Chapter 1The video froze me mid-scroll.
[Billionaire Brothers Beat Up Dad's Side Piece]
There was my mom in some raggedy cotton dress, and my brothers were beating the hell out of her. Punches, kicks, everything.
They RIPPED her clothes right off her back, screaming she was a shameless whore.
Her eyes were burning red as she tried to explain, but everyone just laughed in her face.
Behind them? Some woman I'd never seen before, dripping in designer shit, playing innocent.
"Okay, okay. I know you boys love me, but we don't need to acknowledge trash like her."
The crowd around them was eating it up.
"Happy birthday!" "You're so classy!"
"THAT'S what Mrs. Sullivan looks like! Unlike some people who clearly can't afford one."
"She actually called herself Mrs. Sullivan. The whole empire? That's the REAL Mrs. Sullivan's money. Look at this nobody. Does she look like she belongs here?"
The second I heard them call that stranger "Mrs. Sullivan," my hand crushed the phone.
My face in the black screen looked ready to kill.
I'd only been gone three goddamn years.
Guess they FUCKING forgot WHO ACTUALLY RUNS this place!
...
That video had me ready to destroy everything in sight.
The second I got off the plane, I called my oldest brother, Marcus.
Straight to voicemail.
I tried Jason. Then Derek. Nobody picked up.
Finally, my youngest brother Kevin answered, and he sounded pissed.
"Olivia, what the hell? It's Mom's birthday. We're swamped. Quit bugging us!"
I let out a cold laugh. "Which mom?"
"Jesus Christ, did studying abroad scramble your brain? Who the fuck else would it be?"
He told me to stop screwing around and straight-up hung up on me.
His attitude threw me off. Was I wrong?
That woman in the video didn't match up with the mom I knew.
Maybe it was some deepfake meant to screw with our family.
Everyone knew the entire Sullivan empire came from my mom's dowry.
My dad? Best case, he married into money.
Worst case? He was a gold-digger who hit the jackpot.
Everything he had, he owed to my mom. He'd always done whatever she said.
There was NO way he'd let her get treated like that—like some scared little nobody.
I took a deep breath, shoved down my rage, and decided to crash that party myself.
I grabbed a cab to the venue.
Some girl got out of the car with me.
She looked me up and down, then stepped right in front of me, face twisted with disgust.
"Wait, you're here for my mom's party? Pretty sure we booked the whole place. Who let trash like you in?"
She was wearing the latest designer dress and a diamond the size of my fist around her neck.
She eyed my plain T-shirt and jeans like I was garbage.
I thought maybe I had the wrong place. I asked politely.
"Is this the Sullivan family from City A? The billionaires?"
She tilted her head back and laughed.
"You know exactly who we are and you still showed your face? Bold. One word from my dad and you're done!"
I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture of my dad.
"Who's this?"
She looked at me like I was brain-dead.
"That's my DAD. Oh my God, you're actually here trying to be his mistress!"
"Honey, my dad doesn't even see other women. Last whore who thought she had a chance? My mom looked her way and she was literally crawling on the floor begging not to be destroyed!"
Something clicked.
I pulled up the video I'd seen on the plane and turned my phone toward her.
She saw it and immediately started dying laughing. Actual tears running down her face.
"You already SAW what happened and you still came? Are you that desperate for a beatdown?"
"Alright, same age, so I'll clue you in. That woman keeps claiming she's married to my dad. My brothers took her out to the middle of nowhere and just left her there."
"Even with a broken leg, she still dragged herself back here. Kept crying about wanting her daughter back or some shit. It's pathetic. My dad literally can't stand looking at her. Like, there's no way in hell he'd ever have a kid with someone like that."
My hands clenched into fists so tight my nails dug into my palms.
So for the three years I'd been gone, my mom had been getting tortured by these people!
But my brothers were her ACTUAL sons.
Why the hell would they help that FAKE hurt her?
My mom was soft, sure. But they knew me. I wasn't.
And Grandpa had already said once I got back, I'd be running the Sullivan empire.
How did these assholes think they'd get away with this?
I shoved past the girl and ignored her screaming as I stormed into the venue.
What I saw next is something I'll never forget.
My mom was on her KNEES in the middle of the ballroom.
My brothers were holding her down, forcing her to LICK that stranger's SHOES!
Chapter 2
"GET OFF HER!"
I ran at Marcus and kicked him square in the chest.
He stumbled back, ready to explode—then saw my face. Stopped cold.
Before I could move, that girl from outside cracked me across the face.
"You put your hands on me? On my brother? Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"Lana, she hit you?" Marcus's face twisted. He jabbed his finger at me.
"You fucking BITCH! Just like your whore mother!"
I moved toward him but my mom grabbed my wrist from the floor.
"Olivia. Please. Let's go." She looked so broken. So small.
Lana grabbed a wine bottle off a table and launched it at us.
"You don't get to shove me and walk out of here, bitch. Slut mom, slut daughter—makes sense!"
My mom threw herself in front of me.
That's when I saw her body—covered in bruises, some of them turning black, others split open and leaking.
"Mom!"
Glass tore into her arm. Blood everywhere. She was still yelling at me to run.
I stared at Marcus. At Jason. Derek. Kevin. All four of them.
My fucking brothers.
And they closed ranks around Lana like I was the threat.
"You crashed this party. We should've thrown you out the second you walked in!"
"Take your pathetic mom and get lost! Her licking my mom's shoes was a GIFT!"
My hands were shaking. "That's YOUR mother!"
The whole room cracked up.
"Is she serious? Mrs. Sullivan's right there!"
"First the mom pretends she's married to Mr. Sullivan, now the daughter thinks she's one of us? Delusional!"
Lana tilted her chin up, eyes full of poison.
"Poor thing. Bet you don't even know who your dad is, huh?"
"Wait—your mom's slept around so much she has no clue. That's why she's latched onto my dad like a parasite, crying that he's your father!"
My brothers' cold stares told me everything. They believed it too.
They said it together:
"Get the fuck out! You're embarrassing yourself."
"You don't get to walk in here and act like you're one of us."
A laugh forced its way out. Bitter and mean.
"You really forgot who your own mother is? Forgot who runs this family?"
"Of course MY DAD runs this family! BITCH!"
Lana's face was full of smug pride.
That gold-digger?
I couldn't help but smirk.
He'd never stepped foot in the real family office. Didn't even know where we kept the actual paperwork.
"Daniel Reed?" I said his old name slowly.
"He married into this family. Changed his name. Moved into my mom's house. You think HE runs anything?"
Lana's face went red.
Some of the guests started whispering.
"Wait, yeah—Daniel Reed became Daniel Sullivan when he married in. Mrs. Sullivan didn't want to deal with the business, so she let him handle it. But he doesn't actually OWN the Sullivan empire, does he?"
That's when the woman who'd gone to change her shoes came back.
She looked right at me.
"I've handed over all Sullivan family affairs to my husband. This is a family matter. An outsider like you wouldn't understand!"
Chapter 3
"How do you prove you're Mrs. Sullivan?"
The woman laughed when I said that.
"Prove it? Why would I need to?"
"My sons are standing right here. I've been at every business meeting with my husband for years."
The guests immediately backed her up.
"Mrs. Sullivan's always been at Mr. Sullivan's side during negotiations. Your mom? She looks like a scared little mouse. What part of that screams 'billionaire wife'?"
"You think the Sullivan brothers don't know their own mother? That's hilarious!"
Everyone nodded like it was obvious. Something cold settled in my chest.
I pulled out my phone to call my dad.
Marcus knocked the phone out of my hand. It hit the floor hard.
The screen shattered into pieces.
"What are you doing? Calling the cops?"
"YOU and your mom are the ones causing a scene!"
All four of them were sweating. Looking guilty as hell.
Were they actually backing this stranger over our mom? Had they been lying to everyone—maybe even to Dad?
My mom's whole body was shaking. She started to drop to her knees, ready to apologize to that fake.
"I'm sorry. I found my daughter. We'll leave right now."
Leave?
Like hell we would.
If they could humiliate my mom like this in front of everyone, God knows what they did to her in private.
I picked up my destroyed phone and asked the woman again.
"So you're telling me you're married to Daniel Sullivan?"
She let out a cold laugh.
"Of course I am!"
The phone was barely working—audio only. Otherwise I would've FaceTimed my dad right there.
The call connected.
That familiar voice came through.
"Olivia, are you keeping up with your studies? Why are you calling me?"
The second they heard his voice, Lana went stiff.
Everyone at the party who knew my dad recognized it immediately.
I smiled.
"Dad, how many daughters do you have? How many wives?"
He sounded confused.
"What? You're my only daughter. What are you talking about? Who told you something?"
I was about to explain what was happening when Lana's mom had someone rip the phone out of my hand.
She stomped on it. The screen splintered under her shoe.
"Nice try. You got someone who sounds like my husband to play along with your little act. You think that proves anything?"
The guests who'd been wavering a second ago started looking me up and down.
They saw me and my mom—beaten down, covered in blood—and laughed.
But my four brothers? Their faces went pale.
They started yelling.
"Olivia! Your mom works for us! She's been our housekeeper for years! You can have your delusions somewhere else—stop ruining the party! Get OUT!"
The way they were panicking told me everything.
They wanted this fake family so badly they'd thrown our real mom away like garbage.
That's when Mr. Z, the old butler, wheeled in a birthday cake from the other room.
The second I saw him, hope sparked in my chest.
But next second, my mom grabbed my sleeve, tears streaming down her face.
"Olivia, please. Let's just go!"
