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."

"I have a question for you," Candace said, looking at Liam. "You're her boyfriend. What do you think I should do to her?"

Candace kept twisting the truth. Her story had holes, but Liam didn't even bother to stop and consider them. He just believed her without question.

Liam stepped on my fingers firmly and said fiercely, "I never thought you could be this evil! Apologize to Candy this instant!"

I struggled and tried to free myself, but he just pressed down even harder.

"Liam Hilton! Our engagement hasn't been called off yet! How could you treat me like this? Aren't you afraid that—ahh!"

Liam had just stomped even harder on my fingers.

"You're a liar and an impostor!" he spat. "You still think that you can marry into the Hilton family? Let me tell you the truth—Candy and I are about to get married. I know that you went through all this trouble so that you could marry me, but it's high time that you stopped being delusional!

"If you apologize to Candy now, I know that she will feel sorry and forgive you immediately. She might even spare your life."

The pain contorted my face. I was furious and full of hatred for him as I snarled, gritting my teeth, "You're the only one who'd think a lying impostor like her was telling the truth! Just you wait! I'll be looking forward to the day you're forced to eat your own words!"

Candace suddenly seemed to take great offence at me calling her a "lying impostor". She immediately flew into a rage and clawed her nails into me while hitting and punching me in the face. She even grabbed Wayne's baton.

"I'll kill you! I'm going to kill you, bitch!"

She didn't even think twice before swinging the baton at me.

I was trapped in place by Liam's foot and couldn't dodge. I just closed my eyes in despair.

However, the expected pain never came. Instead, I heard Liam gasping in shock.

"Uncle Jonah?"

I opened my eyes. I didn't know when, but Jonah had somehow run out from his hospital room and thrown himself in front of me, taking the blow on my behalf.

Jonah's face was deathly pale. However, he gritted his teeth and fought to stay upright as he said, "Don't fall for her words, Liam. She's not the heiress to the Ashford family. Denise also never hired anybody to hurt her.

"But she was the one who did it! She brought two thugs and abducted Denise out of the blue!"

Liam was thoroughly shocked when he saw how bad a state Jonah was in. Yet, before he could return to his senses, Candace suddenly covered her face and began wailing loudly.

"You mean this man is your uncle? Liam! I think we should just call off the wedding. Denise didn't just kidnap me. She even told this man to grope me! If it weren't for my bodyguard arriving in time… I refuse to accept the fact that you have a pervert as your uncle! Unless you cut off all ties with him…"

Liam looked at the tears on Candace's face. At once, all hesitance vanished from his eyes.

He glared angrily at Jonah and said, "Uncle Jonah, how dare you gang up with this bitch to harm Candy? I'm very disappointed in you!"

Liam then knocked Jonah to the ground, grabbed the baton, and marched toward me menacingly.

This was the VIP room on the fourth floor, and that meant that the doctors and nurses hardly ever passed through here.

Every hit Liam delivered to my legs was excruciating.

"I won't stop until I break your leg!" he shouted. "That'll show you all the pain Candy has had to go through!"

I was pinned to the floor and couldn't get up at all.

Just as I was about to give up in despair, I suddenly heard quick footsteps at the door, followed by Dexter's loud shout.

"Stop! What the hell are you doing?"