The Scorned Heiress: No More Mercy novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The hotel banquet hall sparkles under the brilliant glow of crystal chandeliers. Guests clink their glasses, celebrating the meticulously planned engagement party.

“Mr. Evan Clarke, do you take Miss Tara Dennis-”

Before the emcee can finish, a sharp ringtone interrupts.

Evan pulls out his phone. The moment he answers, a woman’s frantic sobs echo through the receiver. “Evan, I… I was in a car accident. It hurts so much. I’m so scared.”

Evan’s face drains of color. “Jade, calm down. I’m on my way.”

“But your engagement…”

Without waiting for her to finish, Evan turns to the emcee. “The engagement is canceled.”

Standing beside him as the star of the evening, Tara watches Evan’s pupils flare with sheer panic, as if he has been struck by a physical blow.

He doesn’t even spare her a glance before turning on his heel, striding toward the exit.

“Evan!” Tara instinctively reaches out to grab his sleeve, but her fingers brush against empty air.

“Tara, I’m sorry. Jade is in an accident. Head home first,” Evan says, trying to placate her.

“And what if I don’t want you to leave? It’s our engagement night. Besides, shouldn’t she be calling the cops? Why is she calling you?” Even worse, she has three older brothers. Why does she have to call the groom? The manipulation is painfully obvious.

Evan frowns. “Tara, stop being so unreasonable. This is a matter of life and death.”

“You know I despise her. Are you my fiancé, or hers?” Tara’s dark eyes remain eerily calm.

She has wanted to ask this question for a long time. Even though Evan is supposed to be marrying her, he rushes to Jade’s side at the slightest inconvenience. Jade is a master manipulator, constantly setting Tara up to make her look like the villain. It has successfully eroded Tara’s standing in the Dennis family-even though Tara is their true biological daughter.

Six years ago, Tara, the eldest daughter of the wealthy Dennis family, mysteriously vanished during a family gala. The family exhausted all their resources but couldn’t find a trace of her. The public assumed she was dead.

Six months after her disappearance, her father, Charles, brought home a girl named Jade. He announced that Jade was the daughter of the man who had once saved his life, and he had sworn to raise her. With her mother dead and a tragic past, the family embraced her.

Slowly, Jade replaced Tara. She was sweet, beautiful, and talented. She knew exactly how to market herself, winning over Charles and the rest of the family until society accepted her as the undisputed

Miss Dennis.

Then, four years later, Tara unexpectedly returned. No one knew what she had endured during those missing years, but she came back quiet, carrying a suffocating wave of cold detachment. Obsessed with appearances, the Dennis family viewed Tara as a stain on their perfect reputation. Even when

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