My elder brother, Dexter Ashford, makes an offhand remark to a welfare student whose studies he has been sponsoring.

"What a coincidence! You share the same birth date as my younger sister. Even the timing is the same!"

Ever since then, the welfare student, Candace Ashford, becomes convinced that she and I were switched at birth, and that she is actually the true heiress to my family.

So, she hires two thugs to abduct me, planning to kill me so that she can take my place.

In the face of danger, I quickly call my fiance, Liam Hilton, to save me. However, he speaks to me in a very impatient manner.

"Denise Ashford, you stole Candy's life from her. This is your karma. You deserve it."

Just as I'm thrown into the river, Liam's uncle, Jonah Hilton, suddenly appears and jumps into the river, trying to save me.

However, he quickly runs out of strength, and we both sink to the bottom of the river.

When I wake up again, I realize that I have been given a second chance at life. It's still the same day when I get abducted by the two thugs.

This time, when Candace tells me to pick someone to call and deliver my last words to, I call Dexter immediately.

"You're shameless, Denise Ashford! You've stolen 20 years of my life! I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" Candace Ashford yelled in my face.

She then gave the two thugs next to her a look. They immediately came up to me and started tearing away my clothes.

Candace grinned smugly when she saw the shocked look on my face. She kicked the phone to my feet and said, "You're not getting out of this place alive today. But, I'll be kind and let you say your last words to someone."

I looked up and saw her staring straight at me. Her beautiful eyes were laced with pure malice.

I knew for sure that she wanted me to call my fiance, Liam Hilton, before I died. That way, I would be thoroughly humiliated by him again just before my last breath. After all, that was exactly what happened in my previous life.

But this time, I called my elder brother, Dexter Ashford, without hesitation.

I never thought that the one offhanded remark Dexter made while sponsoring welfare students would cause such a huge, ridiculous misunderstanding on Candace's part.

I had tried explaining to her many times in the past, but Candace was firm in the belief that she was the true heiress of the Ashford family.

Even Liam, who was supposed to be my fiance, had believed her lies.

If only Dexter knew that Liam had been treating me like this, he would have already used different ways to skin Liam alive without me having to lift a finger.

However, when the call finally went through, I only managed to shout, "Dexter, Cloudview Bay, Easternia! Save me!"

Right after that, Candace snatched the phone and smashed it against the ground.

"You didn't call Liam?" She stared at me in disbelief. However, her expression then turned into that of contempt as she smiled at me. "Even if you called your precious brother, he wouldn't want to save a phony like you!"

She then ordered the thugs, "Alright, chop chop. Tie her up and throw her in the river, then clean up the place. Make it look like she jumped."

I knew that Dexter would rush over as quickly as he could, but I still couldn't stop myself from panicking. I quickly thought up something to stall for time.

"Let me go! You're committing a crime here! I've already called for help. If anything happens to me, none of you will get away with it! Aren't you afraid of that?"

The thugs didn't care at all.

I watched as they came closer and closer to me. Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the distance.

He rushed over and kicked one of the thugs to the ground, quickly wrapping his arms protectively around me.

"Don't be afraid, Denise. I'm here."

Tears filled my eyes when I heard Jonah Hilton's voice. He was technically Liam's uncle, even though he was only three years older than Liam.

I never really interacted with him much. However, he still protected me in my past life, just like what he was doing now.

When I'd been shoved into the river, he also kept his arms tightly wound around me, trying his best to bring me to shore. Unfortunately, we ended up drowning instead.

Since I had been miraculously given another chance at life, I decided that I was going to protect Jonah this time.

I looked at his pale, sickly face and felt immensely sorry for him.

"I can handle this on my own, Jonah. Leave while you still can!"

Jonah had always been frail ever since he was young and often stayed home without coming out. Yet now, he was trying to fight off two grown men by himself.

As expected, the two thugs gathered themselves and kicked him to the ground.

Candace frowned. "Where did this idiot come from? Throw him in the river too!"

Even though he was already on the ground, Jonah was still struggling to protect me. I immediately yelled at the top of my voice, "Candace! He's Liam's uncle! Are you sure you want to hurt him? Aren't you afraid the Hiltons will come after you?"

Candace hesitated for a moment. However, she then shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I've never heard Liam mention an uncle. And even if he really is Liam's uncle, I'd be doing the Hiltons a favor by getting rid of a sickly bastard like him. They'd be so grateful to me.

"And do you honestly think that the Hiltons would dare to hold anything against me, the Ashford's true heiress, just for the sake of a poor, sickly idiot? Don't kid yourself. Plus, if you both die… well, it's still up to me to decide what to tell them about how it happened."

Jonah was literally on the brink of death on the ground, while I was all tied up with my arms behind my back and could barely even move.

I glared at Candace and said angrily, "I don't know why you think that I stole your life, Candace Ashford, but I am the real daughter of the Ashford family.

"I can forget about all the things you've done to me before, but if you dare to do anything to Jonah, I swear, I will make you pay with your life! You'll wish you were dead!"

Candace suddenly looked at me with a pitiful expression on her face and started laughing out loud.

"Denise Ashford, you really won't give up until the end, will you? I mean, it does make sense. You've enjoyed a life of luxury for so many years. Of course you'd never want to admit that we were switched at birth!

"But there's no use struggling anymore. I've already had a DNA test done. I know for sure that I am the true daughter of the Ashford family!"

I stared at her in disbelief. A DNA test? How was that possible?

Mom and Dad had died a long time ago. The only children they ever had were Dexter and me. So, how could it be possible that Candace was also their child?

However, there wasn't any time for me to press her for more details.

The two thugs dragged me and Jonah to the river's edge. It was a very deep river, going down at least 500 feet. There wouldn't be any chance of survival for me or Jonah if we were thrown into it.

I was starting to panic because Dexter hadn't arrived yet. I looked around desperately, trying to find a way to escape.

Candace immediately knew what I was trying to do. She chuckled and said, "I can't believe that you're still trying to think about running away at a time like this. You're such a disobedient little brat. Break her legs before throwing her in the river."

One of the thugs immediately grabbed a metal rod and started toward me menacingly.

Jonah's head was bleeding after getting beaten up by the thugs. However, he still mustered enough strength to shove the man away.

"Denise! I'll hold them back. Run for your life!"

"I'm going to beat you to death, you stupid bastard! Let's see you try to play the hero once you're dead!"

The blond thug whom Jonah just shoved aside was enraged. He raised the metal rod high in the air and was just about to hit Jonah when a car suddenly swerved to a stop in front of us.

"Stop! Unless you want to die right now!"

I looked at our butler, Fred Bronston, as he jumped out of the car. Relief flooded through me when I saw his familiar face.

The Ashfords' reinforcements had arrived.

The thugs were immediately arrested. Meanwhile, Candace screamed at the top of her lungs, "Who are you? What are you trying to do to me? I am the true heiress of the Ashford family!"

She'd just finished screaming that line when Fred whacked her on the back of her neck, and she slumped into a dead faint at once.

Fred then told me that he would bring these people to the storage room and wait for further instructions from me as to what to do with them later.

Then, he rushed me and Jonah to the hospital.

The doctors gave me a thorough check-up and said that my injuries were only superficial. In other words, I was fine.

However, Jonah was in a worse state. His head had been badly injured, and he needed to remain at the hospital for a few days.

I could finally relax after learning that he had been moved from the emergency ward into a regular room.

After that, I borrowed a nurse's phone to call Dexter and tell him that I was safe. When he heard that someone had been claiming to be me and even tried to kill me, he was furious, and rightly so.

"If I didn't have a very important meeting now that I just can't leave, I would have come along with Fred and gotten even with them on your behalf!" Dexter said, his voice tight with anger.

I quickly calmed him down. "Dexter, you can tell Fred to go back first. You need to have someone by your side. Just leave a few bodyguards with me and I'll be fine.

Then I added, "Also, Dexter, I don't want to marry Liam anymore. I like his uncle instead."

Dexter was shocked at first. However, he soon chuckled and said, "It's good that you came to this conclusion yourself. I knew as soon as I saw that brat that he couldn't be trusted.

"Since you don't like him anymore, I'll withdraw all of the resources our family has provided to them and teach him that this is the consequence of bullying my little sister!"

We ended the call after the discussion was over.

Liam had let me down twice, both in this life and in my previous one. He only had eyes for his childhood friend, Candace, and couldn't care less about the time that we had both spent together as a couple. In fact, he even humiliated me on purpose.

Since I had been reborn, I wasn't going to let him get away with it this time!

To my surprise, Liam came looking for me before I had the chance to confront him.

He was angry, and his face was twisted in an ugly sneer. He raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face.

"Are you out of your mind, Denise Ashford? You've already stolen 20 years of Candy's life, and that wasn't enough for you? How could you hire thugs to bully her?

"Just wait until Mr. Ashford learns about this! He'll never forgive you! You can go ahead and jump into the fire if you want to, but don't you dare drag me into your mess!"

The slap stung so badly that I tasted blood. So, I slapped him back equally as hard with a disdainful smile on my lips.

"You believed her just because she said that she was the true heiress of the Ashford family? You both literally grew up together. Do you even think she looks remotely similar to Dexter?"

Liam frowned, his tone impatient. "Stop trying to defend yourself. Candy has already done the DNA test."

After a brief pause, he then said with an air of pretense, "I know it's hard for you to step away from the life of luxury that you've been used to. How about this?

"If you return Candace's true identity to her, I'll still keep you around even if I can't marry you anymore. Still, I promise that your life won't be any worse off than when you were living with the Ashfords."

Had Candace really done a DNA test with Dexter? But how did she even manage to get hold of his DNA sample?

I still had plenty of questions. Just as I was about to press further, I suddenly heard Candace's voice behind Liam.

"Denise Ashford!"

Liam shook his head and looked at me with a pitiful expression. "You've offended Candy, so it's normal for her to want revenge. From how I see it, you'd better get down on your knees and beg for her forgiveness. I'll put in a good word for you since we've been together for a while."

I looked at Candace in shock. However, I got an even bigger shock when I saw the bodyguard behind her.

"Who told you to release her?" I asked instinctively.

To my surprise, the bodyguard came up to me and kicked me in the calf, making me fall to my knees. Then, he kept slapping me in the face relentlessly.

"You impostor! How dare you try to act like you're the real thing? Do you want me to kill you?"

I was slapped so hard that I couldn't think straight. The bodyguard, Wayne Perry, was looking at me with such hatred and disgust that it was as if he believed I was the actual impostor.

I opened my mouth with difficulty and said, "Didn't Fred tell you earlier? Candace is lying!"

Wayne just chortled and replied, "Ms. Candace is the real heiress of the Ashford family. You're nothing but an impostor. But I see that you've already gotten too deep in your act!"

At Candace's signal, Wayne immediately got up and stood to the side. She then looked at the injuries on my face with a stone-like expression and turned to Liam.

"Liam, your girlfriend didn't just steal 20 years of my life from me, but she even hired two gangsters to beat me up. Luckily, my bodyguard arrived in time to save me."