Reborn, I Dumped the Cold Heir novel Chapter 1

"Miss Lennox, it looks like your family doesn't want you anymore."

By the time those words fell, Chloe Lennox had been locked up for an entire night.

The abandoned warehouse reeked of rust and dampness.

Her hands were bound behind her back, the skin around her right wrist chafed raw. Coagulated blood clung to her skin, and the slightest movement sent a searing jolt through her nerves.

Yet Chloe acted as if she felt nothing; she hadn't stopped moving since she woke up.

There were five people in the warehouse in total.

Two outside, three inside.

They swapped shifts every two hours.

The main entrance was guarded, the left side was piled high with scrap metal, leaving only the shattered high window at the very back as a potential way out.

She memorized their routines while discreetly grinding her bindings against a jagged piece of scrap iron behind her.

She had to get out.

Eleanor Lennox was still in the hospital. The doctors had warned that her condition was deteriorating, and Chloe didn't even know if she would make it back in time to see her mother one last time.

She couldn't die here. She had to survive, no matter the cost.

Not far away, the scarred man suddenly cranked up the volume on his phone. The exaggerated voice of a gossip vlogger echoed through the cavernous space.

"Massive scandal hits the elite! Lennox Group Chairman, Richard Lennox, personally confirms that the beloved heiress, Chloe Lennox, is not their biological daughter!"

"Twenty-three years ago, the real Lennox daughter tragically went missing. Fearing his beloved wife Eleanor couldn't handle the devastation, Richard brought home another infant girl to take her place..."

A two-second silence descended upon the warehouse.

"Shit."

Someone cursed first.

"We kidnapped a fake?"

The scarred man's expression darkened to an ugly extreme. He tossed the phone onto the table.

"Richard's real daughter has been found. They just brought her back to the Lennox estate yesterday."

Chloe closed her eyes.

Over the past few days, she had heard enough.

A fake.