Fake Heiress? My Family Just Collects Junk

The day the SAT results drop, I log a 1,500. The whole school goes wild. My boyfriend, Declan Dawson, lights up. "Sienna, that score locks in your spot at top universities! Let's celebrate with a trip abroad this break. Also, I've been eyeing a new laptop." I freeze. For some reason, Declan has spent all three years of high school convinced I'm a secret heiress who's just playing broke to test his loyalty. I clutch the last 10 bucks in my pocket, thoroughly mortified. "Declan, I really can't afford a vacation. Please don't be mad. Once I get my scholarship, I'll buy you those new sneakers you wanted, okay?" Declan's smile vanishes, and his gaze turns ice-cold. "Are you seriously still playing poor? You think you can brush me off with a cheap pair of shoes? Sienna Lawrence, drop the act. I know what you've been doing behind my back!" As I watch his angry figure leave, I feel a bitter ache in my heart. Maybe breaking up is for the best. My family background has never matched his anyway. Then comes the night of my celebration dinner. He shows up unexpectedly, arm in arm with the class beauty, and slaps a DNA test report right on the table in front of everyone. "Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, Rosie is the real Lawrence heiress! Your actual biological daughter! The girl you raised is nothing but a fraud living a stolen life!" My parents freeze on stage. Rosie cues the tears right on time. "Sienna, you knew the truth all along. How could you steal my family and my life like this?" Declan pulls Rosie close and looks at me with pure, vengeful satisfaction. "It's time you give Rosie back everything you stole, Sienna!" They think I usurped Rosie's place in some luxury dynasty, but my family literally just makes a living collecting junk! Chapter 1 It took my parents, Jacob Lawrence and Faye Wright, a moment to recover from the shock. They fumbled for words before finally asking nervously, "Really? How could there have been a mix-up at the hospital?" Seeing them instinctively defend me only made Rosie Porter cry harder. She snatched the DNA test report, dashed onto the stage, and grabbed Mom's hand. "Mom, I'm really your daughter! Look at how alike we look! The report says we're a match. If you still don't believe it, we can do another test!" She sniffled, pulling at their heartstrings. "I've dreamed of finding my real parents for so long! I know you love Sienna. I just want a mom and dad. I don't need anything else. I'm fine just being her younger sister!" Mom's expression softened at her tearful plea. She studied Rosie closely, and the resemblance was undeniable. Noticing that my parents were wavering, Declan Dawson struck while the iron was hot. "Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, Rosie's telling the truth. I can vouch for her! I'm Sienna's boyfriend. She's known about this for a while, but she told me she'd never let Rosie meet you two. She wanted to keep being your only daughter. "I felt too guilty keeping it a secret, so I told Rosie the truth. I couldn't just stand by and watch a family stay torn apart because of her schemes!" Outraged by his lie, I tried to defend myself. "That's a lie! I never said—" Declan didn't give me a chance to finish speaking. He turned to me and questioned me, "A lie? Are you saying you didn't know Rosie was their real daughter?" I fell silent. I did know. I had known ever since freshman year of high school, the very first time I laid eyes on Rosie. Growing up, everyone said I looked nothing like Mom and Dad. They were both strikingly attractive and tall. How could they have produced someone as painfully average as me? Hearing it over and over made me wonder if I was really their child, so I had saved up my allowance and secretly run a DNA test. When I got the results back, it was more of a quiet realization than a shock. I wasn't theirs. The moment I saw Rosie in high school, I knew she was the real daughter. She just looked far too much like Mom. However, I had buried that secret deep inside, never mentioning it to a soul—not even to Declan. Noticing my silence, Rosie stepped closer, looking deeply hurt. "Sienna, I get that you didn't want to lose your place, but why couldn't you just tell me? I wouldn't take anything from you. I just wanted to meet my real parents, even if it was only from afar." Declan rushed to her side and pulled her into a protective embrace. "Rosie, not everyone is as kind as you! If I hadn't exposed her today, she would've taken this secret to her grave and stolen your life forever!" Chapter 2 Seeing them back each other up like that, I parted my lips, yet no words came out. I honestly couldn't fathom why anyone would fight so hard over this identity. After realizing who Rosie was back then, I had quietly followed her for a few days. Her adoptive parents were ordinary people, but they showered her with love. They weren't wealthy, but they weren't struggling either. She never had to pull endless day-and-night shifts just to put food on the table for her family like I did. So, I kept my mouth shut. I couldn't bring myself to drag another girl into the grueling reality of my life. I was already used to it anyway. Taking my silence as a confession of guilt, Declan moved in for the kill. "Sienna Lawrence! If you truly have nothing to hide, why don't you get a DNA test done right now? I just can't stand watching an imposter take over someone else's life!" When I saw the smugness in Declan's eyes and Rosie being held and comforted by Mom, I was at a loss for words. In the end, I could only say, "There's no need. Rosie really is their daughter." The hall erupted into gasps. It was my celebration dinner, so the room was packed. Aside from our fellow villagers, my teachers and classmates were all there. Even a few reporters had bought ridiculously overpriced entry tickets from Mom and Dad, eager to cover the story of the top scorer in the state. Now, every single one of them was staring at me with strange expressions while whispering to one another. Hearing me admit it, Rosie let out a muffled sob and buried her face deeper into Mom's shoulder, weeping uncontrollably. Flushed with triumph, Declan marched up to me and whispered, "Sienna, you kept this hidden for so long, but I still exposed you. I've been sick of you for a long time. Did you enjoy pretending to be poor all these years and playing me for a fool? "Now that the real heiress of the Lawrence family is back, you're about to become a real pauper." The sheer malice in his eyes made my chest clench tightly. In the two years we had been together, he had never once complained about my poverty. I really thought I'd found true love. It never crossed my mind that, in his eyes, I was just a rich heiress playing poor to fool him. Desperate, I grabbed his sleeve. "Declan, I swear I wasn't playing you! I never pretended to be poor! Everyone at this table is my relative or neighbor! They can all vouch for me!" Declan glanced over at the head table. They were all villagers—weather-beaten, lean, and rough around the edges. None of them looked remotely close to wealth. If our family were truly rich, how could we be surrounded by relatives like this? However, whatever doubt he had vanished the moment his eyes landed back on Mom and Dad. "You're still lying through your teeth! "Sienna, at least make your lies believable! Look at your parents. Their skin is flawless, and they're wearing designer brands! How could they be poor? For all I know, you hired these relatives just to play along!" Mom and Dad, who cared about appearances, had pulled out their absolute best outfits for my celebration dinner. They were all designer pieces they had picked up while collecting junk. Wealthy families had discarded those items after wearing them only once. Ever since middle school, they had dumped all the heavy labor at the scrapyard onto me. They idled away their days, which naturally left them looking well-kept. Once they put on those clothes and cleaned themselves up a little, their good looks actually made them look somewhat respectable. I scrambled to explain, but Declan had zero intention of listening. "Sienna, did you really think your pathetic little tricks would work on me?" Chapter 3 Declan continued, "If you aren't rich, how could you possibly recognize so many luxury brands and tell the real ones from the knockoffs?" Noticing how dead certain he was, I suddenly recalled how Declan and I first met. Back then, at the school flea market, he was about to get scammed by a senior. I was the one who stepped in and pointed out that the senior's sneakers were fakes. Ever since, Declan had used that day as an excuse to court me, claiming he was trying to repay my kindness. Did he really peg me for a rich heiress way back then? The only reason I could spot fakes was that I worked in scrap recycling. To pick authentic items out of garbage and resell them second-hand for extra cash, I had forced myself to develop a sharp eye for detail. When he saw me fall silent, Declan put on a smug smirk. "Sienna, you keep insisting your family is poor. Are you just trying to stop Rosie from reuniting with her parents? Do you actually think she's that snobbish?" He deliberately raised his voice so that Mom and Dad, who were busy talking to Rosie nearby, heard every word. They immediately shot me a glare. Mom and Dad cared about appearances above all else. Even this celebration dinner was nothing more than putting on airs they couldn't afford. As they were short on money, they had deliberately booked a banquet hall right after someone else's wedding had ended. They made me salvage the leftover decorations that weren't taken down, repurposed them, and ordered the absolute cheapest food available on the menu. That was the only way they could fake such a glamorous celebration dinner, all so they could pocket as much gift money as possible from the guests. Now, hearing me tell everyone we were poor, they instantly felt humiliated. Having heard Declan's claims that I was playing poor, Rosie naturally didn't buy my story either. She immediately took Mom's hand and put on a sincere act. "Mom, regardless of whether Sienna is telling the truth or how poor this family really is, I don't care! All I want are my real parents! As long as I can be with you, a little hardship is nothing!" Her sweet words deeply touched Mom. For years, I had worked from dawn to dusk, talking about nothing except work, studying, and money. Mom and Dad had never heard such sweet, affectionate words from me. The way Mom looked at Rosie grew instantly fonder. Noticing that Mom and Dad were softening, Rosie struck while the iron was hot. "Mom, now that I'm back, shouldn't Sienna go back to her real parents? They've been separated for so many years, too. She must miss them terribly." As she spoke, she shot me a provocative smirk behind their backs. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. She wanted me to experience the hardships she had gone through. What she didn't realize was that an ordinary family like hers was a pipe dream for me. However, when they heard her suggestion, Mom and Dad hesitated. For the longest time, I had been the one running the scrap recycling business single-handedly. Having lived comfortably for so long off my hard labor, they couldn't bear the thought of going back to doing the filthy work at the scrapyard themselves. "But… we did raise Sienna for so many years…" Both Rosie's and Declan's expressions twisted for a split second. They never expected that, even at this point, Mom and Dad would still be reluctant to kick me out. Right then, my aunt, Audrey Lawrence, suddenly piped up from the side. "Faye, what is there to hesitate about? Our family doesn't have a habit of raising other people's kids! Are you going to keep an outsider's wild stray around and taint our bloodline?" Her eyes gleamed with pure malice. Aunt Audrey had always hated my guts. She had tried to arrange a marriage between me and the village cripple, even going as far as taking the deposit money from his family, only for me to reject her. Since the match fell through, she was forced to return the money. She firmly believed I was the reason she lost out on that cash, and ever since, she couldn't stand seeing me succeed. Hearing Rosie's complaints, Aunt Audrey assumed my birth parents were even worse off, and she couldn't wait to send me back to suffer. Chapter 4 Then, Aunt Audrey turned to look at Dad and continued, "Jacob, were you actually cheated on? Otherwise, why would Faye be so unwilling to send Sienna back? Did she have Sienna with another man?" At her words, Dad's face instantly turned a violent shade of red. Beside him, Mom immediately shrieked in denial. After a chaotic bout of shouting and screaming, Dad finally made the final decision with a dark expression. "Enough! Since Sienna isn't our daughter, we'll send her back! Everyone will return to where they belong!" Hearing Dad finally make up his mind, Rosie's and Declan's eyes lit up instantly. Declan patted his chest and assured him eagerly, "Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, leave it to me. I know the way to Sienna's real parents' place. We'll take her back." By this point, the celebration dinner was completely ruined and couldn't possibly go on. Jacob announced the end of the event with a scowl and let Declan and Rosie haul me away. Not a single one of them even mentioned letting me go home first to pack my belongings. Luckily, that house was dirt-poor anyway. After living there for so many years, I didn't have anything valuable to pack. Not content with just the two of them, Rosie and Declan even dragged along our classmates who had attended the dinner, all so they could watch me be humiliated. I walked behind them in complete silence. From a distance, I spotted the apartment building where Rosie's family lived. I had come here countless times over the years, but I had only ever dared to watch from afar, observing how happy and loving Rosie and my birth parents were. The thought of reuniting with them had crossed my mind more than once, but every single time, I ended up backing out. I didn't want to drag them down into my miserable life. As we drew closer to Rosie's home, joy flared in my eyes. This was Rosie's own choice, and Jacob and Faye had already abandoned me of their own accord. Reconnecting with my birth parents now meant I didn't have to feel guilty toward Rosie, nor did I have to worry about Jacob and Faye leeching off her like parasites. When we finally reached the bottom of the building, Rosie crossed her arms and tilted her chin up with an arrogant look. "Ms. Lawrence, welcome to your new life in the slums!" I picked up my pace, eager to head upstairs, but Declan suddenly grabbed my arm with a violent jerk. "Sienna, you've got some nerve. Now that you're leaving, aren't you going to return what belongs to Rosie?" "What are you talking about?" Noticing my refusal to admit it, Rosie put on a cold sneer. "Drop the act. Did you really think pretending to be me for a while would make my parents' estate yours?" Her words left me completely baffled. Jacob and Faye didn't have an estate. At my reaction, Declan forcefully ripped open my jacket, and a key clattered noisily onto the ground. "It's right here! Sienna, you really just won't give up, huh? Did you think I didn't know where you rushed off to every single day after school?" I stared at the key, utterly bewildered. This was the key to our scrapyard. How did a scrapyard enclosed by a rusted iron fence have anything to do with an estate? Declan completely missed my bewildered expression. Having secured the key, he shoved me aside carelessly and strolled off with Rosie. Along the way, the group excitedly chatted about what kind of designer bags and cars Rosie would buy once she officially reclaimed her status as the true Lawrence heiress. Rosie even promised to get Declan the computer he had always wanted. When they arrived at the entrance of the "estate", the classmates gasped in awe. "Oh my gosh, Rosie! Your house is huge! Sienna really hit the jackpot by leeching off your family for so long!" "Thank goodness you reclaimed your identity. From now on, you're the one and only heiress of the Lawrence family!" Rosie was practically bursting with pride. Putting on a modest front, she unlocked the main gate and pushed it open. She had expected a lush courtyard filled with flowers, maybe even a swimming pool. Instead, as the heavy gate slowly creaked open, all that lay before them was a massive, foul-smelling mountain of trash. "Ugh… What the hell… is this?"