainted, clinging to me and refusing to let go. Even the officer standing nearby couldn't help but speak up."Your mother really does love you, you know. You have no idea—she's practically been living at this station the whole time you were missing."If this had happened before, I might have quietly corrected him—she's not my mother. But this time, what my mother had done had well and truly broken something in me. And the woman who wasn't related to me by blood at all had gone without sleep for nights on end trying to save me. If I still couldn't tell who actually cared about me after all that, I'd have to be a fool.I gently wiped the tears from Aunt Julia's face."Don't cry anymore, Mom..."The second that last word left my mouth, both her and my father froze, their tears forgotten entirely."You... what did you just call me?"I'd already accepte

Chapter 7

As my finals drew closer, Nicolas and I only grew closer too. The bridge effect turned out to be everything it was cracked up to be—somewhere along the way, without either of us quite noticing, we'd each become the person the other trusted most.I got back to the classroom one afternoon to find his seat empty, so I sat down in it like I always did and started copying notes. Someone tapped my shoulder. I looked up to find one of Nicolas's friends standing there, drenched in sweat and out of breath."You need to go find him, now! He twisted his ankle in the gym storage room!"The gym storage room? What on earth was he doing there? There wasn't time to ask questions—I dropped my textbook and bolted.The storage room was pitch black, packed with equipment, completely useless without the lights on. I could just make out the shadow of a man against the wall and crept toward it carefully."How are you? Does it still hurt?"The door behind me was thrown shut.My stomach dropped. A wave

Chapter 8

Nicolas had never been the type to throw punches. Even in the biggest situations, he usually had the patience to work things out. This was the first time I'd ever seen him actually lose his temper, and for a second, I completely forgot to step in and stop him.It wasn't until the boy's face was already bruised and swollen, and he was begging for mercy between gasps, that I finally snapped out of it and grabbed Nicolas's arm."Are you out of your mind? We're at school! Why would you just start hitting him?"He reined in the anger radiating off him and gave me a reassuring smile. But the second he turned back to the boy, that cold, unreadable look settled right back over his face."I'll only ask you once. Tell me exactly what happened here today. If you lie to me, I'll keep going. You know who my family is. If you don't want to keep going to school here, keep playing games with me."He hated bringing up his family's status—as far as he was concerned, everyone was equal, no one above

Chapter 9

Everyone's nerves were stretched thin during the days of the finals. My father and Aunt Julia didn't trust leaving things to the housekeeper, so they took turns cooking something different for me every day to keep my strength up. Aunt Julia, even with her belly starting to show, insisted on standing in the kitchen herself. I told her not to bother, worried about her overexerting herself, but she'd just nod along and then sneak off to simmer soup for me anyway. Nicolas, terrified something else might happen to me, had a car pick me up and drop me off every single day, refusing to feel at ease unless he was watching over me himself.We made it through our finals without incident, and everyone finally let themselves relax a little. The thin, unspoken thing between Nicolas and me felt like it just needed one more push to break wide open.That was when he called to say he'd rented out an entire theater and wanted me to come out that evening. My father and Aunt Julia were thrilled fo

Chapter 10

Five years later, on Christmas Eve, I walked through the door still carrying the chill of the night air with me.My father and Aunt Julia were rushing around the kitchen, and the second they saw me, they called me over to eat. My little brother, five years old now and utterly without a shred of self-consciousness, threw himself into my arms and demanded kisses. I gave in and peppered his face until he was satisfied, drool and all, and finally let me go.Nicolas's eyes went straight to my stomach, watching me like I might trip and fall at any second. Back when my mother had made her move, he'd been running late, and I'd nearly lost my life because of it. Ever since, he'd barely left my side. Even when work kept him away, he'd call two or three times just to check I was safe. Now that I was carrying our baby, he watched over me like I was the most precious thing in the world."Ugh, they're STILL this clingy after all this time? Married for years, and you'd think they'd get over it."

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP