After Our Entire Family Was Reborn Adopted Brother Went Insane Chapter 01
The Harringtons took me in — a little orphan — to keep their eldest daughter, Lily, company.
What I never expected was that over the next ten years, my adoptive parents would treat me not as a charity case, but as their own flesh and blood. They took a girl who had once scavenged through dumpsters and turned her into a polished socialite.
Everything changed at the Manhattan bachelor’s engagement lottery — hosted by Ethan Wentworth, the youngest and most brilliant financial titan the city had ever seen, heir to a century-old London aristocratic dynasty.
He set down the draw box, swept his gaze over every socialite in the room, and slid the engagement ring onto my finger.
Lily stormed out of the house in a fit of rage — and was kidnapped. Her body was never found.
My adoptive parents buried their grief and never blamed me. Instead, they gave me a grand, magnificent wedding.
But when I was nine months pregnant, my brother Leo dragged me away, screaming:
“If you hadn’t thrown yourself at him — if you hadn’t stolen Lily’s engagement right out from under her — she would never have died! And Mom wouldn’t have had that car accident from the heartbreak!”
“Summer, this is all your fault! I’ll make you pay a thousandfold!”
In the chaos and terror, I went into premature labor. I hemorrhaged. I died.
When I opened my eyes again, I had been sent back — back to the very day of Ethan Wentworth’s engagement lottery.
……
The banquet was about to begin. I pressed a hand to my stomach and slowly sank into a crouch.
“Sis, what’s wrong?”
Lily dropped down beside me, her face creased with worry.
“Are you feeling sick? You’ve gone so pale.”
The image of Lily’s brutal death in my previous life flashed before my eyes.
I swallowed down the emotion and gave her an apologetic look.
“It’s nothing. My period might have come early. My stomach hurts a little.”
“I’ll just pop to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
Lily grabbed my arm the moment she heard that.
“But the banquet is about to start! What if they draw your name and you’re not here?”
“Forget it — I won’t go in either. Sis, let me take you to the hospital!”
Looking at her anxious face, something ached deep in my chest.
In my last life, I only found out the truth from Leo in my final moments — that this lottery had been rigged from the very beginning.
If Ethan Wentworth hadn’t fallen for me at first sight, the name meant to be drawn would have been Lily’s.
All of it arranged just so she could marry the man she had secretly loved for years.
This sweet, foolish girl.
I ruffled her hair and smiled.
“With so many socialites here in Manhattan, what are the odds the draw lands on me?”
“If you ask me, I’d say our little princess Lily might just be the lucky one today.”
“When you marry into the Wentworth family, you’d better not waste any time — give us a chubby little boy as fast as you can!”
Lily’s cheeks flushed scarlet.
“Sis! What are you even saying!”
“I — I never said anything like that…”
Her mouth denied it, but the light in her eyes gave her away.
So it was true. She really did love Ethan Wentworth.
I smiled and didn’t press further.
“Alright, I’m not teasing you. I’ll be right back.”
As I turned to leave, I draped my little yellow duck jacket over Lily’s shoulders.
She looked at me with puzzled eyes. I didn’t explain — I simply walked away.
Because Ethan Wentworth had just walked in.
I glanced back. He was twirling the draw box between his fingers, looking utterly bored.
Then, in the very next second, his eyes landed on a little yellow duck standing out among a sea of couture gowns — and he smiled.
He crossed the room, step by step, until he stood before Lily. He took her hand and slid the engagement ring on.
A sharp pain stabbed through my heart. But I turned and shut the door behind me without hesitation.
Cutting off the sounds inside — a young girl’s joy, and the cheers of a crowd.
