Right after I get accepted to my rich biological family, I become my older sister, Josie Sonnenfeld's marriage replacement.

In the first marriage alliance, Josie despises the fact that her partner, Zane Lowry, is a hedonistic playboy who can't even hold down a job. On the day of their engagement, she's fled all the way to another country with another man.

I pin Zane down and teaches him how to cook up a perfect scheme so that he can overtake his arrogant half-brother who happens to be a bastard son.

In the second marriage alliance, Josie looks down on Benjamin Shaw, a low-income college student who comes from an ordinary family. On their wedding day, she makes sure to humiliate him in front of everyone before ditching him at the altar.

With the money I've saved up, I spend one long, grueling year in the basement with Benjamin as he works hard to establish his success. I'm with him until the day he becomes the director of the National Research Institute.

In the third marriage alliance, Josie scowls in disgust when she realizes Rowan Gallagher is a total momma's boy. She wastes no time traveling to a tropical island with her male best friend afterward.

As for me, I walk into the stressful-looking manor and drag the cowardly Rowan out. By the time I'm done reshaping him, he has succeeded in taking over every single business belonging to his family.

Three years later, Josie, who has spent every single cent overseas, has no choice but to return to the country while heavily pregnant.

"Thanks for watching over these losers in my stead, Laura. Now that I'm back, you can get lost now."

Josie intends to pick one out of her three ex-fiances to become her unborn baby's father.

Meanwhile, I tap on a group chat titled "Happy Family" and sends a text there.

"Josie is back for you three."

Everyone in the group chat instantly goes haywire. The men are quick to proclaim their love and loyalty toward me.

"Don't worry, honey! Our hearts and bodies are yours!"

I casually locked the phone screen, raised the cup of tea to my lips, and watched the dramatic family farce before me.

My darling older sister, Josie Sonnenfeld, leaned into the couch of the Sonnenfelds' resplendent living room as tears ran down her face. She'd disappeared for three years, only to turn up heavily pregnant.

"Dad, Mom… That man from abroad isn't my soulmate at all! He's a conman! He took all my money…"

Josie sobbed as she caressed her round, protruding tummy, looking forlorn. "After living outside for three years, I've finally understood that no excitement or adventure could compare to the safety and stability of home.

"I've had my fun, and now I just want to settle down with someone honest and grounded."

Sitting across from her, my parents were red-eyed with tears as they crooned sympathetically, "Oh, our poor, precious Josie! You've been through so much!

"All that matters is that you're home now. We've got money; keeping you under our roof won't be any trouble at all!"

As it turned out, the return of the prodigal daughter was worth more than silver and gold—but at whose expense?

Mom turned to look at me after consoling Josie. The kind, motherly expression she'd worn a second ago was immediately replaced by a stern, cold one. "As you can see, Laura, your sister's pregnant. The tiniest bit of stress is bad for her.

"We brought you home from the orphanage all those years ago so you could be Josie's walking blood bank. For the last three years, you've been living like a queen because of the engagements.

"You should move out of the master bedroom now that Josie's back."

Dad chimed in agreement, "We'll throw a homecoming dinner party for Josie tomorrow. Her three fiances from all those years ago will be attending as well.

"They were unaccomplished then, but I heard they'd made something of themselves recently. Josie will choose one of them to be her baby's father.

"Laura, I expect you to step back into the shadows voluntarily instead of shamelessly hogging your sister's rightful place."

I set my cup of tea down and nearly sputtered in disbelief.

Did Mom and Dad truly expect me to back off and let Josie reclaim those three men? Did Josie think they were meat in a marketplace, where she could choose one of them on a whim to be her child's father?

I had a feeling that if those three territorial lunatics were to hear this, they'd burn the Sonnenfeld estate to the ground just to make a point.

Josie mistook my silence for reluctance. She dabbed at the nonexistent tears at the corner of her eye and gazed upon me as if I were her charity case.

"Laura, I was the one they had their eyes on, to begin with. You've simply been a replacement who'd taken care of them for three years on my behalf.

"But don't worry. I know you've put in your fair share of work looking after those three deadbeats."

She lifted her chin haughtily. "You may choose one of the remaining two after I've taken my pick. Think of it as my way of compensating you for the youth you'd wasted on them."

I scanned Josie's expression, which seemed to tell me I should fling myself at her feet in extreme gratitude, and mused inwardly at the many faces of human nature.

I stood up and nodded obediently. "Very well, Josie. I'll do as you say."

Then, with a smile, I added, "I'll pack up and get out of your hair as long as the three of them agree to be your child's father."

I took in Josie's smug grin before turning and heading toward the guest room. The trash I'd picked up, indeed. If only Josie knew that the men she'd claimed was trash all those years ago had become figures so powerful, they were way out of the Sonnenfelds' league.

Josie wasted no time in getting ready to choose her victim out of the lot.

That afternoon, she sprawled across the chaise lounge in the guest room like a queen choosing a lover to spend the night with. She began to call the three "deadbeats" she'd abandoned years ago.

The first one was Zane Lowry, the scion of a wealthy family who had once been a feckless ne'er-do-well.

Clearing her throat, Josie waited for her call to be picked up, then said, "Zane, I forgive you for being so lazy all those years ago—"

But before she could beg Zane to turn around, he growled irritably on the other line, "Shut the hell up! I'm busy right now! Leave me alone!"

The call was cut off brusquely.

Josie went still, the blood draining from her face.

Naturally, she couldn't possibly know that Zane, already the son of the most prestigious family in Kingsgrove, was wearing a pink apron with cartoon cat motifs all over it.

He was slicing onions with manic energy as he yelled tearfully into his phone, recording a voice note, "Take your bullshit elsewhere, Shaw! Tomorrow's Wednesday, which means it's my shift!

"I'm making Laura's favorite beef stew, and if you hijack my shift, I will ruin your company!"

Josie gritted her teeth, sneering, "Playing hard to get, huh? I'm not taking the bait!"

The next second, she pulled up her Instagram and found Benjamin Shaw, the student from years ago who'd been too poor to afford his tuition.

Brimming with confidence, Josie sent him a text: "I heard you started a company. If you're willing to accept my child, I could get my parents to invest a couple million dollars in your business."

A minute later, her phone chimed with a new message. A triumphant grin tugged on her lips. The poor were as easily manipulated as expected.

She clicked on the reply from Benjamin, only to find a cold, curt sentence leaping out at her: "You owe me 12 million dollars in damages including interest for breaking off our engagement years ago without notice.

"My lawyer's already sent a letter to the Sonnefelds' mailbox. Failure to pay damages will result in the seizure of the Sonnefelds' villa tomorrow."

Josie's smile slipped from her face. She nearly threw her phone on the ground.

Little did she know, the poor young man she'd once shunned had become a tech industry legend worth billions.

The same tech upstart had been on his knees before me last night, his eyes red-rimmed as he pressed the patent certificate of a billion-dollar core he'd just developed into my hand and begged, "This is my engagement gift to you, Laura. Please just consider me, okay?"

Two consecutive rejections made Josie a little desperate. She decided she'd surprise Rowan Gallagher—who, years ago, didn't have an opinion if it wasn't his mother's—by showing up at his door.

"Rowan only listens to his mom. All I have to do is win Mrs. Gallagher over, and he'll come running back to me without a second thought!"

She dressed up, piled her pregnant self into the car, and headed to the Gallagher residence.

In the end, Josie never even made it through the front door. Two bodyguards in shades picked her up like a helpless chick and tossed her into the landscaped yard outside the door.

"Mrs. Gallagher's made it very clear that the family only has one daughter-in-law! Are you deaf or something?"

"If you come back and try to scam us again, I'll break both your legs!"

Josie looked absolutely bedraggled as she lay sprawled among the shrubs, covered in dirt. She'd never expect Rowan, the timid young man who'd only listened to his mother, to have been reformed by me.

Now, Rowan was better known as a capricious tyrant in the business world. And it had only been days ago when his once-persnickety, wealthy mother slipped an emerald bracelet onto my wrist. It was a family heirloom.

She'd then pointed at Rowan as she leveled her threat on him, "You're no son of mine if you upset Laura, you hear me?"

Crawling out from the shrubs lining the landscaped yard, Josie wiped the dirt from her face. The determination in her eyes burned even brighter. "I see. All of them are playing hard to get, huh? I'd like to see how they'd fight over me at the party tomorrow!"

I quietly commended her for her spirit, then mentally lit a few candles for her in prayer.

The next evening, the Sonnenfeld residence shone like a beacon. The Sonnenfelds had invited half the city's socialites and big names to create a buzz around Josie's grand return.

Josie wore a bespoke, couture dress that cleverly hid the swell of her baby bump. She wore a ruby around her neck, basking in the overwhelming attention and praise of her friends and relatives.

"What a lucky young lady Josie is! Those three eligible bachelors are still hung up on her even though she was away for three years!"

"Lucky, indeed! I heard Mr. Lowry of Kingsgrove; Mr. Shaw, the tech upstart; and the infamous Mr. Gallagher will be here tonight!"

"Three men fighting over a woman? That's the stuff of novels!"

I was wearing an old, nondescript sweater and holding up a plate by the corner of the buffet counter, courtesy of Mom's arrangement.

Josie made a point of approaching me with a champagne flute, eyeing me down her nose. "Goodness, Laura, why the plain outfit? Oh, right. I forgot Mom cut you off. Don't be sad, though.

"After I've taken my pick, you can take yours from the remaining two men. You don't have to stand on ceremony with me."

I swallowed a bite of the black forest cake and fixed Josie with a genuine look of concern. "Did you forget your medication today, Josie?"

Josie scowled. She was about to snap back when two neat rows of bodyguards clad in black pushed open the heavy, ornate doors of the villa.

Zane strolled in from the left. His gaze, once unfocused and full of nonchalance, now held the contempt of an apex predator.

Benjamin took the center spot, bringing with him the powerful presence of an industrial capitalist.

On the right was Rowan, his eyes dangerous and cold, like a lone wolf that would snap the neck of its prey at any given moment.

The three top-tier moguls whose paths normally didn't cross had appeared at the same time!

Mom and Dad were practically vibrating with excitement.

Josie was even more thrilled, and it showed on her face. "They're here! They came for me, after all!"

Straightening up so that her baby bump stuck out, she put on her coyest smile. She held up her skirts and walked toward the trio like a queen greeting her knights.

Josie approached Zane first, her voice as sickeningly sweet as raw honey. "Looks like you've finally grown up, Zane. I'll overlook your past fecklessness and give you the chance to be a good father."

Zane stopped in his tracks. When he lowered his gaze to Josie's protruding tummy, his brows knitted tightly together. "Where did this filth come from? Guards! There's a pregnant hustler here. Get rid of her before her filth rubs off on my fiancee!"

Josie's smile faltered. All the color drained from her face. Thinking Zane had an aversion toward her baby, she quickly turned to Benjamin, who stood in the center. "Benjamin, now that you're finally in my league—"

"Have you come up with the 12 million dollars I asked for?" Benjamin didn't so much as look at her, and instead had his assistant toss a thick stack of documents at Mom and Dad's feet. "If not, move. You're keeping me from peeling shrimp for my fiancee."

Panic finally set in for Josie. She backed up a step in disbelief, then lunged for Rowan, whom she thought was the easiest to manipulate.

"Rowan, I'm home! Your mother used to adore me, remember? You must—"

There was a click, and an eerie blue flame shot up from the lighter in Rowan's hand.

"Bring up my mother again, and I'll pull out your tongue tonight." Rowan's voice was soft, but no less intimidating. "And go away. You're blocking my view of my wife."